I hope?
Your Authentic Self
Can people change their fundamental selves?
We'd like to think so, at least in the area of the mind. Though if it ever were possible, it seems to become less common as one gets older.
This is just how I am. Pinched.
Does it become harder? Or are you just less interested? Perhaps you feel you've figured out everything you needed to.
The extra chunk helps keep me stable. I like it that way.
The concept of innate IQ is a little offensive, in this regard. It presents the view that a person has a fixed potential that cannot be exceeded. But it is important to not believe you have hit your limit, to avoid mental stagnancy and ossification.
Maybe you really do have some hidden limit. But if you believe in it, it's all to easy to think you know what it is, or that you have reached it, and to use that as an excuse to stop improving.
This is it. I've peaked.
Time to sit back and bask in my success.
Some people may be able to change fundamentally, to metamorphose even at a late age. But even if others can't or won't, it is still worthwhile to revisit old, supposedly-settled questions, and re-derive your conclusions. Incorporate new evidence.
Even if the rate and magnitude of our inner changes die down somewhat, outside of our control, they still do happen. Whereas if you give up and cease to believe that change can happen, you close a door.
And yet, can the ugly candy become beautiful? Can the rotten one taste good?
Maybe sometimes it's not worth trying?
How do you know when to surrender?
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