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.”
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 :)
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.”
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 :)
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
No one will recall who Richard Hanania was 15 minutes after he spins off this mortal coil. Including, probably, his own family.
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.
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.
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.
I think I need this one.
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?
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.