Arthur Schopenhauer felt that our world is basically what we recognize in ourselves as our “will”. It is up to the individual to successfully take on the responsibilities that life presents to each of us. Schopenhauer’s beliefs on reading books points out how much one can fall into dreams and allow authors to influence our thoughts and almost take over us. By reading, we do invite the author to deliver their point of view of a subject, but one must be strong and really take the content for granted. An authors point of view can be very strong, so keep it in perspective and enjoy the literary ride.
If I want to learn how to make an incredible pot of chili, I’ll rely on a book about foods with detailed recipes. It’s fine if we read to enlighten our knowledge base and really learn about history, or gain insight about the many subjects our complex world provides. However, I refuse to come away from a book I just read with a new, magic answer about that topic. I won’t allow that author to take over my mind and completely influence my opinions. I enjoy reading with an open mind and get into that piece, and learn from that author’s knowledge base. In the end, I’m going to digest and learn from the details of that topic, but I’m still going to use my own ingredients and cook up my own bowl of chili.
No comments:
Post a Comment