Finding Meaning in the Late-Life Chapters: Aging and Expanded Consciousness

As people move into the later chapters of life, questions of meaning often come into sharper focus. Roles shift, priorities change, and time is experienced differently. This stage of life can invite deeper reflection on what has mattered, what still matters, and how to relate to aging with intention and clarity.

While aging is often framed through decline or loss, research and lived experience suggest that meaning, perspective, and connection remain central to wellbeing in later life. The late-life chapters can offer a distinct opportunity to revisit identity, values, and one’s relationship to time, legacy, and mortality.

In recent years, experiences involving expanded states of consciousness have entered these conversations in a careful and evolving way. A recent study showed experiences involving expanded states of consciousness produces lasting enhancements in the perception of meaning in life. These enhancements were associated with positive changes in mental health, revealing meaning in life as another factor by which these experiences can promote wellbeing [1].

What We’ll Explore

• How aging, meaning, and science intersect
• How meaning and purpose tend to evolve in the later stages of life
• Common psychological and existential themes that arise with aging
• What current research is examining in relation to meaning and perspective
• How expanded states of consciousness may influence reflection, acceptance, and self-understanding in later life

[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1580663/full