Books and book reading

​A dozen reason why books and book reading may produce a better society wherein individuals interact with more poise and sophistication with an outlook which is more civilized and cosmopolitan in nature and nurture a culture with more rational and humanitarian attitude.

1. Any amount of reading or experience may not confer anything to those who use them like a dog using a lamp post for urinating and not for illumination.​​

​​2. What one infers or acquires from whatever one reads or experiences and how one interprets or understands may decide the correct purpose of one's learning and experiences.

3. It gets reflected through one's attitude and social interactions in any or many occasions.

4. I think learning should confer and reflect, especially if more the learning greater the humility; lesser the ego and exhibitionism; greater the creative and original inputs rather the mere reproduction of someone or something; greater the sense of humour, responsible attitude, rational and humanitarian perspective; wider frames of reference rather than narrow presumptions and ideologically predefined predictable behavioural patterns and spilling of opinions passing off as perception and also try to factor in some of the inevitable aspects of life like some of the following.

5. Irrespective of however great or good  one may be everyone is a mortal. So, end for life in this body is a certainty.

6. Whatever be the poverty or prosperity that one goes through is manifested through one either because of some bad choices, wrongs decisions, some mistakes, misunderstanding and/or marvellous work one has done or perhaps, sometimes one may assign them to fate, if one is not able to find valid reasons for the poverty or prosperity.

7. So, to nurture silly complexes either superior or inferior is sheer idiocy.

8. 'Idle mind is devil's workshop', I thought was just another cliché, but in reality those, who are not blessed with being busy in some work or profession or some mental diversion like in sports or art or music or reading or sincere devotion etc seem to occupy their minds with such huge amount of worthless ideas , imaginations, nightmares, memories all of which create a pool of innocent and sometimes idiotic folks who create an infectiously destructive mental and emotional atmosphere. It is for these people reading , social gatherings like satsangs etc can do a great help.

9. We need to create more readers groups in WhatsApp and Facebook ( keeping aside politics and religions out of the ambit , as they are already in excess).

10. These groups can be about reading in general on any subject involving any book or article but it can pollinate in social media to produce the sweet honey through aggregation of content.

11. As we pass through life, we ourselves make some spur of the moment insensitive comments and also encounter many highly academically qualified, professionally and socially successful idiots.

12. I presume these may be the result of lack of enough orientation into a broader and more rational perspective based socialization which prioritizes humanitarianism and compassion. I think vast reading may at least mentally tune one to such perspectives.