Another Grandpa saying...
"The older you get, the more you realize how little you know"
I agree with this 100%! It is only age and experience that brings a heartfelt appreciation for the vast array of of the unknown. Young people can say they "understand" that we don't know everything, but thats not what this refers to. This saying refers to the realization that we don't really know ANYTHING. Life is not a process of learning as much as a realization of how little we CAN learn. There just isnt enough time in the human experience to truly "get smart".
Now, before the flood, when man lived close to 1000 years, didn't have children till almost 100, this may not have applied. Back then, "maturity" was defined totally differently. No one was "old enough" to have children, start a family, live on their own, until they were close to 100 years old. That means by today's standards... only the elderly are wise enough to START out in life. They are at the point of wisdom that allows them to understand enough, to start learning.
Wow, what a difference. To think that those people started life where we end it! That's a comparison to the amount of knowledge and wisdom amassed. Even if you argue that things "moved slower then", the rate of learning, of life, is constant. They absorbed wisdom for 100 years, then began a family, then lived their lives for 700 to 900 years more, constantly learning and maturing. Today, we start our families at the equivalent of their "child" stage, and our life is over just at the point where we are old enough to begin truly learning.
So... yes, the older you get, the more you realize how little we know.
Based on this.. be cautious. "Experts" do not usually know nearly as much as they make out. Science itself just knows enough collectively to get us into real trouble. We have some knowledge, but almost no wisdom, speaking as a society.
Desire wisdom? Seek the elderly. Seek those who have seen a few more sunrises than yourself. The most dangerous source for advice of any kind is from those the same age or younger than yourself. Age brings wisdom. Period. There are no shortcuts short of a miracle from above.
This too, will make sense when you are older.
