Wednesday post

I do not know if I necessarily fully can grasp the idea that being too intellectual will ultimately stifle decision making to the point where the thinker is paralyzed. It just does not make sense to me. If the man was intelligent enough to be able to see both sides, he should be able to choose one of those sides, because he is smart enough to see how one outweighs another.

When Dostoyevsky presents the reader with the idea that you cannot live past your forties, it initially confused me. Obviously, we can physically live past our forties and on. But, what I think Dostoyevsky is getting at here is that as you age, you stop judging. Mentally, we change more than we do physically. This idea links back to The Stranger lecture in regards to the filter of distortion. Between ages 10-40, we build up that filter of distortion, distorting our perception of the society around us. Through years 41-death, that filter begins to evaporate as we begin to judge less because we are closer to death. We enjoy more, we are conscious of our surroundings less, and begin to focus on ourselves and fulfilling our own self duties.