Every so often I dip into the many books I have on the go.

Sometimes I see something which makes an impression and generally my mind wanders to the next...

There have been a couple of Blogs on the nature of age and its impact. As I was scanning the Hagakure on the train last night three paragraphs appeared to be relevent.

Until one reaches the age of forty it is better to put off wisdom and discrimination and excel in vitality . According to the person and the rank, though a person has passed the age of forty, if he has no vitality, he will get no response from others.

The resolution of the men of former times was deep. Those between the ages of thirteen and sixty went to the front lines. For this reason men in advanced years hid their age.

In carefully scutinizing the affairs of the past, we find that there are many different opinions about them, and there are some things that are quite unclear. It is better to regard such things as unknowable. Lord Sanenori once said, "As for the things that we don't understand, there are ways of understanding them. Furthermore, there are some things we understand just naturally, and again some that we can't understand no matter how hard we try. This is interesting"
This is very profound. It is natural that one cannot understand deep and hidden things. Those that are easily understood are rather shallow.

Hagakure