31 Comments

C. S. Lewis recommends reading *more* old books than new ones, and I agree with him. Nowhere else will you bump into people with ideas so different (even foreign!) to one’s own, thus forcing us to face our own assumptions and scrutinize them more closely than we ever have before. He said, of the blindness of each generation, “the only palliative is to keep the clean breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.”

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Yes, I love that essay of his. Such good advice.

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Simply wonderful Joel! You make a solid case that monkish scaffolds have profound applicability to today's scattered minds. I've added this one to my reading list :)

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Yes! This volume is essential, so is Kreiner’s earlier “The Wandering Mind.” They make a great pair.

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Whew!!! So often (much too often) in my devotion time I realize my mind is somewhere else entirely and I give myself a little mental scourge and honestly wonder how the monks could have the concentration to not dis-connect. What a relief to read, hear and understand that they too had wandering minds. Sometimes the harder you try to concentrate, the less successful you become in the moment, so I will set my goal to take a piece of the thoughts with me to ponder during the day. Those times at red lights and standing in line to check out at the store could certainly be enhanced by some recall/thought about what was read earlier in the day.

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I'd like to offer you a suggestion for a reframe that might help encourage more concentration in the moments you describe.

Losing concentration is a natural human process, we are not born with complete concentration. Rather than criticizing oneself for losing focus, it may be more helpful to thank your mind for noticing that it has lost focus, and then gently return back to your practice.

It's actually quite challenging for the mind to notice that it has lost focus, and it is beneficial whenever it discovers that the attention has been lost. The fact that you noticed it is a success.

Positively reinforcing this can lead to noticing it quicker each time and reducing the amount of time spent out of focus. Plus, it can even make the practice become a a little more of a pleasant experience.

I hope this helps.

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This is great advice, Marek! Thanks for sharing it.

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Marek---Thank you for taking the time for such an encouraging message. I shall try the thank you approach instead of the "scourge" approach as I gently return back. Pleasant experiences are always more helpful and sustaining than unpleasant ones. Thank you!

As a former teacher I know how the juices can flow (positive and negative juices) when the mind loses focus and sometimes produce wonderful and magnificent things.

Carol

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You're welcome. Thank you for your receptivity and openness. I appreciate the opportunity to share something that was passed to me. Good luck to you.

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I find the more books I read (and re-read), the better reader I became. And what is a better reader but someone who derives more intellectual capital from a book? So that too is proof that reading as a thinking activity is far more than a simplistic transfer of information.

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David, that’s spot on.

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I wonder what we would think if the "nous" had a "telos" that was comprehensive instead of reductionistic. Maybe the distractions that interrupt our prayers and meditations are necessary to be integrated into our understanding of reality. Could our disciplines grow our minds into something capable of being less narrow?

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I think there’s truth to that. The monks would probably agree, too, in that the dealing with distraction was for them part of the process of becoming all-consumed by prayer. The effort had a maturing quality, making distraction a benefit if used well.

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Wonderful! I was so struck by this line "It’s not about the wisdom we glean. It’s about what wisdom we grow." Thank you!

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Almost reads like a course in philosophy, this article when in school. See the words but can’t see the value until the years of life have been lived. Congratulations on a peek at this difficult topic!

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Thanks, Jill. It’s a fascinating and helpful book.

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One of the hardest acts for any human is to see outside of their own perspective-- especially if you don't read books. They are easily the best way to fully immerse yourself outside your perspective, especially older books.

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So true. And the amazing thing is those are the easiest to procure.

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No one will recall who Richard Hanania was 15 minutes after he spins off this mortal coil. Including, probably, his own family.

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That’s true for nearly all of us. But the point is well taken: People that are remembered have demonstrated something of enduring value, and their books are worth reading.

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So good and so reassuring that our desert fathers struggled over a milenia ago with focus as much as we do now. I am never not covniced that the more things (we) progress the more they (we) stay the same.

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Yes, it’s a relief. And there are even upsides to our wandering minds, too. We are remarkably consistent in our inconsistencies :)

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What a neat idea, to look to monks on the topic of maintaining focus. I would not have thought of it, but upon reflection, it makes perfect sense. My local library has "The Wandering Mind" on its shelves, so off I go! I always appreciate learning that some problems (and their solutions) are not as brand-new as we think.

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You’ll love The Wandering Mind. It’s fascinating and pretty fun, too. Kreiner is a great writer.

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Adding this book to my list. Love the bit about friction you included by Thoreau, too. Life needs more friction, not less. Read long books, not summaries. Summaries are for Silicon Valley hacks.

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Yes! The friction is a feature, not a bug, to use the Silicon Valley phrase.

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I think I need this one.

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You’ll dig it.

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Are you familiar with Ivan Illich's book, In The Vineyard of the Text, about Hugh of St. Victor's Didascalicon de studio legendi? ("Pedagogical text on the study of reading.) Hugh's book is nominally a summary of the domains of knowledge covered by medieval education. Illich's commentary is about the bookish and scholastic nature (or Hugh's monkish manner) of reading, relating, and befriending at the time when contemplative reading emerged.

Previously, reading was mostly done as a group ritual or public performance — and sung or chanted. Hugh's silent and individual but still very social manner of reading is distinctly modern in ways we can recognize as our own if we're over 30 to 50 — and as a thing that's passing away for nearly everyone coming after. Perhaps a new "dark age" is emerging now that can't comprehend its own darkness out of a lack of focus and memory.

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I’ve got the book but haven’t read it. I’ve read Hugh of St. Victor’s Didascalicon. I’ve heard that Illich’s book is the best companion for it.

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This is what I needed today.

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