To me it’s not end of the story that’s the point of this, but the idea that when you are more social and engaged with different ideas your mind is more creative and energized and flexible. And there are other times, especially as you age, where you are more isolated and your mind slows and gets trained into rote thoughts. They may or may not be the same ones you started with, and they may be well earned and refined thoughts from a lifetime of experience, but stripped of the complex context they arose in, they are still just a simplistic starting point for the next round.
A teacher told us what he thought was a funny story about his wife, who was on track to julliard or something playing piano as a kid, and then he bought her a nice piano when they were married and she discovered she couldn’t play anymore and basically never played again --they’re in their 60s now. I just felt so awful for her. You need good friends to help you over something like that.