Books or, more importantly, reading books is a unique miracle to our soul. “Someone once asked Phillips Brooks, ‘When were you born?’ And he said, ‘I will tell you about it. It was one Sunday afternoon about 3:30 just after I had finished reading a great book.’” (1)(2)
If someone asked me the same question, I was 20 years old and serving a mission in the beautiful state of Oklahoma. Miami, Oklahoma, to be exact. A church member’s family had invited us for dinner after service, accompanied by conversation and the ever-unavoidable nap.
For the past several visits, I had not been tired after lunch but sat with a book I had found to be of intense interest to me. The book written by Stirling W. Sill was about books and opened a hunger for knowledge within me that would be difficult to describe. “Books serve as our storehouses of wisdom”(3) Mr. Sill expounds in the first chapter; unfortunately, the more I’ve read, the more I’ve come to appreciate the complexity of the effort. I’ll explain.
” Books are not dead things but contain a certain potency of life in them as active as the soul whose progeny they are. They preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy of the living intellect that bread them.” ~ John Milton (4)
It is heartbreaking, then, that these “vials” are forever sealed to us.
Gerardo Patriotta, an organizational theorist, holds that “our universe is preinterpreted.” In other words, we only see what our current stock of interpretations allows us to see,(5) or perhaps a romantic would say, “Every beauty to which you respond must have its corresponding outline in your brain before you can appreciate it.”(6) Regardless of how it’s said, our perception adjusts to what we experience. Through this lens, our brain filters information in everything we do.
We “see” the world through the lens of our experiences, not a visual sight but a more profound sense of perceiving, understanding, and interpreting, (7) just as Milton, Hemingway, Tolstoy, and Shakespeare did in their time. The “purest efficacy” preserved in the vial will hold little sway as our brain filters what we read through the lens of our experiences. I will gain more from Hemingway than from Shakespeare or Tolstoy because my interpretations more closely resemble the lens through which he wrote.
Then how do we take ownership of this vast intellectual inheritance?
There is hope and genius found in the transference process. John Milton may have been correct to say that “Books are not dead things,” but the spark that gives the “potency of life” is not found in the “intellect that bred them,” but in the consciousness of the mind that interprets them.
We enter life with one thing: potential (consciousness). The universe has already provided the raw material to actualize it. (8) These raw materials are wheat, meat, flax, and wool. Someone discovered how to use silk, grow fruit, mine coal and iron ore, fly through the air, and find frequencies to send pictures, voices, and songs.(9) Who knows what discoveries lay dormant?
However, for everything I need, I must learn, discover, or produce myself. I have a head start, to be sure, and I can build on the knowledge of the past, but it must be my choice,(10) my mind, and my effort.(11)
We get a balance from reading the thoughts of others.
Our brains filter information, and although we have a certain amount of control, controlling our brains’ filtering process is an ant’s worth of effort while riding an elephant. Reading a well-thought-out story or article can provide reason and understanding to occurrences, influencing our insight and judgment (12) as each author attempts to interpret, distill, and make sense of often chaotic and cumbersome stories through their perception filters. We can benefit from the informed opinions of others, including Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Hemingway. (13)
Reading is the process.
“Reading is the process by which we take possession of this fabulous inheritance.” (14) While my consciousness interprets what I read, my mind also recognizes the experiences I share with authors based on direct acquaintance. (15) I might not share Shakespeare’s life experiences of living during the Elizabethan era; I am, however, intimately acquainted with the complexities of relationships and love. I read headlines daily about the consequences of ambition, power, political intrigue, and manipulation. I don’t share Tolstoy’s war experiences; however, I have lost loved ones.
We take possession of our vast intellectual inheritance through reading and our acquaintance with life. The best authors don’t have to name anything specific, nor do I have to share their life experiences. Their stories awaken in me the impressions of what it means to be human. And that experience I share with all of humanity.
Written October 26, 2023
Editorial assistance by Grammarly.
Thank you for reading!
Published simultaneously at Medium.
Footnotes and References
[1]: Sill, S. W. (1974). The majesty of books. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book. p.305.
[2]: My essay: When were you born? — Linda’s Brick Barn (lindasbrickbarn.com)
[3]: Ibid. (Sill, 1974) p.3.
[4]: Ibid. (Sill, 1974) p.5.
[5]: Weick, Karl E., and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe. Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty. Second ed., Jossey-Bass, 2007. p.57.
[6]: Haanel, Charles F. “The Master Key System: Complete with Haanel’s Question and Answers After Each Chapter.” Kindle Edition. Location 1044.
[7]: Covey, Stephen R. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Franklin Covey, 1998. p.23.
[8]: Rand, Ayn (1964–11–01). The Virtue of Selfishness (p. 11). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Location 344.
[9]: Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young, Chpt 31: Thrift, Industry, and Self-Reliance, p.225.
[10]: And I must live in a society that allows such freedoms.
[11]: Ibid. (Rand, 1964) p.11.
[12]: Ibid. (Sill, 1974). p.10.
[13]: Kahneman, Daniel. (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.
[14]: Ibid. (Sill, 1974) p.11.
[15]: Ibid. (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2007) p.57.