C. S. Lewis had it right, somehow… We get older, not wiser, or more knowledgeable, but older. If I have a lot of knowledge about the world and its intricacies, I am quite old. Every day I rise and attend class I get older, every time I learn something new about the way society functions or how to be responsible in certain areas, I become very old indeed.
The setting was Perelandra, one of Venus’ names, a pristine planet shrouded in a canopy of mist, a new Eden upon which God had placed a woman, pure, and very young. The protagonist, Ransom, was sent to the planet to protect her from the influences of the evil one, who tried to make her very old (in a bad sense) by corrupting her mind and heart and turning them from her kinship with her Creator. Age and youth were the only words she could find to define concepts such as wisdom and knowing good from evil, and somehow, sometimes, they seem to explain things when all else has failed. It’s a good book. Read it, especially you science-fiction fans.