Even the largest library, if it has a rich but disorganized collection of books, will not be as useful as a small but well-organized library.
In the same way, if a person has a great deal of knowledge but does not absorb it through the independent thinking of his own mind, then this knowledge is far less valuable than the knowledge that he does not know much but has been carefully considered.
For it is only when a person examines his knowledge in the context of various aspects and compares each true knowledge with each other that he can truly understand, master, and use it for his own use. A person can only think carefully about what he knows, so he must learn something new; But only those things that are well thought out can become his true knowledge.
One can read and learn at will, but one cannot think at will.
Thinking and reading have different effects on the human psyche, and the difference is incredible. Therefore, this further exacerbates the inherent differences in thinking between people - because of the difference in nature, some people love to think, and some people like to read. Reading is to impose on our minds certain foreign, heterogeneous thoughts that do not correspond to our spirit, like a seal forcibly leaving an imprint on paraffin. As a result, our minds are under complete external pressure, thinking about this and that, neither instinctively nor because of liking.
A lot of mere reading can make our mind desensitive, just as a spring is constantly pressed to push elasticity. If one doesn't want to use one's brain, the safest thing to do is to pick up a book as soon as one is free. This explains why erudition often makes many people more stupid and insensitive, and hinders the success of their work. As Pope said, they are always: they read others constantly, but they never get read by others.
A scholar is a person who reads and studies books all day long. Thinkers, geniuses, and those who illuminate the world and advance humanity are the ones who use the big book of the world directly.
In fact, only one's own fundamental thoughts have truth and vitality. Because these are the only things that a person can truly and fully understand. Reading someone else's mind is like eating someone else's scraps or wearing old clothes discarded by strangers.
The thoughts acquired through reading are compared to the thoughts that germinate in one's own heart, just as the fossilized remains of a prehistoric plant are compared to the flourishing plants in spring.
Reading is just a substitute for thinking alone. When reading, one's own mind is being pulled and controlled by the thoughts of others.
Moreover, many books are not very good except to show us so many wrong paths that one would lead astray if one followed the guidance of such books. But those who are guided by talent, that is, those who are independent, spontaneous, and think rightly, have a compass that can find the right direction. Therefore, one should only read books when one's intellectual source has dried up – even the best minds often get stagnant.
Driving away one's original thoughts by reading with a book in hand is a sin against the gods.
Only the knowledge acquired through one's own independent thinking can be integrated into our thinking system, become a living part of the whole thinking system, and maintain a complete and solid connection with the whole.
It is only after the formation of their own opinions that those who think alone know that they are in agreement with authority, and that authority at this time strengthens both of them.
Reading is thinking with someone else's, not your own. To think independently is to strive to form a coherent whole, a system, even if it is not rigorous and complete. There's nothing more harmful than reading tirelessly and letting other people's thoughts flow into your own head.
Those who have spent their entire lives reading and deriving wisdom from books are like those who know the details of a country from a traveler's description. These people can provide a lot of information about the country, but they don't have a coherent, clear, thorough picture of what is really going on in the country. Those who have devoted their lives to contemplation are like people who have personally been to a certain country. Only they really know what they are talking about, and they know the situation so well that they know it all.
But there is a small difficulty to overcome: thinking about such things does not depend on our own will. A person can sit down and read at any time if he wants, but he cannot sit down and think at any time. Thoughts are like guests, and we cannot summon them as we please, but can only wait patiently for their arrival.
We have to wait for the right moment, and even the greatest genius can't think alone all the time. Therefore, it is advisable to devote free time outside of thinking to reading. As I said, reading is a substitute for thinking alone, and it can provide us with spiritual material through the thinking of others—often in a completely different way from our own.
For this reason, one should not read too much. In this way, our minds do not become accustomed to thinking substitutes, and therefore forget the ability to know things; so as not to get used to stepping on the path that others have already taken, following other people's ideas and forgetting their own thinking. Of course, you shouldn't completely abandon your focus on the real world just for the sake of reading.
Pure experience, like reading, is not a substitute for thinking. The relationship between pure experience and thinking is like the relationship between eating and digestion and absorption. When experience boasts that it is only through its discovery that it advances human knowledge, it is like a mouth that threatens that the survival of the whole body is only its credit.
The difference between the works of a thinking man and other works of philistine people lies in the characteristics of a clear theme and clear content, as well as the clarity and fluency that comes from it. Because these people know exactly what they want to express, whether it's in prose, poetry, or music. Ordinary people don't have this kind of decisiveness and clarity, so it's easy to distinguish between the two.
People with the highest mental abilities are characterized by their direct and unambiguous judgments about things. Anything they say is the result of their own thinking, and this is fully evident in the way they express their opinions. Thus, these people have irrefutable authority like the princes of the spiritual kingdom. Others are only in a subordinate position, as can be seen in their lack of their own expressive style.
Therefore, every truly independent thinker is a monarch in the spiritual realm. By contrast, the vulgar-minded general public, who drifts between popular opinions, authoritative arguments, and worldly prejudices, limits their thinking, like commoners who silently obey laws and orders.
In the real world, no matter how beautiful, pleasant, and captivating and pleasant it is perceived, we still have to be subject to the laws of gravity to act, and we have to overcome it all our lives. But in the spiritual world, we are spirits bound by the flesh, no longer controlled by gravity, and there is no suffering from poverty.
This is why the joy and happiness that a perfect and abundant spiritual mind gets from itself at a miraculous moment is completely impossible to find in the real world.
The thoughts that come to mind are like lovers standing in front of you. We fantasize that we will never forget this thought, and that our lovers will never change their minds. But out of sight, out of mind! The most subtle thoughts, if not written down in time, are also in danger of being forgotten and can never be recovered; If we don't marry the most beloved person, we will not escape the fate of abandonment.
Everyone has a Schopenhauer in their hearts, but many times we are full of all kinds of misunderstandings about Schopenhauer, as if separated by a layer of mist.
When Schopenhauer is mentioned, people always label him with all kinds of labels, pessimism, meanness, a lifelong enemy of Hegel, etc., but these are only one aspect of his propaganda and symbolic propaganda.
The real Schopenhauer was a sober thinker of his time, and his essays were like antidotes.
As he once said: "To read a book is to think, and if you don't think, you just read blindly, like a person who often rides a horse and a chariot and whose ability to walk is bound to be weakened, will lose the ability to think independently." Then he added, "There are many scholars who are like this, and they become stupid because they read too many books." ”
Such words may sound mean and rude, a little arrogant, but in fact, it is his keen insight and deep thinking about life, which is the so-called loyalty against the ear, which we will remember after all.
Nietzsche said, "After reading the first page of Schopenhauer's book, I know that I am going to read everything he has written; I listened to every word he said. ”
The modernist writer Franz Kafka once praised: "Schopenhauer was a language artist, and just because of his language, we should read his works unconditionally." ”
Even the great Tolstoy said, "Now I am convinced that Schopenhauer is the greatest genius of mankind." Schopenhauer's philosophy reflects the whole world with incomparably magnificence and clarity. ”