The Four Stages of Life

Yesterday, at a spirituality conference featuring Fr. Richard Rohr, he described a time he visited a church in India. Noticing that the images in the church windows were not the usual stained glass saints he knew from back home, he asked his guide about them.

The guide explained that the images in the windows of the church reflect Hindu thought, each representing one of the four stages in life.

The first stage is The Student where the person's duty is to study. At a Hindu website, the writer says that the task of this stage is learning, devotion to one's teachers, and discipline.

The second is The Householder where the person enters a vocation, gets married, and raises a family.

The third is The Forest Dweller. The forest symbolizes the unknown and provides the metaphor of this stage: forsaking one's regular life and "going into the woods" where he or she will discover the meaning of life.

The fourth is The Sage where, having attained insight and wisdom while dwelling in the forest, the individual now knows who he or she is and finds contentment and peace. There is now no longer any need to accomplish anything, no need to own anything material, no need to acquire anything.

I was impressed that Fr. Rohr shared this since his talk yesterday was about his model of the two stages of life.

For Rohr, the first stage encompasses the Student and the Householder. It's the major portion of most people's lives, involving growing up, going to school, getting a job, becoming an adult, and becoming a fully contributing member of society.

For most of us, that describes the entirety of life, except for retirement and death.

Not so, says Rohr and ancient Hindu wisdom.

The second stage of life, for Rohr, combines the Forest Dweller and the Sage. It's the portion of life that Rohr says Jesus was all about, the Kingdom of God.

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus says, "...for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

If the first stage of life is external, the second stage is internal. First we build up our worldly treasure. Then we seek our real lasting treasure:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12: 22-34)

Posted by Terrence Seamon on Sunday November 11, 2012