Letting the imagination off the leash

 I’ve mentioned this before, but Montaigne thought that old people should practice wanton thoughts.

When we’re young, we need to hear voices urging us to virtue. But when we’re old, the voice inside tends to deliver one sermon after another. We’ve gone from being unbridled to hogtied.

The cure: Let the imagination off the leash. Not all the time. Once a day is plenty.

You can find many books offering advice on aging, but I don’t think you can beat Montaigne. He enjoyed retirement. He loved to think about what he’d learned about people and about himself.

 

Here, I am in short putting the finishing touches to a particular man, not making another one instead.

 

• Source and notes: Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays, translated by M.A. Screech; London: Penguin Books, 1993. The advice on wanton thoughts is from “On some lines from Virgil,” p. 948.  The quotation is from “On restraining your will,” p. 1143.

For five-year-old note on this topic, see “Practicing wanton thoughts,” Sept. 8, 2021. It’s here:

https://hebertaylor.blogspot.com/2021/09/practicing-wanton-thoughts.html

I’m marking another birthday. Montaigne was born Feb. 28, 1533 at the Chateau de Montaigne.