Week 9 blog

This week I chose to read Michel de Montaigne, “of Experience,” from the Essays. I thought his idea of self-exploration was interesting, specifically his opening passage on 184. He states, “Men do not know the natural infirmity of their mind: it does nothing but ferret and quest, and keeps incessantly whirling around, building up and becoming entangles in its own work… It notices from a distance some sort of glimmer of imaginary light and truth; but while running toward it, it is crossed by so many difficulties and obstacles, and diverted by so many new quests, that it strays form the road, bewildered.” Now he makes it clear he’s specifically speaking about men; however, I think this can apply to everyone in today’s society. It’s so easy for people who are initially focused on a specific goal to stray away due to distractions or obstacles that enter their paths. Something that also interested me was further down on the page, he states “It is only personal weakness that makes us content with what others or we ourselves have found out in this hunt for knowledge.” I feel like this brings up the question of how long someone will dedicate their lives to finding out new pieces of information to add to their knowledge. I don’t exactly agree with his point here because I personally feel that there has to be an end to their search at some point. It’s not necessarily that they’re weak minded, they might have just realized they have acquired all of the knowledge available during their time.