electric relaxation

If I were a better writer, I could probably turn this into some sort of koan, or at least a haiku. But I’m not, and what’s more, I’m lazy. So this will have to do.

I was recently embroiled in an argument with a close friend regarding which of us was older, in a non-physical sense; the age of one’s soul, I suppose, is what we were trying to get at. Though it was particularly ironic in this case, our arguments nearly always share a common trait, possessing what one might consider to be certain childish qualities. At any rate, I think I startled us both when I broke tradition by stumbling upon a decidedly mature, very concise, and dramatically conclusive, way to settle the debate in my favor, by positing the following:

What makes you grow old is believing in something fiercely and with all your heart, and then realizing that you were completely wrong all along.

The reader should note that I propose this merely as one potentially useful definition of age, and I don’t intend to imply that there is an inherent value in growing old by this definition (quite the opposite, in fact).

There are a few aphorisms that neatly fall out if you accept this basic tenet. For example:

1. Those who never give up their core beliefs remain young at heart.
2. Those who hold no strong beliefs will never grow up.