Youth

Youth is not wasted on the young. It is forgotten by the old.  

There is a wisdom in both youth and old age. Children are too innocent to care about the meaning or the wisdom, they simply live it. As we age this ability to simply be vanishes.

As what we call order and understanding begin to fill  

our lives the subtle and soft world of simplicity is lost.  

We focus on the labeled meaning of things. We call this,  

This and that, That. We have lost imagination and awe  

for the present moment. We have given up the beauty of  

simply being for a world of defined edges and set rules.

We can no longer see the world in a moment of spontaneity.  

The awe of a butterfly opening its wings no longer holds our  

attention because we all know what it looks like. We’ve seen it before. We need no longer look at its beauty. We need no  

longer feel its peace. But this is to miss the point of beauty and peace. It must be continually lived and experienced.

You do not know what a butterfly opening its wings looks like.  

And neither do I. Nobody does because nobody has ever seen  

one. We have all seen at some moment in time a particular
butterfly opening its wings. But that is it. We know what it looks like for that individual butterfly to spread its wings that one time.  

We know nothing else, nothing more. You have not the slightest clue what it looks like beyond that one singular experience.

You cannot live a full life with singular experiences. Life is a countless endless stream of moments and experiences. You have never seen a rainbow or a storm cloud or a sunset. You have only seen moments in time as experiences that flow through you like an endless river. You have lost that sight. You have put meaning to things. You have defined your sunset. You have named your clouds.

You have lost the wisdom of youth.

Of being. Youth is not wasted on the young. It is forgotten by the old.

Sit.

Be silent.

Breathe. Be.