Mindful Ink

Students tend to view being well read as a good, but few do much to address the issue in themselves. Rather, what is assigned is read (maybe) and universities depend on those Western and Non-Western Civilization, Humanities, etc. courses to “round out” their students. Of course, such students can take a course in pottery and other sorts of things easily enough, avoiding all together the Romantic poets.

“But where’s the value?” others say. History, literature, philosophy, religion, the humanities… what is the value in these things for the economics major?

Well, I’ll leave off the “it makes you a better human being and will further your understanding of yourself, others, and the world in general” argument. It’s there. I sincerely believe it to be the absolute truth, but I try to avoid esoteric work like that here. If you’re into that sort of thing, I would direct you to my other blog: MythicCulture.

And, let’s face it… many universities do not press their students particularly hard these days, and there is simply a great deal you will miss if you do not take it upon yourself to further your own education.

Rather I’m going to let you know the practical points of being well versed in all those silly subjects.

These are commonly referenced ideas whenever you are in any sort of humanities classes, authors will frequently allude to other points of culture that you will only understand well if you’re familiar with the material. This is certainly important in regards to poetry and myth and (believe it or not, the Bible.)

Entertainment - It’s a big secret but I’ll let you in on it - a lot of the great works of literature are actually really good reads. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes something like Finnegan’s Wake (and I’m quite fond of Joyce, but I’d rather go after my eyes with a spoon then read this again) gets in that list or Jane Eyre, but there is an astonishing amount of great reads out there. Hermann Hesse is a favorite of mine, as is Dostoevsky and Checkhov.

You absolutely have no idea how many oppertunities will arise in your life to impress someone by being able to speak knowledgably about a vague matter that comes up. This can be overdone, of course, but the right word at the right time in the right ear is priceless.

There is even a place in “well read” for fiction that appears on the New York Time bestseller list. I can’t imagine those esoteric benefits I mentioned earlier in relation to the new Michael Crichton book, but it certainly lets you join in the conversation. It seems strange now, but as you get older parties shift from beer pong to conversations. If all you can talk about is beer pong you may be in trouble.

And there is no rule saying you have to read any particular thing. This is a general goal, not a list.

There are authors that even when I was doing the whole “English Major” thing I absolutely could not stand to read. Flannery O’Conner and Faulkner, I’m looking at you. One of the great things about the canon of literature is it is massive - you can be well read and never touch Jane Austen or any of the Brontë sisters.

Similar to the first point, being well read expands your value in just about anything you do. There is a great deal of benefit simply in understanding certain ideas and theories, personalities and history. Even understanding current events is much more clear with a solid knowledge of the history of the countries and cultures involved. Marx, certainly guilty of a bad wrap these days, offers some rather compelling views of how history and culture unfolds that is still rather pertinent. A bit of psychology can help you a great deal in understanding some of what you and others do.

Spicing up your papers and class room discussion - having a grounded education makes many more things easier as well. I’m a conceptual learner, so I need to tie ideas into my general mental framework for me to remember it - and this is where this comes in handy. The more ideas you have in your head, the more you can connect and hang new ideas on. An example: An 14th century Islamic historian by the name of Ibn Kaldun proposed a basic theory of civilization which applied to the cities of the Islamic world at the time that is, essentially, the people in the cities get weak, the tribes in the deserts finally come in and knock them over, and then occupy the city. After a few generations, the tribesman are weak, and other tribes from the desert come in and knock them over.

Pretty obscure. However, as I’ve progressed through the humanities and history I’ve found this model applies to many, many things and when I run across something that has a history like this it is easily “tagged” and remembered. And you can apply this knowledge in your discussions, in your papers - and your professors, who generally will be more aware of these ideas, often appreciate it because it does show you engaging with the material.

Educating yourself, beyond the classroom, helps with all these things. Next we’ll discuss how you can go about educating yourself a bit more thoroughly.

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