{"id":19240,"date":"2018-10-11T20:07:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T03:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=19240"},"modified":"2018-10-11T20:07:27","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T03:07:27","slug":"journey-through-the-fog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/journey-through-the-fog\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey Through the Fog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jet lagged and swamped with work from being out of the country for eighteen days, I attempted to read Pierre Bayard\u2019s, How to Talk About Books You Haven\u2019t Read<\/u> with as much focused attention as my foggy brain could muster. During this grueling process, I would read his statements extolling \u201cthe virtues of non-reading\u201d and find myself chuckling at the irony and also feeling permission to talk about this book without reading it.[1]<\/a> Being the type of reader I have been in the past, a wrestling match ensued in my mind which took more time and energy than if I had read every word. I finally murmured, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point?\u201d just as the melatonin did its effectual work and the fog darkened my mind for the night.<\/p>\n

Waking the next day, I attempted again and this time my comprehension was different. I recognized the message for me was not so much about reading, rather it was to address the attitude for acquiring knowledge and perspective. I was reminded of my last blog post about how to read as an explorer filled with wonder<\/em>. With Bayard\u2019s work, another characteristic emerged, the key to gaining true knowledge, seeing what is unseen, is found through a posture of humility<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Bayard uses the character of Musil\u2019s librarian and General Stumm to illustrate humility at its finest. Stumm approaches the library, about which he is completely unfamiliar, believing he can find the \u201credemptive idea\u201d by reading every volume.[2]<\/a> How often have I approached this program or a new challenge with this kind of attitude? With more zeal than wisdom, he marches through the rows to assess the challenge before him. I can imagine reality beginning to dawn on him as his head goes back and forth, up and down scanning the multitude of volumes, and gaining perspective on the task ahead. With a sight that has become daunting, he asks the librarian how many books are in the library, as a good leader counting the cost must do. The librarian now becomes the sage taking the general by the hand and leads him out of the trees so he can so the whole forest. With humility he shows the general a simple method of becoming acquainted<\/em> with all the books and reveals his acceptance of his finite reality while respecting the vast array of knowledge around him. The profound lesson is that humility actually opens the door to a much broader perspective and understanding. It reminds me of the Apostle Paul\u2019s admonition in I Corinthians 8:1-3 (NET) regarding the effects of knowledge with a wrong attitude, \u201cKnowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was eventually liberated after wrestling with Bayard\u2019s description of the constraints we face with reading: the obligation to read, and to read thoroughly, and to have read a book in order to talk about it \u201cwith any precision.\u201d[3]<\/a> I must be honest about the disequilibrium I felt when stepping into the concepts of reading as a risk, as it was such a paradox to my previous understanding. To consider reading thoroughly as a repressive<\/em> action was a challenge as it seemed like something upside down being called right side up. Even trying to not read this book, I experienced what Bayard described as \u201cunconscious guilt.\u201d[4]<\/a> The statement that helped me completely exhale was the logical reality, \u201cthat even a prodigious reader never has access to more than an infinitesimal fraction of the books that exist. As a result, unless he abstains definitively from all conversation and all writing, he will find himself forever obliged to express his thoughts on books he hasn\u2019t read.\u201d[5]<\/a> This is what Musil\u2019s librarian knew. Perspective is everything\u2026low beam headlights are always more helpful than high beam in a dense fog! Turn on the low beams and perceive differently, Tammy. Realize that reading every word with such an openness as I have been prone to, actually sets me up for restricted understanding, limited creativity, and one-sided biases. Read the title, the table of contents and imagine what might be on the pages. Let wonder and humility be the two low beam headlights to light the way through the fog of unknowing. Then read the signposts and enjoy the journey of skimming. See the beauty of the scenery on the drive as you consider what you have only heard of through others. And, while you\u2019re driving be keen to the triggers that might just bring things back to mind that you experienced on roads previously traveled (books previously read) and long forgotten. Wonder and humility, low beams, may we see something new even in the fog.<\/p>\n

*Disclaimer: the jet lag is real!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Pierre Bayard, How to Talk About Books You Haven\u2019t Read<\/em> (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), Kindle Loc. 98.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Bayard, 4.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Bayard, Loc. 107.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Bayard, Loc. 124.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Bayard, 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jet lagged and swamped with work from being out of the country for eighteen days, I attempted to read Pierre Bayard\u2019s, How to Talk About Books You Haven\u2019t Read with as much focused attention as my foggy brain could muster. During this grueling process, I would read his statements extolling \u201cthe virtues of non-reading\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":19241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[477],"class_list":["post-19240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bayard","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19243,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19240\/revisions\/19243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}