Africa-Press – Eswatini. Reading is usually presented to us as a liberating act that is meant to remove the cloud of ignorance that casts its spell over our psyche.
As such, reading is often times aggressively shoved down our throats as a sure means to getting ‘smarter’.
This is often the case as those who read more tend to allow more ideas to flow into their brains and this inevitably positively impacts their thinking.
What seems to be equally true, however, is that reading extensively, can often times tamper with our ability to think straight and think for ourselves.
Reading effectively and reading well must be simultaneously promoted alongside reading frequently.
This is because, when one is filled with an overflow of ideas from other writers and thinkers, their brain can get clouded by other people’s thoughts and opinions.
This is a natural phenomenon that happens to us all – none of our ideas are completely authentic and independent.
Without noticing it we absorb the thoughts, opinions, and views of others who surround us as we mirror our environment. The act of reading too much and haphazardly, however, was shown to have negative consequences by the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer.
Schopenhauer noted that by reading extensively, we are allowing someone else to do the thinking for us.
“When we read, someone else thinks for us; we repeat merely his mental process. It is like the pupil who, when learning to write, goes over with his pen the strokes made in pencil by the teacher.
“Accordingly, when we read, the work of thinking is for the most part taken away from us,” he reflected. This was never an attempt to look down upon the act of reading itself. Instead, the thinker was merely pointing out the importance of thinking clearly for oneself and not entirely delegating that responsibility to others.
He went on to offer even more striking and convincing arguments against reading excessively and irresponsibly.
“The result is that, whoever reads very much and almost the entire day but at intervals amuses himself with thoughtless pastime gradually loses the ability to think for himself, just as a man who always rides ultimately forgets how to walk.
But such is the case with many scholars; they have read themselves stupid. For constant reading, which is at once resumed at every free moment, is even more paralysing to the mind than is manual work; for with the latter we can give free play to our own thoughts,” he added.
Of course, it is slightly-ironic that I came across Schopenhauer and his work through reading but his statements have left a lasting impression on me.
One can disagree with a lot of his arguments and metaphors – for instance, the idea of forgetting how to walk merely from riding too much is absurd.
The argument he was trying to drive home, however, seems sound. Schopenhauer was not the only thinker to point out this problem. Ancient philosophers such as the Roman Stoic philosopher and Statesman, Seneca, also had a bit of a challenge with the reading habits of the public.
Seneca noted that one must be careful with the amount of reading they do and the unnecessary consumption of literature.
“Be careful, though, about your reading in many authors and every type of book. It may be that there is something wayward and unstable in it.
You must stay with a limited number of writers and be fed by them if you mean to derive anything that will dwell reliably with you. One who is everywhere is nowhere,” he wrote. T
The Stoic understood what the purpose of reading was: it was to positively change one’s internal world and have them function in a positive manner externally.
misconstrued
Both these thinkers are remembered for their monumental intellect and they must not be misconstrued as ‘anti-intellectual’ – they were merely cautioning (as though prophets) about a tendency that seems to be more of a problem in today’s world.
Today, we are a knowledge hungry generation that constantly wants to know what is happening in the world around us. Furthermore, we constantly want to know how the events of the past shaped our current world.
To a certain extent, those who engage in the dissemination of this information have some of the most exciting jobs in the world. On the other hand, this incredibly insatiable appetite for information may be leading us to abuse the act of reading.
We may be reading a lot but ineffectively. I certainly had to reprimand myself for my reading habits because, at some point, I was ingesting more than I could digest.
What then is the purpose of feeding your mind with information that you immediately drown out with more data before you can even process it?
For some of us, reading convinces us that we are indeed giving ourselves an edge over the unread and our ego can convince us that we are ‘enlightened’ – we may, in actuality, be deceiving ourselves.
What reading carelessly may do is that it may make us indecisive in our day-to-day functioning.
With each question we are asked and with each opinion we hold, we sift through the multiple theories that flood our brains. What may come out of our mouths after that is a series of incoherent and inconsistent thoughts.
This gives off an undesirable effect – as though we are not intelligent. Reading effectively and responsibly, however, gives us more fortitude and strength to defend ourselves against the misinformation and ‘nonsense’ that is rife in the world. It is not easy to think for oneself – it is much easier to rely on other thinkers.
What taking a break from reading does for an individual, however, is that it centres them as a thinking being capable of forming their own ideas as well. it is easy to fall for the trap of thinking that the opinions of previous thinkers is objective and your opinion is not worth taking seriously – they are, however, no different from the common man. We are all humans with the ability to think independently.
Of course, scepticism is a necessary tool if one is to be a clear thinker. The uncertainty that arises when one reads too much is not always a bad thing.
In fact, it seems clear that the more one knows they immediately realize how little they know. This creates an irreplaceable and strong feeling of curiosity and humility in the face of the world.
Furthermore, constantly relying on one’s own opinions on topics that have a wide range of literature may leave one extremely disadvantaged in their thinking.
It is only when they allow themselves to read when their thinking becomes more substantial. There is nothing wrong with reading enough to substantiate your own opinions – there is also nothing wrong with reading views that contradict your own.
These are all marks of a healthy, sceptical, and intellectually fit mind. The uncertainty that comes from all this reading, though, should never reach a point where it paralyses you and makes you indecisive. Every event has a myriad of causes that may be working behind it.
uncertainty
That does not mean, however, that every event must be met with an attitude of utter confusion and uncertainty.
In my opinion, there are certain habits that can help in ensuring the best results from reading.
For starters, one can have a clear cut list of what they want to read and what they are hoping to get out of it. As much as Engineering may be an interesting field, if you are interested in the history of fashion, for example, then maybe the best way to read is to focus on that topic by curating reading material that is related to it.
Reading ineffectively, in my opinion, would be reading books on Engineering while simultaneously reading books on Fashion. This will do nothing but cause clutter and confusion in one’s mind. Another method (which Seneca approved of) is reading the works of respected thinkers in a certain field. It is impossible to read everything that has been written and it is impossible to know every theorist that has ever existed.
Reading everything, therefore, is an impossibility. One must be content with the fact that, at some point, their lives will end before they read a certain work of literature that could have changed their lives forever. What one must try do, therefore, is read the contributions of certain respectable ‘players’ in a certain field.
This goes beyond just reading as even what we visually consume follows the same rules. If you want to understand the art of filmmaking, for example, you can content yourself with watching at least 10 films that have been made by directors who have become memorable and influential in the craft.
As you progress in your knowledge, however, you can then increase the quantity of films you watch. Another method that may help in improving reading habits is finding someone who you can discuss your reading with. This is the importance of book clubs.
What this does is that it removes the possibility of being an echo chamber of your own thoughts and interpretations of what you have read. Finding someone to discuss what you read enriches both of your minds and improves oratory skills. So, let us read (absolutely), but let us read well! By Ntsika Ngcamphalala
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