Diving into the Literary Marshlands with a Hunger for Knowledge
Have you ever watched a hawk circle above a vast landscape? It's such a majestic sight. Just last week, I sat perched (excuse the pun) on my porch after a walk with Zivon, only to be distracted by the focused hunt of a nearby hawk. With its keen eyes and laser focus, that bird knew precisely what it wanted. And I thought, "Am I not like that when reading?"
In > Emerson: Mind on Fire,> Robert Richardson remarks on how Ralph Waldo Emerson possessed a reading style reminiscent of "a hawk sliding on the wind over a marsh, alert for what he could use." To Emerson, reading was not just a passive act but a way to “nourish and stimulate his thought.”
The Dance Between Rest and Flight
But here's the thing: not all birds hunt the same. There's a delicate balance, a dance if you will, between taking action and pausing. William James, in his tome The Principles of Psychology, Vol. 1, puts it poetically:
“Our stream of consciousness, much like a bird’s life, seems to be made of an alternation of flights and perching.”
Isn't that just life? Moments where we soar and moments where we find solace in stillness. And reading mirrors that ebb and flow.
Reading Like a Raptor
Gary Snyder, a poet I've recently found kinship with in thought, once admitted, “Like most writers, I don’t educate myself sequentially.” Instead, he likens his learning process to "a hawk or eagle always circling and finding things that might have been overlooked.”
Art Of Excavating Other People’s Lives
What's our take on this? When we, as reader or writers, engage in this quest for knowledge, do we not mirror the hunting habits of raptors?
As we dive into literary realms, we must act like the owl: “Keep only what is useful. Regurgitate the rest.” In essence, absorb the wisdom and let go of the filler.
And when we explore and deeply engage with written words, there's a poetic art to it. I often muse:
Dip into them, extract bits and pieces, move on. Circle back, extract more, reinterpret. It's all fairly messy.
But isn't that the essence of engagement? In our quest, we:
- Find the overlooked
- Hold onto the valuable
- Spit out the unnecessary
- Reveal hidden truths
- Savor the delectable parts
- And, of course, never feel obligated to be overly polite!
Devour the Depths of Wisdom
Remember, as you dive into your next book or article, your reading journey is yours and yours alone. Our perspectives are our ways of digesting content. They're as unique as our fingerprints. Yet, it's a shared human experience to seek knowledge, be curious, and want to understand. So, how will you read? Like a polite sparrow? Or a bird of prey, ready to devour the depths of wisdom?
Take a moment, dear reader, to reflect on your reading experiences. How do they mirror your journey through life? How do you choose to engage, to hunt, to digest? Whatever your method, there's no wrong way—only your way.