Last night, my son lost the ketchup which taught me a valuable lesson in reading. In his mind, we were out of the red stuff. A few days ago, he made hotdogs and used the last of it. By throwing the bottle away, he created a reality in his head that we were all out.
Being the good father that I am, I got a new bottle of the nutritious chemical ketchup and put it on the main shelf. When he opened the refrigerator, his brain could not see it. He had mentally deleted the big red bottle from his field of view.
“Dad, we need more ketchup,” he said.
When I walked to the refrigerator and pointed at the giant red bottle, he laughed.
This got me thinking about how we read books. We come to them with predetermined beliefs about the way things are. We impose on them our political, religious, and cultural beliefs, doing everything we can to bend them to our reality. I think that’s one of the reasons for getting distracted in a book. Instead of reading with an open mind, we’re too busy trying to find information that supports what we think we already know. We want books to confirm our bias, rather than open our eyes and understanding.
Epictetus, the stoic philosopher said, “You cannot learn that which you think you already know.” I’m pretty sure he’s talking about ketchup bottles here. What do you think?
Until tomorrow, read slowly – take notes – apply the ideas.
-Eddy
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