In fact, the only way to remain creative over time — to not be undone by our expertise — is to experiment with ignorance, to stare at things we don't… - Jonah Lehrer

Neuroscience has contributed so much in just a few decades to how we think about human nature and how we know ourselves.

"In particular, Vaillant says, it is the experience of loving and being loved that most closely predicts how we react to the hardships of life; human attachments are the ultimate source of resilience. “The seventy-five years and twenty million dollars expended on the Grant Study points, at least to me, to a straightforward five-word conclusion," Vaillant writes. “‘Happiness equals love. Full stop.

"Emerson looked like a Puritan minister, with abrupt cheekbones and a long, bony nose. A man of solitude, he was prone to bouts of selfless self-absorption. "I like the silent church before the service begins," he confessed in "Self-Reliance." He wrote in his journal that he liked man, but not men. When he wanted to think, he would take long walks by himself in the woods."