Keener Living

I recently read an article suggesting that reading fiction is good for you. While it made good points, my initial reaction was “I see plenty of fiction on TV, including the presidential debates and all the other political nonsense from both parties.”

But, a few days later I came upon a philosopher’s blog and read a post in which he talked about the science fiction books that he liked to read, and how it helped his imagination and thinking overall.

So, I bought a few of the science fiction books he recommended, and the Hunger Games Trilogy, and Monday Mornings: a Novel. Then I got into a few of David Foster Wallace’s books/essays. This binge reminded that there are mediocre authors (Monday Mornings), really good authors (Hunger Games), and outstanding authors (David Foster Wallace). And of course there are some really pathetic ones, too (much of the science fiction fit this mold).

I did find that all of these fiction excursions exercised my imagination better than TV, though. Books have a way of letting your imagination work at its own pace, rather than the advertising-driven pace of TV. And books can, properly written, help you become more mindful. DFW’s works are especially good at this, because he takes little things and talks about them with lots of fascinating, well-done detail. As I noted in a recent post, one of his friends once remarked that David had “more frames per second than the rest of us,” and that really shows in his writing. It can make you want to be more observant, to be more a part of the life that you are living and partly experiencing. Neuroscience tells us that our brains process billions of bits of information each day, but we are only consciously aware of a very small percentage of it.

Hence, in a way, good fiction can, like meditation, help you better experience life.

Of course, I should note that there are those who have religious objections to the use of imagination and/or meditation. I shit you not. The website The Berean Call appears to have such objections. Personally, had I not come upon that article, I could never have imagined that anyone could be so narrow-minded. (Sarcastic pun intended.) Perhaps they need to read more fiction to open their minds up a bit.

Anyway, something for you to think about. I can tell you that I had gotten into a major rut of reading only non-fiction books, books I thought would help me become a better person. And, the sad fact is, most of those books say the same thing over and over, and half of it, even though it is supposed to be non-fiction, is pure BS. If you have fallen into the same rut, some good fiction might help you gain a new perspective.