Soft chair, pillows placed accurately, table lamp turned on, wine glass filled with a 2002 Napa Valley cabernet, blanket across my lap, and I open the book. Holding a book brings me to a state of calm, knowing that my intellect will be forever altered by the process that I am about to begin.
Reading is a transcendental, hypnotic occurrence for me. Getting lost in the pages of one of my favorite writers is a dream-like gift. The ability to sit still and simultaneously be transported to a new world all at the same point in time is one of my utmost delights. Reading has prepared me for more than just educating or entertaining myself. It has given me confidence in that there is more to myself than I can convey.
I explore my worldspace when I read. The written word has no behavior of its own but it influences my etiquette. The memory of the written word leaves only fragments in my mind; however it creates my outlook on culture and nature. The core of my spiritual faith has been constructed from the written word. But still, they are only words. Words hang out in the eternal bliss to be picked at and raised whenever needed. Reminiscing sentiments with the capability to heal or attack; choose carefully what you read. Words can not die.
Previous to the written scribes there were words of influence, detestation, love and death; mysteries of the beginning and the foretelling of the end. Stories that have been passed down for generations to create this time we live in today. “In the beginning there was the word and the word was good”. (Gen) “I am what I am becoming” (Exodus). Words are what we are becoming; words are the birth of our future selves.
I was not much of a reader in my youth until I had a philosophy professor who spoke the sentence “I do not trust people who do not read”. I would not call this a blanket- statement or even a correct view, nevertheless at that time it meant a lot to me and it was the spark-of-passion for reading for me.
The art of reading takes on a dual journey. First is the adventure of the story, and second is the story that continues with me throughout my odyssey. Truly a novel idea.
