In India, for example, the four stages of a full life are student, householder, forest dweller/seeker, and, finally, wise elder. People cannot get on to the third and last stages of life until they have left the second. In the practical West, we stop at stage two, and increasingly do not have the skills for living even that stage well. I am sure this is part of the explanation for why our wisdom is so small, as are our insular politics and our tribal view of so much of the church.
