So looking forward to Los Angeles!
It takes me back to the organisation of the previous conference on Ageing and Spirituality in Edinburgh in July 2013 which I remember with great affection and happily so do others. Wondering about how warm the city will be probably won’t be a major issue in Los Angeles but people were geared up to bringing coats and wellington boots to Edinburgh and it turned out to be the hottest week we had all summer!
The greatest pleasure was having the opportunity to meet so many active and creative people who are doing marvellous work in different places in the world. There is so much to share and so much affirmation of the importance of the spiritual dimension in the lives of older people.
‘Coming together’ – I know just how this feels in the planning stage but it is so much more as the conference will bring such a diverse group together from all over the place to renew and develop friendships and I look forward to meeting old and new friends and meeting the challenge of contributing to a workshop. The planned programme is very exciting and come the days it will all be so worthwhile. I still feel a warm glow about Edinburgh and have a keen anticipation about Los Angeles and the opportunity to widen perspectives and ideas and to be part of this evolving worldwide family. One legacy of the Edinburgh Conference is the quilt of the ‘Tree of Life‘ to which all the participants contributed will come with me to be handed on as part of the creative spirit theme.
Information about the 6thInternational Conference – ‘Paradox and Promise in the Pilgrimage of Ageing’.
The ‘Tree of Life’ quilt designed by Carole Sowton and created by the participants of the 5thInternational Conference on Ageing and Spirituality 2013
Maureen O’Neill
Director, Faith in Older People