The nature of catastrophe is after all reasonably unvarying in the way it ruins destroys wounds and devastates. But if something can be learned from the event - not least something as profound as the theory of plate tectonics - then it somehow puts the ruination into a much more positive light.
It is the spirit of the age to believe that any fact no matter how suspect is superior to any imaginative exercise no matter how true.
To resist the frigidity of old age one must combine the body the mind and the heart. And to keep these in parallel vigor one must exercise study and love.
Old minds are like old horses you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.