Autor: Sertillanges A. D. (Gilbert)

Buch: The Intellectual Life

Titel: The Intellectual Life

Stichwort: Vorbereitung: intellektuelle Arbeit; Hauptlektüre, Nebenlektüre, 4 Arten des Lesens

Kurzinhalt: I distinguish four kinds of reading. One reads for ones formation and to become somebody; one reads in view of a particular task; one reads to acquire a habit of work and the love of what is good; one reads for relaxation. There is fundamental reading ...

Textausschnitt: III

13/7 To be a little more precise, I distinguish four kinds of reading. One reads for ones formation and to become somebody; one reads in view of a particular task; one reads to acquire a habit of work and the love of what is good; one reads for relaxation. There is fundamental reading, accidental reading, stimulating or edifying reading, recreative reading. (152; Fs) (notabene)

All these kinds of reading must be regulated as we have just said; each kind has also its particular requirements. Fundamental reading demands docility, accidental reading demands mental mastery, stimulating reading demands earnestness, recreative reading demands liberty. (152; Fs)

14/7 When one's mind is in process of formation and one has almost everything to learn, the hour has not come for individual initiative. Whether one is at the earlier stage, acquiring all-round culture, or taking up a new branch of study, a problem hitherto neglected, the authors consulted for this purpose must be believed rather than criticized, and followed in their own line of thought rather than used according to the reader's views. To launch out into action too soon interferes with the process of acquisition; it is wise at first to be docile. "You must believe your master," says St. Thomas, repeating Aristotle. He himself did this and found it to his advantage. (152f; Fs)

It is by no means a question of blind obedience, a noble mind does not go in chains; but as the art of commanding is learned only by obedience, mastery of thought is obtained only through discipline. A provisional attitude of respect, confidence, faith, as long as one does not possess all the elements of judgment, is so evident a necessity that only the conceited and the presumptuous refuse to accept it. (153; Fs)

15/7 No one is infallible, but the pupil is much less so than the master; and if he refuses to listen, for once that he is right he will miss the truth a dozen times and will fall a victim to appearances. On the contrary, to give credence to the master and to be relatively passive, conceding to him something of what is due to truth, is to the advantage of truth itself, and enables the pupil at last to utilize even the deficiencies and illusions of the teacher. One only knows what a man lacks by estimating his wealth. (153; Fs)

It is elementary wisdom beforehand to choose among a thousand the guides whom one will thus trust. The choice of an intellectual father is always a serious thing. We have advised St. Thomas for the highest doctrines. One cannot confine oneself to him; but all that is necessary is to know thoroughly three or four authors for ones specialty, and about the same number for each problem that arises. One will have recourse to other books for information, not for formation, and the attitude of mind will no longer be the same. (153f; Fs) (notabene)

16/7 It will even in certain respects be the inverse, for the person who seeks information, who wants to use it, is not in a state of pure receptivity; he has his own idea, his plan; the work consulted becomes his servant. A modicum of docility is always necessary; but now it is directed to truth rather than to the writer; and in as far as the writer is concerned, it gives him credence to the point perhaps of not disputing his conclusions, yet does not slavishly follow every step of his procedure. (154; Fs)

These questions of attitude are extremely important; for to consult books in the same way as you study them is loss of time; and to study as if you were merely consulting them means remaining your own master and losing the benefits of formation offered you by one who could initiate you into his subject. (154; Fs)

17/7 He who reads in view of a piece of work has his mind dominated by what he aims at doing; he does not dive into the water, he draws from it; he stands on the bank, preserves the freedom of his movements; he confirms his own idea at each borrowing instead of sinking it in the idea of another; and he lays down his book enriched, not dispossessed of what he brought to it - for that would happen if the fascination of the reading interfered with the purpose of utilizing it which was its justification. With regard to stimulating reading, the choice, apart from our general rules, must depend on each ones experience. What has already helped you may very likely help you again. An influence may in the long run wear itself out; but at first it acts more strongly every time, habit quickens it, a deeper penetration acclimatizes it in us; the association of ideas and feelings connects a given page with states of soul that it brings back. (154f; Fs)

18/7 It is an immense resource in movements of intellectual or spiritual depression to have in this way your favorite authors, your inspiriting pages; to keep them at hand, always ready to invigorate you. I know certain persons who for years whenever their spirits flagged got a fresh start from the peroration of the Oraison funèbre on the Great Condé.1 Others, in the spiritual domain, are irresistibly moved by Pascal's Mystère de Jésus, by a Prayer of St. Thomas, by a chapter of the Imitation or by one of the parables. Each one should watch himself, note what helps him, keep at hand together his remedies for the sicknesses of the soul and not hesitate to go back and back to the same cordial or the same antidote until these have utterly lost their efficacy. (155; Fs)

19/7 In the matter of reading for relaxation choice seems much less important. Relatively indeed it is so; but let no one imagine that it is all the same to find distraction in this or in that, when the object is to come back in the best of conditions to what is our raison d'étre. Certain kinds of reading are not recreative enough; others are too much so, to the detriment of the recollection that must come afterwards; others again may divert2 you, in the etymological sense, I mean, that is turn you aside from your path. (155f; Fs)

I know a man who rested from a laborious piece of work by reading Zeller's History of Greek Philosophy: it was a distraction, but not a sufficient one. Others read highly spiced or fantastic stories which provide a complete change of mental scene; for others their light reading is an indulgence in temptations which discourage them from work and harm their soul. All that is bad. If books are your servants like other objects that you use in daily life, those in particular that play only an accessory part must be made to serve. Do not sacrifice yourself to your fan. (156; Fs)

20/7 Many thinkers have found habitual relief and attraction in stories of travel and exploration, in poetry, art criticism, reading of plays, memoirs. Each one has his tastes, and taste in this matter is the capital thing. One thing alone according to St. Thomas gives real rest: joy; to seek distraction in something boring would be a delusion.

Read something that you like, that does not excite you too much, that does not harm you in any way; and since even when you seek distraction you are leading the consecrated life, have the intelligence to read, among the books that are equally effective in resting your mind, what will also be useful otherwise, helping you to develop your personality, to adorn your mind, to be a man. (156f; Fs)
13/7 To be a little more precise, I distinguish four kinds of reading. One reads for ones formation and to become somebody; one reads in view of a particular task; one reads to acquire a habit of work and the love of what is good; one reads for relaxation. There is fundamental reading, accidental reading, stimulating or edifying reading, recreative reading. (152; Fs) (notabene)
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All these kinds of reading must be regulated as we have just said; each kind has also its particular requirements. Fundamental reading demands docility, accidental reading demands mental mastery, stimulating reading demands earnestness, recreative reading demands liberty. (152; Fs)#
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14/7 When one's mind is in process of formation and one has almost everything to learn, the hour has not come for individual initiative. Whether one is at the earlier stage, acquiring all-round culture, or taking up a new branch of study, a problem hitherto neglected, the authors consulted for this purpose must be believed rather than criticized, and followed in their own line of thought rather than used according to the reader's views. To launch out into action too soon interferes with the process of acquisition; it is wise at first to be docile. "You must believe your master," says St. Thomas, repeating Aristotle. He himself did this and found it to his advantage. (152f; Fs)