The Fountain of Youth

In his book, She, Henry Rider Haggard writes of a woman who had lived for thousands of years through immersion in the fabled fountain of youth. Although Haggard's version turns out to be a pillar of flame, it is clearly connected to the ancient legend of such a life-giving fountain.

These days we do not believe in the existence of such convenient physical phenomena, preferring to put our faith in the ministrations of modern science and medicine. Yet still the quest for extended life goes on. The extent of our desire to live forever is well demonstrated by the existence of that dubious science, cryonics.

Whilst not desiring to live any longer than my allotted time, I am amused slightly to discover that there is, after all, a way to stay young throughout our lives (I admit that this will not enable you to live forever). The fountain of youth exists and is available to everyone.

It's called "learning". As long as we continue to learn, we retain those qualities that define the term "young". Youth seeks energetically and always wants to know more; it's age that has closed the gates and decided to rest upon opinions formed to date. And such a cessation of change and growth can happen at any time in life; I'm sure we have all known young people whose minds are made up and their course set in stone.

The fact is that it's movement that is life. Dead things stay resolutely in one place and refuse to move. And, while we're still learning, we have no option but to amend and alter opinions and plans as new information is acquired; this is movement and life.

As we get older, our bodies start to crumble and decay. We may even become reduced to immobility in a physical sense. Yet, through disease or accident, this can happen to the young too; do we then say that they have become old? No, what defines youth is the activity of the mind, the ability to accommodate new concepts and to formulate new ideas.

I am sure that we have all known old people who have surprised us with their alertness of mind. Who has not heard tales of the 70-year-old granny who went back to college to earn a degree? It is no coincidence that we say of such people that they seem so young. They are.

So, if there is a fountain of youth at all, it is found in that most mundane of activities, learning. As long as we keep learning, we move forward and give evidence of life. Let us not be so quick to decide that we have all the answers, that now we know the truth. There is always something more that we don't know yet, something that might turn all our decisions on their heads.

And death itself? Well, I guess that is just the most obvious symptom of our growing tired of learning and wanting to rest...

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