And really, you can turn an idea about in your own head and never find a new facet of it, but even an ignorant comment can make you examine it in a new way. Secluding yourself seems to me an excellent way to stagnate, rather than to develop. [He shrugs. He has always rather defined himself by other people- or at least one particular person. He can't imagine doing without company altogether.]

He seems to be lost in his past, surrounding himself with what he has found there and expecting to come to some new revelation from it- which is clearly impossible.