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Mental speed is high until age sixty

"Over the years, I have become convinced that much of the observed age-correlated cognitive decline in people younger than ~70 results from voluntary life choices, such as settling into fixed behavioral patterns (e.g. doing the same thing over and over for decades) and lack of exposure to new stimuli. It's the case for some physical activities as well: almost all people's actual performance degrades way, way faster, than their potential peak performance."

That Mountain You’ve Been Climbing Doesn’t Exist

"Here’s the reality. Life will continue to throw false summits in your path until you realize not only does the summit not exist but the mountain itself is a figment of our collective imagination. The mountain of ultimate achievement is an illusion that helps us escape the emptiness of life, infuses a sense of meaning into our existence, and keeps us feeling safe, even while we suffer on the climb. The mountain is a mental construct and a survival mechanism."

"The pressure mounts and we mindlessly set out to conquer another peak because it’s what we think is expected of us or will finally make us whole. We believe that these external efforts will finally “fix” something internal that might not even be broken."

"Here’s the secret: the only way to find peace in the freefall is to go within. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the depths of despair, frozen with angst, or blissed out. When we slow down and relax into the void, we’re able to see that we have everything we need in that moment. We can then reconnect with our essence—presence, awareness, and wholeness—and discover the peace and freedom we all have within."

"The real work is not in the climb someone else or society set you up for, but in becoming who you truly are in every moment. If you understand yourself only in relation to a series of false summits, you don’t understand yourself. The sooner you realize this the sooner you can begin to live your life on your own terms and enjoy the freefall. When you recognize this you’ll know you are perfect just where you are—in mid air, with the rest of us."

The myth of the myth of the well read person

"to understand something is not to know random minutiae about it - to understand is to know how the parts compose the whole, to notice patterns and discern their causes, and to be able to make predictions on the basis of these insights. In that sense, understanding is precisely what the weighty small print books fail to provide and what books advancing or attacking an explanatory theory are supplying."