168 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
168 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
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NEW WINE AND OLD WINESKINS
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The wisdom of old age is the fruit of a lifetime of living a moral
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life and practicing the discipline of a religious path. However, the
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effort which it takes to realize the fulness of spiritual wisdom should be
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undertaken from one's youth. Strength and adaptability are required, and
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once old age has drawn nigh, it becomes too difficult to practice and too
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late to change. Old age is a time to manifest either the wisdom gained as
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the fruits of that effort or the decrepitude of a wasted life.
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Jesus said to them, "No one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does,
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the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will
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be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
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"And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is
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good.'"
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Christianity. Luke 5.37-39
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Elisha ben Abuya said, "If one learns as a child, what is it like? Like
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ink written on clean paper. If one learns as an old man, what is it like?
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Like ink written on blotted paper."
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Rabbi Jose ben Judah said, "He who learns from the young, to what is he
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like? To one who eats unripe grapes, or drinks wine from the vat. And one
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who learns from the old, to what is he like? To one who eats ripe grapes,
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or drinks old wine."
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Rabbi Meir said, "Look not at the flask, but at what it contains: there
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may be a new flask full of old wine, and an old flask that has not even
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new wine in it."
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Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 4.25-27
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Luke 5.37-39: The first saying speaks to the fact that a new teaching is
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more readily learned by the young, whose minds are still open and
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impressionable. The old person, being full of concepts and
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long-established habits of mind, cannot easily learn new things.
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Furthermore, since Jesus' words were challenging to the conventional
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wisdom, they could hardly be received by people bound to the traditions of
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the past: see Luke 9.60, p. 583; 9.62, p. 742; 14.16-24, p. 674.; Qur'an
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43.33-35, p. 673. The second saying, conversely, praises the wisdom of
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the elder who is well-versed in faith, wisdom, and life experience. Abot
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4.25-27: The first two sayings have meanings which correspond to the New
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Testament passage above: that the young are better learners and the old
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are better teachers. The third saying, that one cannot judge a book by
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its cover, may be a retort by a young teacher to Rabbi Jose's saying.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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You can only coil a fish when it is fresh.
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African Traditional Religions. Nupe Proverb (Nigeria)
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The Master said, "Respect the young. How do you know that they will not
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one day be all that you are now? But if a man has reached forty or fifty
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and nothing has been heard of him, then I grant there is no need to
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respect him."
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Confucianism. Analects 9.22
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At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet
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upon firm ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At
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fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven. At sixty, I heard them
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with a docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own
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heart for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.
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Confucianism. Analects 2.4
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If the hair has become white, a man does not on that account become old;
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though a man may be young, if he is learned the gods look upon him as old.
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Hinduism. Laws of Manu 2.136
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You cannot prolong your life, therefore be not careless; you are past help
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when old age approaches.
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Jainism. Uttaradhyayana Sutra 4.1
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You have gathered nothing in your youth; how can you find anything in your
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old age?
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Christianity. Sirach 25.3
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The man of little learning grows old like the ox. His muscles grow but
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his wisdom grows not.
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Buddhism. Dhammapada 152
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He is not thereby an elder merely because his head is gray. Ripe is he in
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age; "old in vain" is he called. In whom are truth, virtue, harmlessness,
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restraint, and self-control, that wise man who is purged of impurities is,
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indeed, called an elder.
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Buddhism. Dhammapada 260-261
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Yuan Jang sat waiting for the Master in a sprawling position. The Master
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said, "Those who when young show no respect to their elders achieve
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nothing worth mentioning when they grow up. And merely to live on,
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getting older and older, is to be a useless pest."
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Confucianism. Analects 14.46
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Nupe Proverb: A person can only be educated when he is young and flexible.
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Analects 2.4: Confucius' own growth in wisdom, described in this passage,
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could be a model for all wise people who apply themselves to learning and
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spiritual discipline throughout life. Cf. Analects 16.7, p. 928.
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Dhammapada 152: Cf. Qur'an 91.7-10, p. 715.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Before the gray descends on your cheek,
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the wrinkles plow your chin,
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and the body becomes a cage of bones;
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Before the teeth fall off from your mouth,
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the back bends to the earth,
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and you become a burden to others;
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Before you hold a stick in one hand
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and lean heavily with the other on your knee;
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Before age corrodes your bodily beauty
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and you feel the pangs of death;
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Adore our Lord Kudala Sangama!
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Hinduism. Basavanna, Vachana 161
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Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days
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come, and the years draw nigh, when you will say, "I have no pleasure in
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them"; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are
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darkened and the clouds return after the rain; in the day when the keepers
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of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease
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because they are few, and those that look through the windows are dimmed,
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and the doors on the street are shut; when the sound of the grinding is
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low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of
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song are brought low; they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors
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are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself
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along and desire fails; because man goes to his eternal home, and the
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mourners go about the streets; before the silver cord is snapped, or the
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golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the
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wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
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and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
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Judaism and Christianity. Ecclesiastes 12.1-7
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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Ecclesiastes 12.1-7: This passage describes in metaphorical language the
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body's deterioration in old age.
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