When Experience Finally Makes Sense

Most of life is lived before it’s understood.

Carl Jung captured this with a line that sounds playful but isn’t: “Life really does begin at 40. Up until then you are just doing research.” What he meant is simple. The early years rarely bring clarity. They are full of trial, error, attachment, ambition, and imitation. You try on identities. You chase outcomes. You learn what doesn’t work by living it.

The yogis taught a similar thing. Wisdom, they taught, does not arrive through books, teachers, or age alone. Wisdom arrives through experience, and experience often arrives through pain. Because suffering leaves a mark. It slows you down. It forces attention. It teaches what comfort never could.