How Reading Fiction Will Fulfill Your Life
Reading as a way of life
I remember when, as a kid, my grandmom and parents read fairy tales and fables to me before bed. Memories are fragile; I cannot remember a word said, yet somehow, an impression stuck with me, one of blended enchantment and excitement. I don't recall how the stories went, but I do how they felt.
We all have heard the praise of reading as an indispensable activity for developing the mind. Still, many fail to accept the advice, mainly because they either fail to learn to love reading or make it a habit. So let us start with what naturally comes first - the reason for reading.
As they (hopefully) told us when we were youngsters, reading develops our personality. And it really does. Immersing in a novel can broaden the horizons that upon finishing the last sentence of a book, the reader has experienced a slight transformation. Great art has this transformative potential to bring about change. Exceptional writing can extend its touch as deep as our soul's habitation.
Sometimes, we say that a novel or a poem moved us, meaning the obvious change of perception induced by what we have read. Other times, the change might be small and pass unnoticed, but nonetheless significant. Poems are particularly intensive, as they are commonly shorter and more sonorous than novels. Although Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton wrote hundreds of pages long poems, which stand matchless. More modern literature works of art have explored the novel form in almost every way, from long monologues, stream of thought, and novels written backwards to whole languages designed for a world of fantasy. There are so many types and genres of literature that any given taste can find something for itself. Literature has witnessed omnifarious developments, but the core of its value remains.
The grand distinction in literature is the one between poetry and prose (drama is specific, often a mix of the two). To be plain: poetry is rhythmic, melodic, and highly emotional; it is the more ancient "bounded in the blood and heart" form of writing, while prose is, generally speaking, systemic and more everyday speech-like (even though prose has become ever-so abstract, creative and multi-layered; The Sound and The Fury comes to mind). When man first tried to vocalize his sensations, he sang, and poetry is language sung. Only later, when he needed to explain a problem or give an exact, verifiable explanation in written text (like in scientific literature that is exclusively prose), is when prose arose. The prose became excellent for various fiction and non-fiction uses, from science and theories to legal acts, philosophical systems, and arguments; prose bears diverse forms.
Those who like, love, and respect literature have a hard time understanding why many turn their head away from it. So what is all the fuss about? What is so important in the literature that all people must have read some of it in school?
Besides learning a language, literature is there to expand our views, thus expanding our potential. When we are reading, our minds and souls are nourished. The more you read, the wider the horizon becomes. It is like climbing up a hill to reach the height from which a farther view is possible. Without the climb, one remains surrounded by his everydayness. Literature can help not only to overtop everydayness but also be a method to reframe and even transform it. Textbooks and lessons teach us the systemized knowledge that mankind has unfolded. Some dispute the purpose of belle lettres, philosophy, poetry, or any text that holds subjective, intuitive, and emotional insight into life rather than objectively verifiable truth we can all agree on, which is to their own detriment. What they fail to understand and discover is the beauty and value woven into novels and poems. Beauty solely is enough of merit - like in l'art pour l'art; however, the reader enjoys massive gain by immersing in the experience of another soul. In contrast to studying, where you go over the subject matter, review, and memorize, reading fine literature is much more complex (which doesn't equal hard), even though it doesn't seem at first glance. When studying, the interconnection between the reader and the text is far less intense than the one that occurs when reading something out of enjoyment. Not to say that studying cannot be enjoyable, but a neurological difference between reading to memorize and reading to enjoy certainly exists. The transformative effect of learning through studying is apparent, but some cannot recognize it in fine literature. So where does it rest?
Let's list, by no means exhaustive, reasons to read.
Build a sense of uniqueness.
Have you noticed how most good writers seem like such unordinary people? It looks as if they operate on another plane. They can make a story out of things others find usual, make connections and parallels where most do not see a link, and provide an immense lesson without using the tiring teaching language. Eloquence is merely a trifle of a benefit compared to the deepening of insight into the phenomenon of life that you accrue by reading fine literature.
Become invested in the world.
By reading and reading various genres and epochs, you get to familiarize yourself with ideas that shaped societies, motives, thoughts, emotions, hopes, and difficulties of people from all over the world from various times and places. Reading can make you a true citizen of the world. Immanuel Kant never left his birthplace of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) which did not bother him to formulate a lasting idea of achieving world peace. Read, and you can know more about Paris than people who visited it a dozen times, more than even the ones who live in it, and when you happen to lay a foot on it someday, your delight will be truly unique. No Instagram photo can defeat a good story. A good story is worth a thousand Instagram photos.
Experience the distant and unknown and understand others through it.
You just read Tolstoy's War and Peace, and surprisingly, now you find a basis to defend the chivalric morality embodied in Prince Andrei and possibly even regret that no traces of it survived. Or, you finished a shocking passage of Remark's All Quiet on the Western Front with a feeling of the horror of a trench and the compassion for the enemy who rushes for your head, equally abandoned to circumstances and enslaved by them as you. Boccacio's Decameron will break your idea of a dark, gloomy, and dogmatic Middle Ages through feather-weighted words of sensuality and eroticism, and Kundera's Slowness provides you with a subtle artistic critique of the in-a-hurry lifestyle we fell prey to, appealing for a change.
Reflect on oneself.
Continuing on that path, immersing in stories, you get to reflect on yourself, your thoughts, and your mental life. A book can be a friend who tells you about your fears, strivings, burdens, fantasies, hopes, and wishes. You are not simply taking in; your values and emotions are reacting to the substance of a book, transforming or establishing itself in the process.
By reading, we learn to surpass the superficial. Indulging in fiction (is anything entirely fictitious?), one enables the expansion of his worldview, which becomes profound and more inclusive than the one equipped only with the elements of everydayness.
Explore and try to find your niche. You may not discover your literary soulmate at first, and you may need some time, but with enough perseverance to search at various places, you may end up in love where you least expected. It is such a thrill when one realizes there are souls alike, living or long gone, scattered across this earth. Our whole life is just something we can tell; if it weren't for words, it would amount only to a burden, shut, and stuck emotion. Words are the reason we are. Biology gave us the means to communicate, but who gave us language? From "goo goo ga ga" to nuances of semantics, the mystery of language still stands firm, making words our destiny.
To conclude, reading for pleasure is a fulfilling habit everyone should try to adopt, only have in mind that, as economics teaches, the resources engaged in a poor project could've been allocated to a fruitful one, so choose wisely what you read.
PS: Also, reading can teach you patience and discipline. You know you learned to love it when you finish a 500, 1000, or 1000+ pages long novel being sad because there isn't more. If you are reading this, you know a guy who helps people become dedicated. In David's free (Re)Build course, you will receive practical advice on developing discipline, focus, and consistency. I encourage you to join.
Free Resources:
My free ebook: The Lost Art of Reading
Paid Resources:
The Art of Showing Up: A Clear and Practical Method for Mastering Consistency
The Gold Pill: Timeless Ideas for a Life Worth Living
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It´s a spark that fuels your mind and soul to travel long distances. Discovering treasures you had never thought about. It´s a beauty for expressing and connecting in deeper levels! Great writing.