Achieving Universal Participation of Older Adults: An Exploration of Its Challenges and Spiritual Foundations

Abstract

As a daughter-father collaboration, this paper aims to discuss the challenge of involving older adults in the process of participation in society. It first explores some of the root causes of ageism, such as the stigma attached to discussions of death in our society and the materialist conception of human ontology. In the second part, this paper suggests how a discussion based on spirituality, especially some principles of the Bahá’í Faith, can address this issue. We conclude this paper sharing some thoughts and comments about the role of older adults in the process of community building, a major objective assigned to the global Bahá’í community by the Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá’í Faith.