Every second evening, it is my turn to put Smallsteps to bed and just over a year ago, we started reading the Narnia Series, by C.S. Lewis. I was a little unsure how it would go, since the themes include fighting and killing, as well as some blood, and Smallsteps "gets scared" at much less than that. However, it went really well overall, despite some of the language being a little hard for her, considering that English is not as strong as her Finnish and, the vocabulary is 75 years old. It has brought up a lot of discussions over the last year and we have "inside jokes" together that have come from the way we have talked about it. Last week though, we finished the series.
Smallsteps cried.
Not because of the ending of the book, but the ending of us reading it together. As I explained though, the world of Narnia still exists in our imaginations and we are able to recall the images we have built from the stories. We have lots of discussions around imagination and how the brain works, so this one built upon others.
Still, we needed something new to read, and this time I wanted to change the pace a bit and bring in more humor. She likes Dr Seuss books (she reads the simpler ones herself), but I wanted something that also introduced different kinds of themes, so I went with the Roald Dahl Collection, which is a selection of 16 of his books. I personally have only read a handful of them when I was a kid, but found Boy very funny, Danny the champion of the world thought provoking, James and the Giant Peach was a lot of fun, and Matilda somewhat reflective.
I believe that Smallsteps will enjoy these books a lot, as they are going to be a bit easier for her to visualize, and the richness of language is still there. Over the last couple weeks, her reading ability has taken a leap, and she is even reading relatively well in English now too, which means that as we start wo work through these together, she will soon be able to have one of her own on the side. She is already looking forward to reading the Narnia series again, to see if her thoughts about the characters change.
Reading is an important skill, though much of the conversation is dominated by the opportunity to gather information directly. However, I believe that reading is one of the ways we are able to exercise our headspace, and learn to build frameworks and building blocks that we will utilize for our entire lives. Yes, the ability to collect information is there too, but more importantly, it forces our brains to work for understanding, rather than having all the necessary pieces given to us, as it is through most consumer media these days.
The other night while discussing imagination, I asked Smallsteps to close her eyes and she said "I can do it with my eyes open", which is fine. But I mentioned that taking our eyes away saves energy that we can use to better imagine, or better hear, smell, taste. Our eyes can dominate our senses and therefore, get more resources than they deserve. Watching a movie for example that gives us all the visuals, means that we don't have the time as it pushes through at speed, to imagine how something happens on screen smells, tastes, or feels. And, we can only see and hear, what we have been fed - there is no random.
But, as I illustrated with Smallsteps and my wife, when I asked them to imagine a dog and then describe it, each of them had a different looking dog, and this is what happens when we read a story. We build a world of understanding that is uniquely ours and even if similar to another, it can never be identical. Not only this, because we have the time to think, as thoughts arise, we get a chance to explore the thoughts and extract different insights. What piques our interest is different to others, and what we uncover is also.
Too many people these days seem to treat reading as a sport, as if it is something to accomplish. The more they read, the smarter they feel. Yet, what thoughts are they having, what are they discovering about themselves and the world, and how are they applying it. Are they using the information as a pool of resources that inspire their creativity, or a toolbox of information that tells them what to do, and when?
It can be both.
But, without creativity, we are unable to solve our own problems, and while there is a YouTube tutorial for everything, there are still things we will face that require a tailored solution for who we are. We have to learn how to identify our needs, tailor our thoughts for ourselves, and recognize when we have to apply what we know, and when what we know, isn't applicable. It is a creative process, but if we choose not to exercise our imagination, we become reliant on others to provide a solution for us, which is a lot of power to hand over.
Life is full of possibility.
Without an imagination, most is inaccessible.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
