When talking about aging and Wisdom, the famous quote always appears in our minds,
“With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”
-Oscars Wilde
It’s a valuable legacy. But the question is how Wisdom and aging are correlated. Does Wisdom always come with aging? You can’t become wise if you are young or a teenager. We will indeed discuss these points in our article, but first, let’s look briefly at Wisdom and aging. So tighten your seatbelts and enjoy the enthralling journey of Wisdom and aging with us.
How To Define Wisdom?
Wisdom means the quality of being wise. A personal understanding of the world is essential to understand Wisdom. Wisdom has two meanings: wise experience and wise behavior.
Wise experience:
Wise experience covers understanding and intelligence achieved from experience.
Wise behavior:
Wise behavior means bright and mindful decisions and actions.
Wisdom is one of those topics where many people have done their research and have their definitions. According to Yang,
Wisdom is a special kind of real-life process accomplished after a person cognitively makes an unusual integration, embodies their ideas through action, and generates positive effects for both self and others.
According to Sternberg,
wise problem solutions balance divergent intraindividual, interindividual, and extra-individual interests and short- and long-term outcomes toward maximizing the common good.
How Aging Is Defined?
Aging is a process of change. It starts from the day we are born, as we change every day. After age 16, young adults begin to age finely and strongly. New changes occur in their body, their muscles become strong, and their facial features change.
When these young adults reach the age of 50, wrinkles start to appear on their faces. Their muscular bodies start getting weak. But if you go to the gym regularly, stay fit and healthy, and eat a good meal the whole 3 times, these changes won’t come near to you. Aging gracefully is the most beautiful thing one can have in his life. Aging has three types:
- Biological aging
- Psychological aging
- Social aging
How Aging And Wisdom Are Correlated?
Aging and Wisdom are correlated because Wisdom comes with age and life experiences. Aging is a natural process. We learn new things over time. Our thinking process changes with age—the person facing aging gains time-honored knowledge. The elderly insights indeed help others.
The person who spends a significant amount of time on this earth, approximately 50 to 70 years, will gain a lot of knowledge because that person has learned different things and understands behaviors and emotions. About aging and Wisdom, Albert Einstein once said,
“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery we were born into.”
Healthy aging for women is also very important for men. everyone must learn how to stay healthy so that when you get old you don’t face troubles and problems.
Does Old age bring Wisdom?
It is optional that a person can only become wise when he reaches old age. Young adults can also be wise. It depends on experience. Aging and Wisdom always come together because you only experience a common psyche with age.
Somehow, it is true, but it only works with some. I’ve seen an 18-year-old with great Wisdom and knowledge and a 50-year-old man who is old and learns nothing from life. Yes, it is true—a personal experience. Old age doesn’t always bring Wisdom, but time and experience do.
Does Wisdom Also Decrease With Aging?
Sometimes, his Wisdom gets shorter or declines when a person gets old. It depends on the person’s living style, surroundings, and family. Wisdom also decreases because of some medical issues like dementia and Alzheimer’s. 15 to 30 is when a person starts to gain experience, and when you reach 50, you have collected a lot of new things. 50 is when people have gained the knowledge they were meant to discover.
Knowledge and Wisdom work till 70 and, in some cases, till 80, but after that, the person starts to lose his senses. He starts to have issues, mental issues like Alzheimer’s and dementia. That’s when Wisdom stops working, and the person loses all his feelings and acts like a child. The lifetime wisdom phenomenon is rare because, in rare cases, a person gets lifetime wisdom; usually, Wisdom decreases after age 50.
A Valuable Legacy Of Aging And Wisdom
Roman philosopher Cicero quote that,
“For there is assuredly nothing dearer to a man than wisdom, and though age takes away all else, it undoubtedly brings us that.”
Wisdom helps everyone to make better decisions in problematic situations. When you get old, your Wisdom makes you superior to your young ones. Research says Wisdom supports you in old age and saves you from loneliness, as others surround wise people.
Researchers believe that old and wise people know “the art of living. ” So basically, it is true that aging and Wisdom are related. And older adults are wiser. Aging is a valuable legacy. If a person crosses his 50, he is lucky because he has collected a lot of knowledge and Wisdom.
Final Words
This blog concludes that age and Wisdom are correlated because knowledge mostly comes with age. Wisdom doesn’t always need to come when you get old; in some cases, it comes at a very young age, like 14 or 16. The point that old age brings Wisdom is inappropriate because Wisdom comes from experience.
Even a 28-year-old can be more wise than someone 50 years of age. Old age also decreases Wisdom, as when a person reaches his 70s and 80s, he starts to have mental problems and forget things. In short, aging and Wisdom together make a valuable legacy.