Monday, October 22, 2018

Reading is one of the essential building blocks of cultivating a self.


Storytelling plays a big role in the process of development and is not something that belongs in childhood, only to be left behind as we grow up.  As we tell stories about the lives of others, we learn how to imagine what another creature might feel in response to various events. At the same time, we identify with the other creature and learn something about ourselves. As we grow older, we encounter more and more complex stories — in literature, film, visual art, music — that give us a richer and more subtle grasp of human emotions and of our own inner world. The stories we read offer us the opportunity to think what the stories mean to our own lives; the best of literature speaks to what a human being was and could be. To read is to build a self.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received— You have to live with your mind your whole life, therefore, understand the value of building it, make it worthy.”