Improving Your Intellectual Reading Life

Last week I shared some thoughts from the book, The Intellectual Life. This week I want to share thoughts on my favorite portion of the book where Sertillanges discusses reading. There is one point I disagreed with but other thoughts I fully agree. He begins the section on reading with, “Now reading is the universal means of learning, and it is the proximate or remote preparation for every kind of production.” (p.145). Reading is vital to our educational growth for life and our vocations. He adds that our learning is through connection and collaboration with other minds which reading connects us with great minds and great experiences. He then moves onto a point that first bristled me as he mentions “we need to read little”. Why mention that in a section on reading. He then clarifies that he is emphasizing balance in life. We need to set time for reading but also time for self reflection and do other activities in life. I fully agree with that. In his clarifying on “reading little” he reminds the reader that in the book he discusses a wide variety of topics so there needs to be a breadth of topics we read about. He proceeds to another thought I disagreed with: that we should not read passionately. I firmly disagreed with that as that is against my concept of being a Bookhead that there should be an internal passion for reading. Reading between the lines he was a monk and a professor in an age that emphasized intellectualism. Religion at that time had an aversion to the passions of humankind so the use of passion to reading may be contrary to him. Instead he emphasizes reading intelligently meaning concentrate and reflect on what is read. Critical thinking is important in my mind towards reading so I fully agree with his thoughts there; but I believe a passion is needed as well to be enthusiastic about reading. Being passionate about reading helps in building other readers. Both reading intelligently and building a passion for reading is important I feel for all readers. Sertillanges discussed four kinds of reading and expands on them in the text. “…I distinguish four kinds of reading. One reads for one’s formation and to become somebody, one reads in view of a particular task, one reads to acquire a habit of work and the love of what is good; one reads for relaxation. There is fundamental reading, accidental reading, stimulating reading or edifying reading, recreative reading.” (p.152). With my work as a therapist and in my former teaching work my focus was usually fundamental and edifying in the area of psychology and spirituality. An area of reading I need to work on is recreative reading as I do not read much fiction. He continues in this section on reading to give advice of being open to reading the great thinkers from the past and present to learn from others. His big emphasis too is to read what interests you. That goes back to his concept of reading little meaning focus in on your interests in reading but be open to building a breadth of knowledge. As I mentioned last week there is so much of interest in the book as a whole and also in this section on reading. One final quote from the book I will share is, “No one can teach us without our own effort. Reading puts truth before us; we have to make it ours. It is not the dealer in the market place that feeds our body. What I eat must turn into my substance. I alone can bring that about.” (p.168). This reminds me of the phrase you are what you eat. Similar in our mindsets and thoughts we are what we read. We need to take ownership of what we read and make choices to put the reading that impacts us into our daily lives. Reflection: What type of reading do you enjoy the most? How do you go about choosing the books you read?