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In Montaigne’s writing, he mentions and gives examples on how powerful the mind and imagination is. It can be beneficial in a sense of healing, bringing happiness, and formation of something into reality. An example on how powerful our mind can be is, one of those ink photos, where many see either a duck, or a rabbit. In reality, it’s neither, it is simply, ink on paper. Our mind is so powerful that we can tell it what we want to see, which as why, some can see the rabbit, and some can see the duck. We simply see what we want to see, we tell ourselves what we want to believe. Which is why the in the writing, the doctor believed he was improving from his illness, through imagination, and seeing Montaigne. Now imagination is powerful, but not only positive, it can be negative. As we can see and believe what we want through the power of our mind, we sometimes fail to see and believe things that are seen differently from others.  Continue reading “The Power of The Mind”

Socrates and Phaedrus describe various kinds of lovers’ behaviors by both agreeing with Lysias’s idea of two kinds of lover which are, a non lover & lover. This illustrates the different aspects love. One describes the emotional attachment one can have that can lead to unhealthy habits such as jealousy, obsession, etc. (lover). Where as the non lover is one to be the  okay with a “give or take” type of relationship, where there doesn’t seem to be much of an emotional attachment and more so of a professional relationship.

The first word that comes to mind when I finished reading Pizan’s work was “feminist”. Her depictions towards the harsh treatment and lack of value towards women was very descriptive during those times. She does a great job in describing the conflicts ill thoughts men had perceived over women, further proving these thoughts to be false. She did this by writing about specific women who had great leader ship roles without having a male companion. This ultimately contradicted the statements that men were making towards women.

In Montaigne’s work, you can tell that imagination plays a major role. Montaigne emphasizes the importance of what our minds are capable of doing and emerging our thoughts to form. Something else Montaigne focused on in his work was the thought of fear. Fear is something everyone feels, something that makes us act in different ways and surely preventing us from moving on and prospering in certain areas. Over all, I believe Montaigne’s work is something not only I, but many readers can find relatable.

Louise Labe mentions that love can drives people insane and makes them sick, and it can cause intense confusion for lover. For example, the main character was having an emotional rollercoaster, one moment she is dreaming and admiring her lover, and the next moment she is crying and hating her lover. She is constantly contradicting her feelings toward her lover, yet she cannot control or stop these feelings. Louise shows us the ugly side of love, which it can be an unpleasant experience. As a result, love can make people lose sight of who they are, and they develop obsession over their lover.

When you read a good book, you will feel as if you have entered another world where you can communicate with the author. In this world, you can relax with all your heart, collide with the ideas in the book, and feel peaceful. This was how reading Montaigne’s Essays felt to me. Montaigne’s work was full of wise opinions which have enabled me to have a deeper understanding of life.
In this world, there are always people who complain that their situation is inferior to others. They pay too much attention to their surrounding environment and the situation of others that they have no focus on their own lives leading to missed opportunities. When a person complains about their circumstances, he often blinds his eyes and loses his direction. Montaigne says, “Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.” Only by constantly improving our skills and value can we adapt to the changing environment.
Montaigne also points out that, “There is no more expensive thing than a free gift.” I agree with this point and it is also reflected in the quote, “A free gift is a trap as people pay with their time; there is nothing more valuable in this world than time”. People often pay more in the end for something that was supposedly “free”. What we want must be achieved through our own efforts.
As for Montaigne, I didn’t know him before reading his book. After reading his book, I felt a strong sense of identity. His unique thinking on the value of life has strengthened my view on life and made me feel enlightened. This book will become a part of my value system and will accompany me in my future endeavors.

Montaigne states that imaginations are extremely powerful, it can be beneficial or harmful to you. In addition, we should be able to manage or limit our imagination instead of resist, the more we resist the worse it gets. Montaigne mentions in the passage that the doctor had an illness, and the only way to cure this illness is via imagination. For example, his illness is getting better just by seeing Montaigne, or thinking about his youth memoires. Hence, imagination can be faith and brings hope to our life if we use it properly. In contrast, Montaigne mentions that imagination can also makes us feel extremely uncomfortable, such as sweating, tremble, turning pale, red, or feeling agitated because of our desires are unmet. Hence, imagination can trigger negativity if we are controlled by the insatiable desire, it makes us feel like we are not good enough if we don’t meet our desires.

Montaigne does a brilliant job explaining how a persons imagination can shape so much of how their life is viewed. Similar to the psychology of our brains and bodies, Montaigne shows that when someone thinks of themselves in a certain manner, they are doing a certain thing to themselves without even physically attempting to do it.

Montaigne advocates the pursuit of happiness in life, and people must be the ones who create their own lives. Life is short, but we have to enrich our lives, arrange our lives, and do n’t always think about the fear of death. Montaigne is an optimistic idea. He believes that living people create fear for death. This created fear is more terrible than death itself, creating a gloomy atmosphere. In this case, we have not died. Montaigne tells the story of the soldiers, just to show that death is inevitable. We do n’t care when death comes, it ’s no different from being alive and dead all day long. In fact, it tells us that death is nothing. We face the fear of death, and we face life seriously. The value of life is to live a good life every day. Do n’t fear death, let this fear fill our lives.

Montaigne believes that fear arises from want of judgment as well as from want of courage. Fear can cause people make wrong decisions and ultimately lead to danger. When faced with danger, a man must maintain his judgment and not let fear dominates his body. Less fear generally means less danger. Montaigne also writes that fear has some influence on human imagination. This imagination from fear can bring disease and pain to people. Fear has a great impact on people’s body and mind.