Reading A Book Means Meditating

Reading is important. Reading deeply is even more important. When a person reads, he meditates. He meditates the ideas and analyzes the thoughts and conclusions drawn by the author in any writing. Sometimes, in the deep meditation stage, a reader stops thinking about the author and starts conversing. This stage makes the reader completely honest with his or her inner self. Thus, meditation unveils as the reader goes deep into a book. There are questions being asked and searched inside a write-up or a book.

Thus, a book is for readers and not for skimmers. An article on the internet might be skimmed, but not a book. Internet articles are browsed for quick life information. But a book is read deeply to understand a concept. 

As known, the exposure of internet to this generation readers, especially students, is vast. Of course, there are e-books, but the interest level of a reader with an e-book compared to a paper book is still in question. 

In ‘Lectures to My Students’, Charles H. Spurgeon has said, “A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed.” It is important to read a book thoroughly and understand deeply.

How does a book produce the magic effect of illusion in the reader’s mind? The illusion is arrived at when the book explains a situation in a dramatic way. A book of meanings would be a dictionary; and a book explaining such meaning through an explanation – is a story.

Story brings life to any piece of writing. A book contains stories. It can either be fictional or a non-fiction. Stories help us to feel, imagine and understand the world. In situations where our minds get doubtful and curious, such story telling quenches our thirst, which we better know as the “food for thought”.

A similar food for thought session is going to be conducted at the Victory University campus on February 25th. As part of the Take Up and Read, the Common Readings Program, Victory University is conducting a discussion and book review session. The discussion will be led by Professor Jonathan Vowell. The book on discussion is The Knowledge of the Holy by popular evangelical author A. W. Tozer.

For more information on the session, e-mail to Faculty Moderator and Professor Jonathan Vowell at jvowell@victory.edu