Seek Understanding
I mentioned a couple of months ago that I set out to read a book a day in 2016. I've fallen woefully short of this nigh-impossible goal so far, but my real aim has been to spend as much of my free time reading as I can manage. It has served well to help me manage my time, and keep me away from things that I might otherwise let distract me.
I am trying to approach works of fiction with an open mind. I almost always read non-fiction; I read to learn, not to be entertained. I'm beginning to appreciate the transformative power of narrative when it's expressed in words and not flitting images on a television screen.
When I was a freshman in college, I remember being interested in sociology; I was drawn towards it because I wanted to help people, but more importantly, because I wanted to understand the world. I had a lot of trouble reading sociology texts and grasping their lessons about the world at large, so in the end, I turned away from this major and instead got myself a trade.
I tried so hard in my youth to understand the world, because I recognized that it was full of problems, and I wanted to help it. Much later on, I settled for merely trying to understand and help the people in the community around me. Eventually, when I found I struggled to do that, I moved on to trying to understand my close friends, acquaintances, and family, because I wanted to deepen my relationships with them, but I'm not sure that I did a good job of that either.
Among the non-fiction I'm consuming these days, I'm reading a lot of psychology books written for the masses. While I've dabbled in this genre in the past, I did so with the hope of understanding people around me. I'm finding it more instructive to apply the lessons I'm reading to my own brain.
So in the end, I've been driven to understand the one thing that's been staring me in the face the entire time, which I've done a great job of ignoring: myself. That's becoming clearer by the day. It's too early for me to say for sure, but I get the sense that once I understand myself, there's a chance that I just might grow to understand the other people in my life. Maybe I'll eventually understand the larger forces at play in my community. And far off in the distance, there's a slight, very slight, chance that one day I'll even understand the world.
I am trying to approach works of fiction with an open mind. I almost always read non-fiction; I read to learn, not to be entertained. I'm beginning to appreciate the transformative power of narrative when it's expressed in words and not flitting images on a television screen.
When I was a freshman in college, I remember being interested in sociology; I was drawn towards it because I wanted to help people, but more importantly, because I wanted to understand the world. I had a lot of trouble reading sociology texts and grasping their lessons about the world at large, so in the end, I turned away from this major and instead got myself a trade.
I tried so hard in my youth to understand the world, because I recognized that it was full of problems, and I wanted to help it. Much later on, I settled for merely trying to understand and help the people in the community around me. Eventually, when I found I struggled to do that, I moved on to trying to understand my close friends, acquaintances, and family, because I wanted to deepen my relationships with them, but I'm not sure that I did a good job of that either.
Among the non-fiction I'm consuming these days, I'm reading a lot of psychology books written for the masses. While I've dabbled in this genre in the past, I did so with the hope of understanding people around me. I'm finding it more instructive to apply the lessons I'm reading to my own brain.
So in the end, I've been driven to understand the one thing that's been staring me in the face the entire time, which I've done a great job of ignoring: myself. That's becoming clearer by the day. It's too early for me to say for sure, but I get the sense that once I understand myself, there's a chance that I just might grow to understand the other people in my life. Maybe I'll eventually understand the larger forces at play in my community. And far off in the distance, there's a slight, very slight, chance that one day I'll even understand the world.