Childhood’s End

Do you know your ‘Stranger’

“At Childhood’s End a stranger stands . . .” is the opening phrase of a song written by my friend Pete Fulwell, later founder of Eric’s Club in Liverpool in the 1970s.

‘Childhood’s End’ is the title of a book by science-fiction author Sir Arthur C Clarke written in 1954 depicting how ‘humanity’ grew up and ‘ascended’.

All this is in an article I wrote in 2018 (read it here) – this is a ‘continuation’ but at an individual level rather than ‘people’ as a whole.

What do we understand by ‘childhood’s end’? Most people would say when we leave ‘school’ or even when we go to school, or when we ‘grow up, become an ‘adult or perhaps ‘adolescent’. There is no definition or template for ‘childhood’s end’.

Last time I said I’d tell you more about ‘how’ you might achieve longevity and extended ‘healthspan’ but in my research this week I realised we need to consider something else first, which is ‘why’ and ‘who’.

It’s all very well living longer or even indefinitely, but without answering these questions it’s not really going to work.

You and I need to discover who the ‘stranger’ is at childhood’s end and why we would want to stick around on this planet or ‘ascend’. I could go into a long philosophical discussion about this but – another time. Let’s get down to practicalities.

In general, until they start the process I’m about to describe (which is continuous rather than a one-off) people are forever children, adolescents and adults all at the same time. We never (up until now) let go of all these traits and I’m sure you’ve seen ‘adults’ exhibiting them whatever position or status they may hold.

Clarke suggested, backed up by Neale Donald Walsch and to an extent Jacob Bronowski the ‘childhood’ of humanity ends at ‘ascension’ or departure from this world, but Pete Fulwell’s ‘Stranger’ comes in between.

This is a stage we can aspire to and for those of us who seek longevity this is key, as there’s little point in carrying on if we are still a ‘child’.

It’s not just an idea. Some people have achieved a ‘level of wisdom’ beyond the ‘child’ unattainable while we are still in that state. We have to discover the ‘stranger’ – or the ‘elder’ – within us.

This isn’t to do with chronological or biological age, more psychological age and its all to do with mindset – knowing who you really are, where you want to go and why you want to go there and of course ‘who’ you are depends on how you became ‘you’. Some may recognise these as four of Peter Thomson’s ‘six seemingly simple questions’ and I’ll talk about the other two later.

Discovering the ‘stranger’, the ‘elder’, in you isn’t easy. Sounds simple but not easy and although it’s highly personal to you it’s well-nigh impossible for you, as I’ve found myself, to do it on your own.

Yes, you or I can answer the questions well enough but how do we know we’re on the right track? How can we ‘fact check’ our own answers when we’re quite likely to tell ourselves what we want to hear, avoid consciously or unconsciously anything ‘uncomfortable’ and end up going round in circles?

And it’s not a ‘one-off’. To truly come to ‘childhood’s end’ we must repeat this regularly. We can only embed our ‘new self’ by repetition and perhaps modification as we go along.

This is hard work; it requires focus and concentration with time specifically put aside. Too much trouble? Definitely not. It’s worth it instead of remaining in ‘childhood’ just going with the flow and never really understanding what life, your life, is all about.

After attempting this a few times by myself I engaged with a coach to guide me through the process. Now this shouldn’t be a partner or someone close to you and as with all coaching doesn’t need to be someone, who’s been through it themselves, just someone with good coaching skills and experience. You’ll certainly need them to get through Peter’s two final questions about the obstacles you’ll meet and what actions you have to take to find and become your ‘stranger’.

As a start you could go through my Personal Vision Workbook which comes with an hour’s one-to-one coaching. Find it here.

The journey you undertake will give you two things. First it will take you to the next level of ‘eldership’ beyond ‘childhood’ (and you can become an ‘elder’ at any age). Second it will open the door to longevity and extended ‘healthspan’ to live well on the planet as long as you want before you decide to ‘ascend’.

Everyone ‘ascends’ at some stage but very few have any idea ‘where’ they are going – you will!