This was published in today’s Daily Stoic and I thought it too good not to re-post here on my Blog. It isn’t my work (duh) but it is my general orientation toward picking, and picking up, the books I read.
From both Seneca and Marcus we see a fairly remarkable admonition: Stop reading.
“Throw away your books,” says Marcus Aurelius.
Seneca tells Lucilius to stop chasing new titles and to stop, “gorging yourself on new books.”
For philosophers, this seems like strange advice. Isn’t the whole point of the pursuit of wisdom to read as much as you can?
Nope. Not to the Stoic!
Because to the Stoic, anything done to excess is a vice, and that includes the consuming of books. Seneca and Marcus didn’t have newspapers and blogs, of course, but they would have put them under the same category. Reading wasn’t something to be done for its own sake—or to appear informed or wise—but to actually create real wisdom. It was designed to make us better. Practically. Immediately.
So today when you feel yourself picking up your phone to scan the headlines on MSNBC or Fox News, stop. Same goes for the impulse to pull up Audible and listen to another audio book on 2x speed. Unless you can complete this sentence: This information will make me better because __________________, don’t bother.
And, before you start feeling stupid for not being familiar with some obscure French thinker that all your friends are talking about, ask: Would there by something I could do with their theories? Would it matter to my life?
If the answer to any of this is “No,” then please don’t feel guilty about skipping it.
There’s plenty of wisdom already inside you. My goodness – we read so much every day as it is: emails, billboards, Apple’s Terms and Condition, textbooks for a class you’re taking, etc., etc.
It’s not always about more. Sometimes it’s about meditating on and making the most of what you already have.
So, don’t read more.
Do more.
