Assumption

When I was a kid, I had an idea that when a person advances in age so is his acquisition of wisdom that by the time that he reaches, say, 40’s or 50’s above, his view about the world and everything in it could be at par with the eyes of a mystic or a sage.

This process of journey to mysticism can start when he is in his twenties, and by the time that he gets to be thirty, everything about this world – and the marvelous worlds within it – has already beginning to take shape in his mind.

This is the reason why, for some reasons, I treat everybody around me with mutual trust that they are moving towards this end. And, frustratingly, all I come across are people who got stuck somewhere along the way.

What I mean is it is like listening to music. Most generations usually are tied down to the music of their hey-days. They no longer continue their then juvenile adventurousness towards discovering new sounds, new music. And by the time when their children grow up and have their own ‘generational’ music, the ‘stuck’ old man could only grumpily berate the youngs as people with no real appreciation for music. So the gap and misunderstanding. If only the old man continued his growth in music, then this gap is bridged.

People only mature in terms of age. Not in terms of wisdom.

Usually, I can spot people who have stopped growing. These people usually are those people who have already built a fortified assumption of the world; they don’t and would not care to listen to new ideas. When you say something new or beyond their understanding, they grimace to rebut you that what you have just said is stupid.

Their map of reality works for them, and they no longer care to revise it. They stick to what they already know, or appear to know. The only danger these people pose is when they are in power – and usually those in power or those enjoying a relative success are the ones who exhibit this kind of trait.

Probably, one short-cut for acquiring wisdom, far beyond what a doctorate in humanities can give, is deprivation, distress, depression and the likes. There is nothing that can give the soul or the spirit a test to bring forth a better perception of the world than these havocs thrown on him.

Yet, sometimes, especially when these tests are still being endured, the person under duress cannot dispense the wisdom that is already growing within him.

Being for a while in this world, I only have met a number of people who are conscious of the growing up that they continually have to undergo to be a better person – yes, until they inhale their last breath.

Pertaining on my assumption that old age equates on the acquisition of mystical wisdom, there is nobody so far whom I have met who fulfills this assumption. Though, there are some people whom I read on books.

But crossing path with them in flesh and blood? None.