#42 What Wisdom Comes With Age

#42 What wisdom comes with age
[Speaker 1] (0:02 - 0:30)
Welcome to Different Points, episode 42. And our topic today, and before I say our topic, I'm going to introduce my wonderful co-host, Roy Colan, who I'm delighted to be doing this with, and I'm Catherine Llewellyn. So today's topic is what wisdom comes with age?

When I saw that topic, I burst out laughing. But Roy, what wisdom have you gained at your immense age that you are now?

[Speaker 2] (0:30 - 2:07)
When I'm so young, I'm still learning, you know, so. I don't know. I think I constantly reflect on everything.

And then, like, I mean, I've talked about all my financial things with properties. So the wisdom that I got from that is I don't use credit cards, because you can get into the trouble thinking you'll assume everyone's going to pay you. You assume you get these sales and everything's going to be hunky dory, but assumptions don't lead to reality.

And I just don't use a credit card. I haven't used a credit card since this happened to me. And I don't borrow.

So it's a case of that's a lesson that I've learned. And I think you're not spending money that you don't have, because that's what I think society does. They kind of go away and they're buying all these different things.

And it's like, you know, getting the car and pay later and all this. And they don't really realize it. So I think sometimes when you have the cash as well, when you see it going down in your wallet, as opposed to the piece of plastic, even if it's a debit card, you don't really see it.

So I think that would be one of the things. And keep track of your finances as well, because you know what's going on, because sometimes there's stuff going on. You know, how was this?

And there's times that, you know, some companies, they're supposed to charge it once and they do it monthly. And even like on, say, a pod, Boeing, they've tried it a few times with different things. And if I wasn't paying attention, they'd be constantly taking money off me, but I'm kind of checking it going, no, you're wrong.

So the lessons that I've learned is to pay attention to the little things because they end up being the bigger things.

[Speaker 1] (2:09 - 6:09)
Excellent. And that thing you mentioned about the credit card and everything. During the lockdowns, I watched some videos about money and economy and stuff like that.

And, and I understood for the first time that in the UK, everyone who's born is born into debt. They're already in debt because the economy is in debt. And then most people actually have actual debts, mortgages, high purchase debts.

And I thought, no wonder in the UK, we've got such a terrible relationship with money. We've got this very weird relationship with it, where we feel like we are owed money by other people for whatever reason we think they owe us money, or that the government owes us money, or we don't realise the government doesn't have any money, all the money has came from people who were taxed. So we've got this very weird relationship with it, which is just not based on reality.

So like you, Roy, I now don't have any debts or loans or anything. And that makes such a difference to my whole psychology, my ability just to enjoy my life. And it also helps me understand so many people are just under that.

And because it's, it's like the water we're swimming in, the air we breathe, people believe that debt is inevitable. Like the sun coming up, I'm in debt, the sun coming up, I'm in debt. So they forget it's the case.

But they don't realise the drain it's got on their energy. So I think that's very important what you raised there. But the reason I laughed when this topic came up is because I think the main wisdom I've got as I've got older is that most of what we think of as wisdom is absolutely meaningless.

It's just nonsense. You know, we think we understand what life is, how the universe works, how human psychology works, how love works, how the body works. We have no idea that most of this, we have some tiny, tiny idea compared to everything that's true.

So for me, that's the biggest wisdom I've got with age, the understanding that I know nothing compared to the scheme of things. And actually, that's very, very freeing. And it makes and it means life's much more interesting and surprising for me, rather than constantly chasing after.

Years ago, I asked a spiritual teacher I was following, I was sort of, I need wisdom, I need guidance. And how would I do with my life? And I and I looked up at him and said, can you give me, you know, a piece of wisdom and advice?

And he looked at me and he said, well, if you take your duvet, and you hang it over the banister, and you leave it hanging there for a while, it will drop out really well, that'd be really good for the duvet. And I went away from him. And I thought, bastard, why, you know, why did he say that?

And he said that because he knew that what I was asking for was something no one else could give me. So he gave me something he could give me, which actually was a really good piece of wisdom. However, it wasn't what I thought I needed.

So that's my take on what wisdom comes with age. So I wonder what you what you know, whatever age you are watching and listening to this, there probably are really good bits of wisdom, actually, despite what I just said. However, are there also other inklings of how much don't you know?

And how dependent are we on believing the wisdom we think we have? And how open are we to the fact that actually, there's so much more out there. So thank you for watching and listening.

Please do tell your friends and give us a thumbs up and do all the other lovely things. And we'll see you next time. And thank you to Roy.

[Speaker 2] (6:09 - 6:16)
And the more I know, the more I realize I don't know. Until next week, take care.