Stop Reading

That's right. Stop reading.
Of course to find the reason why, you must keep reading.
Bear with me a moment, please.

Marcus Aurelius left himself a note at the beginning of his personal journal, a note to himself, that simply says, "throw away your books." Another Roman senator wrote to his friend encouraging him to stop gorging himself on books. What kind of advice is this? How is one to learn, to gain wisdom if one does not read? Is experience enough? Do we have enough resources within reach without reading?

We are drowning in information and a high percentage of that information means absolutely nothing. Among other things, this very blog bears a number of posts regarding reading and I confess that I've done my part in contributing to--well, let's just say, "the pile."

What do we have the ancients did not? The internet, blogs, magazines, e-zines, newspapers, and going a step further, various forms of media that include the news, entertainment--so many ways to relay information. The ancients had whatever was written in stone (which was not much, due to production, basically), on papyri or later on parchment scrolls. What did they mean, then, to discourage reading?

The reason is simple: one who reads over-much may think more highly of themselves than they should. One who reads without purpose exposes himself to influences beyond his control and easily susceptible to untested ideas. They acquire what we may translate from the Greek as "intelligent stupidity." They've got a bunch of facts, a wealth of knowledge, but no wisdom.

So what do we do? We can't stop reading, but we mustn't read everything.

Ask yourself a some questions:

1) What does my reading material have to do with me?
2) What am I doing with the information I read? Does it just go in my head only to be forgotten?
3) What contribution does this make to my life? How am I a better person, by what I read?

Believe me, I'm a bibliophile and wrestling with this concept is not easy, especially when there are so many books on my own shelf I've not yet read. And parting with books is not easy--but that's a personal problem. And writing--I am now made to be more careful, more intentional about what I contribute to "the pile."

But it's something to think about.
Now that you've read it.