Reading & Its Limitations:

On one hand, the wisest of us are like open sponges, absorbing all the information we can to build our mental reservoir. We know that listening is far more powerful than speaking, and that it’s almost always more intelligent to learn from someone rather than to force your ideas upon them. Also, reading – especially with the advent of the world wide web – opens up portals for us to mentally expand as never before, with almost anything you wish to know available to you with the push of a button.

However, there is a limit to how much knowledge you can consume. Ask any heavy reader of spiritual studies, and they’ll confirm that after a period of time, studying can become fruitless. Do too much reading, and you’ll feel like already know what an author has to say before you open his book – everything becomes a matter of expressing the same fundamental ideas in a different way.

My Personal Experience:

I’ve went through this myself: During my college years, I spent almost all of my free time reading in my dorm room or on the internet in the Library (didn’t have a laptop back then). Books and certain websites gave me this ecstatic feeling of mental development I couldn’t find elsewhere. You’d rarely find me at parties, sporting events, or other school activities, because they all began to seem very pointless to me. Further, although I made a lot of friends, I didn’t spend much time socializing or just “kicking it.” Social activities, with the exception of BCP (an activist group I’ll talk in future posts), felt very void of energy and superficial. All in all, unless I was studying deeper knowledge, or building with certain people, everything felt very surface level. When I was getting the knowledge though, I felt as though I was transported into an entirely different universe, a universe filled with power and meaning.

I’ll create a recommended books and websites list soon, but the main point I want to travel to is that by my junior year, books and studying began to fade in their ability to transform me. As I was reading, I was no longer consumed as I once was, and I felt as though I already knew what the author was trying to say.

It was at this point that I realized that the capstone of learning is implementation, not study. My deepest insights began to come through my experiences with BCP, and at times when I reflected on my past. Although, for a time, I tried to use studying and reading as a way to escape life’s responsibilities, deep down I knew that it was time to get out of the books and get into life.

At this time, I began realizing how my mental reservoir of knowledge could be mixed into my life to create some amazing experiences. I had a different approach and perception of things that not only solved a lot of problems for me, but also kept me thinking, creating, and adapting to life’s situations. I learned that no matter how much I learned, there was still going to be more to learn.

Only I could come up with the answers I needed to get where I am and go where I’m going, and it’s the same with all of us. Ultimately, you are the book, and all the answers and spiritual insights you need lie dormant within your very own soul.

A Lesson from The Last Dragon:

Have you ever seen the movie The Last Dragon? In the film, martial arts student “Bruce LeRoy Green” (cheezy, I know) was sent on a mission by his Sensei to find “The Master.” Throughout the entire film, Bruce looks all over New York City (the movie takes place in Harlem) for this “Master” to teach him the ultimate stage of his training, the secret to reaching “The Final Level.”

In the end, after excelling through many troubles and trials, Bruce finally discovers that the true master is himself, and thereby generates the self-confidence and power of the Final Level to defeat “Shogun”, the film’s antagonist.

If you’ve never seen it, check it out: the film released in theaters in 1985, so it’s a little on the old school tip, but great nevertheless. Even if you have seen it though, take another look – the symbolism is deep, and usual doesn’t catch on until a second observance. Here’s the trailer:

By the way, one of the film’s songs has the line, “Look within for reality, for soon you’ll weave the web of the master’s philosophy.”

Think About It Like This:

Life is not just science, but also an art. We can’t simply learn formulas and implant the various factors of our lives, or else we’ll come out unfulfilled. Like poetry however, where we all learn the same language and are inspired by other wordsmiths, ultimately, it’s our own creations that make us poets, not the duplication of another’s.

You can’t plaigarize spirituality. So as you learn all you can, accept guidance, and absorb the knowledge of the great ones, also let life’s experiences serve as your unique line of communication with the Divine, and (by using the tools you’ve gained from others) create your self-education from there.

Learn from others; teach yourself…

Peace