ABSTRACT
Even with no certainty of when we will die, we know that the limit of continuing life approaches us as we become older. In this chapter, I explore one aspect of what I call ‘threshold ageing’ that deserves greater attention and care—namely, the character of our temporal horizons, especially the significance of the future. I ultimately consider the role others can and ought to play in preparing us for the significant shifts we face as we approach the later years of our lives—a topic arguably mirroring and as central to the human experience as those focusing on the interpersonal structures supporting the development of the infant and child into an original foundation of ontological security. The chapter has three parts. In the first, I use J.H. van den Berg’s account of temporality to consider the shaping role of the future in our experience and how this can become troubled. In the second, I consider common problems that people experience in threshold ageing when their temporality is treated as something externalized or fixed. And, finally, in the third, I turn to various practices of ‘spiralic’ storytelling that model existentially healthy approaches for connecting with, learning from and caring for human beings as they are growing during the period of threshold ageing.
