The Dao of Aging

"Those who speak, do not know. Those who know, do not speak." These famous words often attributed to Confucius actually appear in the 道德经，the earliest Daoist book of scripture written by 老子or LaoZi (Often written Lao Tzu). I have oftentimes consulted that book for wisdom when I don't know where else to turn.

Many people think I am wise. This could not be further from the truth! I am so foolish. I often say things I don't mean, and I fill my body and mind with garbage constantly. However, I do know right from wrong most of the time and I know what I stand for in this world.

Pictured above is my absolute favorite word in Chinese: dào​, meaning "way", "path", or "truth". It means so very much to me.

Earlier this week I got into an argument with someone I respect. I'm not proud of it. The things I said were very unloving and I wish I could take every one back. During this argument, this person made a few comments about how young I am and how very inexperienced I am. I was slightly offended.

I am young and inexperienced, I understand that very well. I've not even yet lived out a quarter of my life! I know I am very naive. However, as I said earlier, I do know right from wrong. The person I was arguing with believes that wisdom comes with age and experience, not with what we read in books. I could not agree more. However, everyone ages differently and experiences different things daily. This person is intelligent, having studied philosophy and discourse. He is a fair deal older than I am and thus has experienced different things.

However, age is not everything. It says in Buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity that to find true wisdom, one must become like a little child and see things with wonder; see things as though you are seeing them for the first time. This person believes I am headstrong and arrogant, thinking I have all the answers. He's half right. I am arrogant, and work to fix this every day of my life. I know, however, that the more I see, the less I know. I am constantly finding answers, but I always am given countless more questions for each answer I find.

I may not be as old as this person, but I can tell my right from wrong and I have learned much in my studies and experiences with other cultures, peoples, languages, and ideas.

The Dao of a person can be constantly changing, and is always transforming with everything we experience. This is not to say, however, that it gets better the more we age-- In fact, many times, people are so out of tune with the Dao that they start to look down on those who are younger.

I'm not trying to defend myself from this person's accusations, but instead want you, the reader, to keep an open mind to those who are younger than you. They may not have been around the sun as many times as you, but it's not a bad idea to listen to them with an open mind. We can live in Harmony this way.