The philosopher Bertrand Russell left some instructions on how not to grow old, in the sense of being tired and tiresome, as we grow old, in the sense of being ancient.
He thought we ought to let our interests get broader as we age. As a young man, Russell wrote on the problems of logic and epistemology. As an old man, he wrote on broader topics, including this one.
You can see the broadening of interests in his life and in his essay “How to Grow Old,” which includes this metaphor:
An individual human existence should be like a river: small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.
It’s a striking metaphor. While I admire it, it doesn’t seem right to me. I’m still engaged in some of the narrow interests that fascinated me when I was young. And some of my interesting old friends have their own narrow interests that continue to fascinate them.
I think human beings constantly search for better metaphors, for better ways of understanding the world. I’d love to have a better metaphor for “an individual human existence.”
• Source: Bertrand Russell, “How to Grow Old,” was published in Portraits from Memory and Other Essays; New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956. I found the essay online here:
https://www.organism.earth/library/document/how-to-grow-old
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