Sunday, July 8, 2012

I want to read again.

I need to get back to reading things. Not just reading to while away the time, but reading to grow. Reading in the can hasn't been a good exercise for me. It doesn't allow for more introspection or imagination. The mind wanders from the task at hand when you have to poop. You can't read well when you are rushing to get to the office.

I want to read again. To read and absorb all of that author-y goodness. I believe that I won't be able to fully "suck out all the marrow of life", but by God through books I will feel as if I did.

I want to read the whole maddening array of books. I want to dive right into life entombed in ink and paper. I feel as if I have to explore the book store, with the world laying spread eagle in front of me.

In reading, I feel that I am everywhere and nowhere at once. I might be beside Tom Sawyer as he is figuring out a way to handle the Herculean task of whitewashing the fence. In another moment I might be discovering the word to describe the movement of the rich from the city's innards to the suburbs and back again.

I think all of us should read. The act of reading and the art of reading closely should not be limited to books or the "classics". We should extend these powers to all forms of our written tradition. I believe that the art of reading closely should likewise be extended to all forms of art. We should notice something that is there but is not apparent.

However, this is reading for the sake of reading. The end goal being the enjoyment and nourishment of the mind and spirit. Reading as a preparatory step of acting is a wholly different manner. That would require actual movement on the part of the reader. Reading a text book on how to speak Spanish or Japanese requires that the reader converse with someone knowledgeable in that language.

Reading, for me, is still a very important part of being human. Let us not forget it in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of our society.