How to read the most effective?
I believe that from childhood to adulthood, countless people have said to you that you should study hard, which makes your ears cocoon.
Then I would like to ask you to think carefully about three questions: Why do we read? What books do we read? How do we read? First, why do we read? Why do we read? You will not hesitate to say that because reading can acquire knowledge.
Then why do people acquire knowledge? I think the answer is nothing more than following: because knowledge can change people’s destiny, knowledge can help you find a good job in the future, knowledge can help you get rid of ignorance and so on. Zhao Heng, Emperor Zhenzong of the
Song Dynasty, put it even more bluntly than most of us: Rich families don’t need to buy fertile land, and there is a thousand minutes of millet in the book. Living in a house doesn’t need to build a high hall, and there is a golden house in the book. When you go out, don’t hate that no one follows you, and there are many chariots and horses in the book. When you marry a wife, don’t hate that you don’t have a good matchmaker, and there is a beautiful face in the book. If a.
You see, there are many advantages to studying: you have a car, a ticket, a house, and a wife.
I do not deny that reading will bring these utilitarian values, but if we only focus on the utilitarian value of reading, then I am very sorry to tell you that many of the things we learn in university may not be useful in the future.
As a lawyer, you can make a lot of money, so why should I study advanced mathematics? Do you want to use advanced mathematics to count money? As a high official, “ancestral graves can smoke,” so why should I study law? It’s enough to study relations and leadership.
Utilitarian reading is bound to make you accept the values of success. The society we live in is permeated with the philosophy of success-you want to be successful, you want to be famous, you want to be a superior person, which almost dominates all our values.
Success doctrine regards success as the yardstick to revalue everything. In order to succeed, you can do anything, and you can sacrifice all your interests.
Have you ever seen The Devil’s Advocate? Kevin (Keanu Reeves), a young and promising lawyer, can’t resist the temptation of a high-paying mansion and comes to New York with his wife from his hometown. He loses himself in one success after another. In order to pursue interests and win lawsuits, he abandons his lawyer’s ethics. In order to pursue winning lawsuits, he does not hesitate to conceal evidence. He also sacrificed his family for his career, and even gave up his family, which led to his wife’s suicide.
In the end, he found out that he was the bastard son of the devil, and that all his success came from the devil’s manipulation.
The devil is trying to make us give up the good value of our life through success.
At the end of the film, the devil says a meaningful sentence, “Vanity is undoubtedly my favorite sin.”.
Utilitarian reading makes you only want to succeed and can’t accept failure.
But I always believe that the real success of a person is not how much brilliance you have achieved, but whether you can climb up bravely in setbacks.
Only non-utilitarian reading can make you accept failure calmly.
In a large number of literary works and biographies of celebrities that have nothing to do with utilitarianism, the failure, hardship and despair of the protagonists are everywhere.
So many great souls, they have fallen, why can’t you fall? Utilitarian reading makes you only focus on external fame, but ignore the richness of the heart. Of the seventy-two sages of
Confucius, there were many who were erudite and versatile, and who had high official positions and high salaries, but the student whom Confucius most admired was the simple Yan Hui. “A gourd ladle of food, a gourd ladle of drink, in a mean lane, people could not bear their worries, and Hui did not change his joy.”.
Confucius said that Yan Hui was eager to learn. “Those who have Yan Hui are eager to learn, do not vent their anger, and do not make mistakes.” That is to say, Yan Hui has a peaceful mind, a stable mood, is good at turning over a new leaf, and pays attention to virtue.
This kind of inner richness can not be acquired in utilitarian reading.
Utilitarian reading will make people arrogant and arrogant.
Knowledge often makes people proud, gives people a sense of intellectual superiority, makes you look down on others, and makes you unable to establish normal interpersonal relationships with others.
Cao Pi said, “Literati have despised each other since ancient times.”.
This may be the evil consequence of knowledge. Why do Chinese literati always look down on each other? Because knowledge makes us feel different and superior.
Therefore, many intellectuals do not know how to cooperate and are only good at fighting alone. For
a long time, there have been no world masters in China, a very important reason is that these people are too proud. Will there be a master among the students
here? I don’t know, but I think if you really want to contribute to the progress of mankind, you must admit your ignorance and limitations, and you must cooperate with others.
Therefore, the purpose of reading can not be limited to utilitarianism, but must pursue non-utilitarian values.
In my opinion, the real purpose of reading is to pursue wisdom, not pure knowledge. On the surface, reading is a paradox: it makes you feel more and more ignorant in the process of seeking knowledge.
As Socrates said, “To admit one’s ignorance is to open the door to wisdom.”.
Chuang Tzu said, “My life is limited, and knowledge is limitless. If you follow the limitless with the limitless, you will be alone.” This sentence has been misinterpreted by many people as a famous inspirational line, encouraging people to read more. In fact, Chuang Tzu’s meaning is completely the opposite. What Chuang Tzu wants to say is that life is limited, but knowledge is infinite, and to pursue infinite knowledge with limited life. You will make yourself very tired. King
Solomon said something similar, “With many books there is no end, and with much study there is no end of the body.”.
These words are negative on the surface, but he actually wants to tell us that knowledge is infinite, and in the process of seeking knowledge, we must keep enough humility about the infinity of knowledge.
Therefore, reading can first cultivate their awe of the unknown world.
With the deepening of reading, you can know that the sea of knowledge has no boundaries, and what we know is really too limited.
Reading can inspire us to explore the unknown world. Although the ocean of knowledge is infinite and individual life is limited, the misreading of Zhuangzi by later generations is reasonable.
It is precisely because human beings are intelligent and different from other creatures that we must use our wisdom to explore the mysteries of the unknown world, and then become more aware of the wonder of the universe, in order to avoid human arrogance.
2. What kind of books to read? As we said just now, the purpose of reading is utilitarian and non-utilitarian.
The former is to succeed, while the latter is to correct the former: in order to enrich one’s heart and avoid being poisoned by success, one should admit one’s limitations through reading, keep enough humility in front of the vast universe and constantly explore the mysteries of the universe.
Therefore, reading is also divided into utilitarian reading and non-utilitarian reading, the former is everyone from small to large, parents and teachers let everyone read well, there is not much to say. Four years of
university, of course, utilitarian reading is essential, you have to learn a major, as a tool for making a living in the future, you have to learn English well, if you do not want to decouple from the international community in the future.
But more importantly, non-utilitarian reading can make you feel truly happy.
So, what kind of books should we read? I think we should be well-read and well-grounded. First of all,
we need to be “broad-minded,” to be “well-grounded,” and to read extensively.
Literature, history and philosophy are not separated, so we should first read through the important literary classics.
In literature, we can enrich our experience of life. Literature comes from reality. Although the protagonists are fictional characters on the surface, they are all reflections of reality.
Literature can let us know the diversity of life and the different results of different paths of life.
Therefore, it allows us to learn how to choose when facing the same situation.
Literary works can also greatly cultivate people’s empathy. The joys and sorrows of countless individuals in literature can make us realize the suffering and impermanence of life. We will think that we are flesh and blood, and that suffering will come to us at any time, so we will empathize with ourselves. We will deeply understand John Donne’s sermon “Ask not for whom the bell tolls.”.
Secondly, we must understand history.
If literary works are fictional characters, then history is the real life of real people.
Through the reading of history, we can understand the complexity of human nature more profoundly. You will admire the nobility of human nature and shudder at the evil of human nature.
Through historical figures, we can also reflect on ourselves, sublimate ourselves, highlight the glory of human nature, and suppress the darkness of human nature. In
history, countless living individuals have made us realize the imperfection of human nature, and from then on we can reject artificial idols.
It is precisely because of the reading of history that I deeply understand the spirit of the rule of law, because of the imperfection of human beings, so any group of human beings has a corrupt nature, so we must maintain absolute vigilance against any power.
Power leads to corruption, absolute power often leads to absolute corruption, and any power must be shackled by the rule of law.
Again, philosophy books should also be read.
Philosophy is a discussion of the outlook on life. The philosophy mentioned here is not the philosophy you learned in class before. It is only a category of philosophy.
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Cicero, Martin Luther, Calvin, Montesquieu, Locke, Popper, Hayek and so on, this series of lists, the stars are bright enough for you to read for a lifetime, through the reading of various philosophical works, you can trace the footsteps of the sages, to think about where people come from. Where to go and what to live in life. If you
are interested, you can start with the introduction, such as Durant’s The Story of Philosophy. After reading it, you may gradually fall in love with philosophy.
In addition to literature, history and philosophy, art, music and other art books can be read.
A person who loves art should be closer to the good way.
However, I am not qualified to talk about this aspect. I have very few artistic cells. I have only read a few works on art history, and I feel very comfortable. In the future, I will also make up lessons in this area.
Of course, after “extensive observation” and “thick accumulation,” it is “about taking” and “thin hair.”.
Mencius said that it is better to have no books than to believe in all books. Reading is an understanding of the experience of our predecessors, and there must be a process of screening. We must not echo what others say. We must pay attention to comparison and discrimination, and distinguish right from wrong. “I love my teacher, but I love truth even more.” Reading is like a means of transportation on the road to truth. Some means of transportation go faster, while others go slower. Planes fly faster than trains, but flights are often delayed, and can not reach small villages, all kinds of transportation have their own advantages and disadvantages, so any book can be read, can not favor one over the other.
In addition, no matter how good the means of transportation is, if it goes in the wrong direction, it will be troublesome.
Through reading, we can gradually establish correct values and choose the right “driving route.”.
3. How to read So, how to read these books? First of all, when it comes to where to find these books, teachers will have their own list of favorite books, which will be recommended to you in class. During the
university, students should make full use of the resources of the library, the university library is still good, at least the main books that college students should read.
In addition, if you want to read new books, you can go to the bookstore, if economic conditions permit, it is best to go to the bookstore to buy books.
Otherwise, they all buy books online, and the physical bookstores will all go bankrupt.
Secondly, we can also participate in or organize reading groups, many people read together, read one or two good books a month, not too many people, five or six people can, each time by one or two students as the speaker, other students participate in the discussion, in the interactive discussion, you will have a lot of harvest. Reading groups
on Douban can also be attended, but I still prefer face-to-face contact between people in real space, which can not only read books, but also read people.
Thirdly, with regard to the method of reading, you can read books extensively. Don’t hold the mentality of reading a book to learn much, otherwise you will return to the path of utilitarianism. Many students often complain to me, “Teacher, I always can’t remember what I read, and I forget what I read later.”.
In fact, why do you want to remember? Is it to write articles or to show off in front of others? Reading is reading for the sake of reading. Tao yuanming said, “If you like reading, you don’t seek to understand it thoroughly. Whenever you understand it, you forget to eat it.”.
In the process of reading, there is a moment when you can reach the state of enjoying books and forgetting to eat happily, then you can achieve the goal of reading.
Your heart is slowly washed in a subtle way.
Of course, if you think a book is very good after extensive reading, you can read it again and intensively. You can record the sentences that move you in the book, or even post them on Weibo to share your experience.
There are many books that can be read over and over again.
With the growth of age and rich experience, the same book will give you different touches at different moments.
In the four years of college, I think you should have at least a few books on your bedside, turn them over when you are free, just like old friends, chat when you are free, and when the books are broken, you may have a deeper understanding of this old friend.
Finally, many books can be read in spare time, such as by bus, subway, train, plane, and on the way to the bookstore on weekends. I
remember when I read Linda’s “Closer Look at America” series (this book is a must for students studying law), it seems that I finished reading it when I was on the bus.
Some students will say that reading in the car hurts their eyes or is inconvenient, which may be reasonable, but I see that many students, no matter how crowded the car is, are still looking at their mobile phones and playing games.
If you spend this time reading, maybe you will be more enriched.
Kafka said that a book must be a sharp axe to cut the ice sea in our hearts.
Dear students, do you have the sea of ice in your heart? Then, start reading from now on! Pay attention and don’t get lost ~
