Crassula ciliata in the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden

The cilia or “eyelashes” on the margins of the leaf discs of Crassula ciliata look more like the legs of a millipede or something that might eat plants, not much like a plant itself. Imagination is a gift that may lead the mind astray, from warping plant features to animism and more. Superstition grows in the absence of understanding.

Use a magnifying glass (or if possible, a microscope) to see the funny bits in greater detail. The nano-world is close but mainly unseen and often unknown.

Then on to other plants, also those that look ordinary. The greater detail of magnified images reveals structural features clarifying processes of plant life. It may astonish, intrigue and add to understanding.

Even informal study and hobby learning yield rewarding results in todays world where access to information is vast, escalating continually. A similar message about how to observe the fynbos next to the town was conveyed in a compelling talk by Dr. Vic Hamilton-Attwell at a meeting of the Hermanus Botanical Society in February 2011.  

In every field the growth in knowledge and technology escalates opportunity for those that seek it. The Vulgate and the St James Bible gave access of a certain kind respectively to the masses, intriguing the high curiosity individuals. Galileo’s telescope brought the moons of Jupiter in view, access to knowledge of a different kind.

Electronics has brought the knowledge explosion to every doorstep and right inside. Unlocking knowledge everywhere may start slow or appear hard, but accelerates excitingly on many fronts in our time, particularly for those with determination. Much is increasingly accessible also to amateurs without formal study in a particular field of interest.

In Hermanus, after a rewarding, exhausting or even illustrious career left behind far a way and long ago, it may now be fynbos, biodiversity, the stars or the whales, to mention but a few popular local options. In another town, another topic, but also in every town, every or any topic, sometimes involving a more challenging threshold. Once there is focus, procrastination and lethargy having been overcome, the barrier to entry can be beaten.

Enjoyment from mental stimulation in any field of choice may be obtained once personal interest has been stirred. Escalation is kindled by active exploration, boosted by persistence and curiosity, a hunger for understanding and determination for mastery. Feed the minds eye, clarify the vision and live like never before, starting now, irrespective of age.

Abhorrence of boredom always helps. Avoid the emptiness born from idleness; its depressing! Idleness aggravates the mood whenever it exceeds the personal need for reflection. Old age is not an excuse for shunning life as an adventure of the mind in favour of grumpy contemplation of a reducing list of gripes.