"The profoundest lessons are not the lessons of reason; they are sudden strains that permanently warp the mind." Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (Houghton Mifflin, 1973), p. 108.
Based on my experience, it makes you wonder whether those adventure nuts are correct when it comes to living life: press yourself to the max, and you come away with lessons that stick with you. Whereas the sedentary studious Scheske-types can't remember even half of what they read and think about. Could be.
Of course, the adventure nuts don't have a larger context to fit it into, since most of them are ignorant of history, philosophy, theology, psychology, and Henry Adams, so in that sense, the studious types have the edge.
And truth be told, I think the studious types have the edge altogether, because no matter how settled and sedentary you try to live, the stress will find you and impart its lessons. I know this first-hand.
