Bob Atchley is a scholar in the field of aging, a man with a wide reputation for writing and teaching. A textbook he first wrote long ago has gone through nine editions and has extended his influence across the country.

But Professor Atchley is not much interested in professional success. Rather, he directs his chief focus toward the spiritual life and makes that the center of his work. That is why he decided some ten years ago to leave the university where he was teaching and join the faculty at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Naropa educates people to incorporate Buddhist spirituality into their learning and their professional work. In doing this, it hopes to transform the work that caregivers and others do into an activity that promotes growth in the spirit. Bob Atchley sees this as a distinctive approach to education whereby students will learn how to help both themselves and those they serve to profit spiritually from their work.

Meanwhile, Professor Atchley continues his own research into the spiritual life of real people. In recent times, he has been investigating spirituality in older people. His findings, still tentative, would seem to have meaning, not only for older people, but for people of all ages.

In a recent interview, he disclosed a threefold scheme that identifies spiritually the older people he has talked with.

He calls the first group “Elders in Training.” These he describes as people who have begun to place importance on their “inner work.” They are trying to nurture the spirit within their souls. They are also looking for role models and for ways to get involved in the community.

The second group is made up of “Actualized Spiritual Elders.” They have deepened their connection to God, the Absolute, Nirvana, what some have called “the Divine Ground of Being.”

Speaking of the spiritual connection that people in this second group have, Atchley says: “It’s not going away; they live from that connection day in and day out. They are on boards, involved in service capacities, tutoring kids, but in a different way.” This difference lies in the way these people connect their community service with their interior life.

The third group he calls “Transcendent Elders.” They live beyond this world. Few people, he believes, ever get to this stage but nevertheless it remains valuable as an ideal. And some of the ordinary people around us, whom we perhaps see every day, might surprise us if we knew the details of their interior life.

Atchley cites a blind man in his 90s: “He was radiantly at peace, wonderful to be around.” This man found strength in the biblical passages and the poetry that he had memorized when young. Drawing on these sources, the same man overcame a mild depression and came to know peace of heart.

In talking with others like this man, Atchley has found the shared factor drawing them is a hunger for a connection with spirit. “By 75 or 80, people don’t buy what the culture tells them is attractive or valuable,” he says. Instead, they want something deeper and more meaningful.

Drawing on his knowledge of other spiritual traditions, Atchley calls the Hindu tradition relevant to this scheme, “The Hindus did a good job of mapping the stages,” he explains. They speak of a threefold Yoga or spiritual discipline: the Yoga of Understanding, the Yoga of Service, and the Yoga of Devotion.

Bob Atchley cites a person he considers a striking model of the third stage of spiritual development. “He’s a brilliant guy who spends time driving a school bus and taking care of poor people. His inner life is astounding.”

Many people prefer simply to live by the spirit without concern for where they may be on some scale of perfection. But such schemes at least remind us that the spiritual life is dynamic, it does not stand still. To be engaged in it is to be on an adventure, an interior journey that leads us toward mystery.

And a scheme like Bob Atchley’s helps us appreciate mottos like one of my favorites. “Finding God in all things” was the guiding ideal of St. Ignatius of Loyola and has retained its power over almost five centuries. This ideal cannot be arrived at quickly. It takes a long time to make this a spiritual motto that can empower daily life.

Richard Griffin