A New Year for an Improved Type of Reading Materials

To read is to take on wings and travel over places, eras, ideas, concepts, nationalities, and cultural barriers. We fly as close to the subject as the author allows - and no closer. Flight is a fantastic and useful phenomenon so long as you maintain a horizontal flight pattern with the desired direction. So it is with the reading of humanly inspired writings.

It has been said that a person’s growth and maturing process relies heavily upon three basic elements consisting of what a person experiences, what a person retains in their memory, and what a person reads. In today’s world of fast-pace living, smartphones and TV, this thought is no longer accurate. The concept is, however, still correct in assuming that we are influenced greatly by media, memory, and experience.  Furthermore,  although reading is no longer the primary way that the majority of people collect information and seek entertainment, our reading materials are as proportionally important now in influencing our thought patterns as were the books of our preceding fathers.

Let us for a short time consider the options we have in our selection of publications to read.  Primarily, we have fiction and non-fiction.  Some would argue that non-fictional books out-class that of fiction due to the assumption that such reading materials consist of factual information. Others might argue that fiction is more imaginative, more enjoyable, and in being selective, they gain much insight by reading fictional stories. Non-fiction is, after all, written by humans. Thus, it is also slanted information written to persuade you of the author’s agenda, hidden or otherwise.

I am not in this blog taking either opinion as my own. I only want to bring out that the reading materials that we choose should be of quality.

If you enjoy fiction, read literature of interpretation over escape literature. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. It is a terrific thing to engage. Rather than escaping from reality, use your imagination to travel deeper into the real world in which we live. The image that fiction presents is purged of the time-space factor, distractions and the accidents of ordinary life. We are at liberty to gaze at the inner logic of things-of a personality, of the consequences of an act or a thought, of a social or historical situation.  Thereby, you can gain valuable understanding and insight. By reading fiction, we leave the world of actuality. However, if it is good fiction and we are good readers, the story will in a roundabout way return us to the world and to ourselves. Wholesome literary works reconcile us with reality. It reiterates our convictions and challenges our behaviors while removing us from the circumstances of normality. John Dewey worded it by saying that it should take “life and experience in all its uncertainties, mystery, doubt and half-knowledge and turn that experience upon itself to deepen and intensify its own qualities.”

Do you prefer non-fiction? Wonderful! Let your reading orbit your goals. We would all agree that there is much refuse to be found in the “factual” realm as well. Before reading the book, scan it to see what agenda the author has, what is his/her world view, etc. While reading, ask yourself if the reasoning  therein is sound, is it biblically correct, what are the principles it is trying to convey and how can they be applied?! Passive reading is a contented lion’s stomach-a meal easily snared.  Actively apply your mind to the subject matter. If the subject matter is not worth knowing, put the tome down. Otherwise, digest the materials in such a way that you can filter the venerated information apart from the drivel.  To put it in common and somewhat abstract language, enjoy the Porterhouse steak while disposing of the gristle (preferablly before you chew it). J

I digress. We are truly privileged to have the ability to decipher crude markings upon paper that we might gain a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom from them. I would simply like to encourage you over the next year to not only think on, but also to read “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,” read these publications.