A few years ago, as a travel journalist in Asia, I had an appointment with a spiritual leader in his office, and I was told that he was 94 years old.

I arrived at his office door, rang the bell, and a vigorous man with a booming voice answered and beckoned me to come in. The first thing he said was, “There will be no mention of age during our meeting. You will not use words like ‘older’ or ‘90s’ or ask me any questions that in any way refer to the amount of time I have been alive. Now let’s begin. I am a very busy man because I run six different companies.”

I was surprised, of course, but during our interview, I understood where he was coming from. He referred several times to his belief that accepting labels and holding stereotypical views about what happens when we have spent many

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