Learning how to age
Keywords:
Aging, Horror, Humor, Kindliness, PatienceAbstract
Learning how to age is difficult; we age just as we live, between smiles and tears, successes and failures. In other words, to enjoy old age, to endure it, is a challenge until death. There were times when elders were valued for their family and cultural memory; now, as they are not integrated into economic production and consumption, as well as a certain contempt for memory, the elderly tend to be relegated. At seventy-nine, Freud asked in a letter to Lou Andreas-Salomé: “What degree of kindliness and humor must one have to endure the horror of old age?” (Mannoni, 1997, p. 25). I comment on three words in this query: horror, kindliness and humor. Learning to grow old is to be grateful for life and capable of maintaining awe in the face of the wonders of dusk and dawn. Essential in old age are friends, who ward off death, as J.B. Pontalis says in an interview with Veja magazine on friendship. Growing old requires patience, and patience is the word I add to horror, gratitude and humor with which Freud described old age. As analysts, may we therefore practice patience.
Downloads
References
Cícero. (1997). Saber envelhecer. Porto Alegre: L&PM 1997.
Freud, S. (1978). Análisis de la fobia de um niño de cinco años. In Freud, S. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu. (Original publicado em 1917)
Freud, S. (1978). El humor. In Freud, S. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, 1978. (Original publicado em 1927)
Freud, S. (1978). El problema econômico del masoquismo. In Freud, S. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu. (Original publicado em 1924)
Freud, S. (1978). Inhibición Sintoma y Angústia. In Freud, S. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu. (Original publicado em 1926)
Freud, S. (1978). Sobre las trasposiciones de la pulsión, en particular del erotismo anal. Obras Completas. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu. (Original publicado em 1917)
Mannoni, M. (1997). Lo nombrado y lo innombrable-la última palavra de la vida. Buenos Aires: Nueva Vision.
Pontalis, J.B. (2005). Esse tempo que no passa. Buenos Aires: Topia editorial.
Pontalis, J.B. (2003). Perder de Vista. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar, Rio de Janeiro.
Sacks, O. Gratidão. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.
Shakespeare, W. Rei Lear. São Paulo: Circulo do Livro.
Slavutzky, A. (2014). Humor é coisa séria. Porto Alegre: Arquipélago.
Slavutzky, A. (1990). Para início de conversa. Porto Alegre: Movimento.
Winnicott, D.W. (1975). O brincar & a realidade. Rio de Janeiro: Imago.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Atribuo os direitos autorais que pertencem a mim, sobre o presente trabalho, à SPPA, que poderá utilizá-lo e publicá-lo pelos meios que julgar apropriados, inclusive na Internet ou em qualquer outro processamento de computador.
I attribute the copyrights that belong to me, on this work, to SPPA, which may use and publish it by the means it deems appropriate, including on the Internet or in any other computer processing.
Atribuyo los derechos de autor que me pertenecen, sobre este trabajo, a SPPA, que podrá utilizarlo y publicarlo por los medios que considere oportunos, incluso en Internet o en cualquier otro tratamiento informático.
