Presentation made for the SMN symposium – July 2023
While academic research on forced immigration and expatriate workers is abundant, very little literature exists on people who choose to live abroad after retirement. This may be explained by the fact that old age and death remain taboo subjects in Western societies. Yet, more and more people are making the decision to move abroad after retirement, and a new category of citizens is emerging: less attached to a particular country, but in search of meaning.
In Western countries, between 12 and 13 percent of retirees choose to live abroad, and this proportion continues to grow. Such research could help to break down certain taboos, as Oliver (2012) suggests in his book. Retirement Migration: Paradoxes of Aging, and to better understand the dynamics of aging.
By using theorganic survey (organic inquiry) as a research method, this study explores the dynamics underlying the choice to settle abroad, as well as the transformation process experienced by people who choose to go and live in an unknown country upon retirement. This approach, resolutely transpersonal, focuses on the self-transformation, has the emergence of a new identity, and to the evolution of consciousness.
The results are presented through the prism of Hero's Journey (Campbell, 2003), with three main dimensions:
The reasons for leaving, whether it is an inner calling or personality traits associated with an archetype that I have named the Elderly Traveler.
The journey itself, as a process of deconstruction and reconstruction.
Eternal exile, highlighting the impossibility of return, linked to access to a broader consciousness and immersion in multiculturalism.
Keywords
Retirement, expatriation, emigration, spirituality, transpersonal psychology, spiritual maturity
Below you will find the presentation video in English.
EN 
FR