Passion is a strong and powerful emotion that drives us to further achievements and gives us a sense in life. Life without passion would probably be just a meaningless existence. Emotions have always been a subject of discussions by different philosophers. Such thinkers as Plato, Descartes and Spinoza analyzed passion in different ways and provided their concepts of passion. Passion has been categorized in six categories. These are hatred, wonder, hatred, sadness, and love (Descartes on the Emotions).
When I read a book, I dive into a new, unknown, and undiscovered world. A book makes me worry about the character as if it is my close friend. It makes me feel that I am within the book – not without. People live one life, but if one reads books – they get to live thousands of them. Descartes’ work clearly explains why reading can surely be ones passion. When reading a book, a person wonders about the turn of events, loves, and hates the same things as characters do, has the same desires, and feels happy or sad depending on the situation in the book.
As I was growing up, there are books I could read and become very emotional. When I set my mind to reading a book, I never let anything come between me and my reading. At times, I can even read the whole day even foregoing my meals. If the book is very interesting, I read it to the end and even then it is hard to realize that the story is over. When I turn the last page, it seems that not only the book is over, but also my life as well. The characters that are used by the author seem to me like real people, and their lives and issues do not seem to be fictional. Even though I realize that the characters are imaginary, the scenes described in the book could have happened to anyone. It takes some time to “recover”, but then I am ready for a new journey.
Hume thought that perception was closely tied to impressions. He meant that our sensation, passions, and emotions made the first appearance of the soul (Hume). This can be the second reason reading is so widely spread. People have an impression when they are introduced to something new, no matter if they want it or not.
The impression that one has towards a book makes them like or dislike it. When I have read several pages of a book, I get familiarized with the style of the author, characters, and the images. All these factors help me to get a view of the book. While reading a book, I experience everything that the character does and have the same emotions as the ones expressed in the book. However, I usually have my thoughts and vision about the situation.
Impressions are divided into two types by Hume. These are sense and reflection. The impressions of sense are inclusive of our sensations, and perceptions of pain as well as pleasure (Hume on the Emotions).
Reading is important to me because of various things. The most important reason is education. For example, most of the books reflect history from different points of view. Moreover, a novel on the World War II, for example, not only gives me facts about the course of events, but gives me a view of how events unfolded during the war and helps me to understand what the people felt back then.
Benjamin Franklin was a successful politician, diplomat, statesman, and philosopher. He believed that if a man emptied his purse into his head no man could take it away from him. “Anyone who makes an investment in knowledge, they always leap the best interest," he said (Franklin). I completely agree with the saying as books can teach us a lot. New words, new facts and, of course, new experiences come with the books. Just like Mill said, emotions are as important as the intellect, and we cannot help but sympathize or rejoice for the characters.
In addition, Epictetus, the Greek philosopher stated that “only educated are free” (Epictetus). It would be extremely hard to disagree with the statement, especially in our modern world.
Moreover, according to me, reading is a way to refresh the mind and connect with the outer world. The diverse ideas and intrigues involved in each read expands my mind in amazing ways. As simple as it might seem, when one embraces a reading culture, they are able to have a more open-minded perspective on the world and the surrounding environment. In the words of Descartes, “The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries.” (Descartes).
We can compare reading a book with traveling. We take trips from city to city along with the characters in the book, and we see the world through their eyes. Authors always describe the places in details to make sure the readers can imagine everything that is happening. As a result, we may know many things about the peculiarities of different places, such as monuments, buildings, streets, myths and even culture and traditions of the countries without even visiting them.
We do our best to get good grades in high school and try hard to learn as much as possible in the universities. For many people, education stops when they step out of the front door of the university. However, Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish philosopher who lived back in the 19th century, believed that “We become what we read when our professors are done training us. A collection of books is the greatest university" (Carlyle). Carlyle not only underscore the fact that reading is a continuous process but also encouraged even the most educated in the society to embrace the culture of reading as it is a life-long endeavor.
Most often, books are referred to as a priceless storage of the sacraments, history, science, experience and thoughts. It teaches us so many things that it is nearly impossible to resist reading it. Ray Bradbury always said that libraries raised him and that everything he knew was because of the books he read. Bradbury’s perspective on reading has been a major source of motivation for me in my day-to-day reading habits. The fact that I can access as much information as the books I am exposed to keeps me wanting to read more. Most importantly, I make sure to re-read books whose content affects my life at a personal level. Such a practice assists me in internalizing the message from these books.
In my opinion, if one truly has a great interest in understanding the world that we live in, books would be the best solution as they help us understand the outer as well as our inner world. Books reveal our innermost feelings and emotions, and it seems that I already know what is written there. Whenever I engage myself in reading a book that I like, it brings out my inner emotions. Every sentence makes huge sense, as if the book is about me, or even each word is written by me.
An equally fascinating aspect about reading is on reflection. As a personal initiative, I always take time to reflect about a book once I am done reading. This practice enables me to internalize the message and develop a deeper understanding of the ideas and thoughts shared by the authors. Reflection also acts as a chance to interlink the similarities between different books and, thus, provides a more in-depth understanding of every work. In addition to this, it enables me to appreciate the uniqueness of the work of each author.
Marcus Cicero was a Roman orator and philosopher. He also had researched about passion, and one of his works dedicated to the topic was called “Tusculanae Disputationes," where he wrote about emotions and its connection to our minds. Cicero believed that our intellect engaged us in the pursuit of the truth, and the passion impelled us to an action (Cicero). Interestingly, Cicero is also famed for saying the “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” (Cicero). His thoughts implied that he placed high value to reading, a fact that was evidenced by the many books that he published.
It is natural that when reading about a fact in the novel we want to find out whether it is true. The same thing concerns our desire to do something else after we have completed reading a book. Each book teaches us one or several lessons. We may not even realize it, but it usually urges us to make an action. For example, if a character in a book loses his parents and is mourning them, we feel sympathetic. But at the same we think about our parents and are thankful that they are still with us. This situation can, for example, urge us for a sudden visit or a call to our parents. This way, the death in the book helps us to realize how it feels and drives us to further actions in real life.
Books make us who we are. They show us the ways to gain knowledge or forget the reality, to challenge ourselves or to relax, to make an action or change our mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “I am not in the liberty to recall all the books that I have read so as the meals I have had as they have made me” (Emerson).
Oscar Wilde once stated that if one does not find it interesting reading one book more than one time, then there is no need of reading it at all. Having been an avid reader and writer, Wilde understood the tremendous benefits that came with being a reader. She further emphasized on the feeling of freedom that came with being a reader by stating that “With freedom, books, and the moon, who could not be happy?” (Wilde). This quote served to show the strong attachment that reading books brings to an individual. Although her comparison carries an element of imagination, this is a undoubtedly a positive aspect of reading.
As stated earlier, on completing a book, it is important that one takes some time to evaluate the lessons learned from it. I am pleased to say that each book that I have read has made me the person that I am today. A person has to develop throughout their whole life. I would say the habit of reading that I have had since I was a young kid has greatly contributed to the wide knowledge I have attained in various fields. It is true to state that the more one reads, the more knowledge he is going to acquire. The more one learns, the higher the chances are of going to new places. There are millions of books in the world, and each one is worth reading. That is why, I am extremely glad to have an endless desire for reading new books. The best thing that pertains learning is that once you acquire the knowledge, no one can take it away from you.
Works Cited
Benjamin Franklin Quotes." Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2015. Web. 19 Jul 2015. <http://www.quotes.net/quote/3876>.
Descartes on the Emotions Stanford University. Web. 19 July 2015.
"Epictetus." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2015. 19 July 2015. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/epictetus100808.htm
"Hume on the Emotions." Stanford University. Stanford University. Web. 19 July 2015.
Humphrey, Neil. "Social and Emotional Learning." Google Books. 2013. Web. 19 July 2015.
"Marcus Tullius Cicero Quote." A-Z Quotes. Web. 19 July 2015.
"Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes." Academy of Ideas. Web. 19 July 2015.
"Thomas Carlyle." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2015. 19 July 2015. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomascarl145972.html
"Hume, David: Book I, Part I, Section I." A Human Nature Treatise: Book One, Part I, Section I. Web. 19 July 2015.
