I'm not saying there's no good in reading fiction; I just don't have an infinite amount of time in which to read the things I must read, the things I'm inclined to read anyway, and anything else. And I just flat-out don't agree that fiction is superior, anyway. They're all stories; at bottom, human stories, so I don't see the difference, myself. You need imagination and creativity to make a difference for God and people in this world, in any case. And I'm telling you, if you don't think you can get it from reading non-fiction, you need to read better non-fiction.
And there's no merit badge at the end for having read Middlemarch. It's true I don't trust people who willfully don't read anything at all; it's quite another to tell people what they must read, and why. You can't possibly know that.
I'm only insistent about this point because I am but a mortal man, and because "for pleasure" has no meaning in my universe at all. I do absolutely everything for a purpose. Even my "leisure" serves that purpose. And I've got to work around my "crazy". I'm physically disabled, and whether it's medical or not, I absolutely cannot focus on one thing for longer than 15 minutes. Even when I pray, it's insane. This is why I prefer Eucharistic Adoration to other prayer, because at least when I become distracted, I am distracted with Him. Also, in the quiet, others don't realize you are insane.
This is why I told Bob to take a bunch of little breaks when reading theology and doing our stuff; we're similar people; if we burn out from forcing ourselves to focus too intently for too long, we'll blow 6 days thinking about the anatomy of flying purple unicorns, and miss what we're supposed to do entirely. Keep your deadlines firm but broad, and keep your diversions semi-relevant to the major tasks at hand.
And there's no merit badge at the end for having read Middlemarch. It's true I don't trust people who willfully don't read anything at all; it's quite another to tell people what they must read, and why. You can't possibly know that.
I'm only insistent about this point because I am but a mortal man, and because "for pleasure" has no meaning in my universe at all. I do absolutely everything for a purpose. Even my "leisure" serves that purpose. And I've got to work around my "crazy". I'm physically disabled, and whether it's medical or not, I absolutely cannot focus on one thing for longer than 15 minutes. Even when I pray, it's insane. This is why I prefer Eucharistic Adoration to other prayer, because at least when I become distracted, I am distracted with Him. Also, in the quiet, others don't realize you are insane.
This is why I told Bob to take a bunch of little breaks when reading theology and doing our stuff; we're similar people; if we burn out from forcing ourselves to focus too intently for too long, we'll blow 6 days thinking about the anatomy of flying purple unicorns, and miss what we're supposed to do entirely. Keep your deadlines firm but broad, and keep your diversions semi-relevant to the major tasks at hand.
Comments
You say: "I don't believe fiction is superior." It depends on what you mean by superior. As in, it is better to read fiction than non- fiction? No. As in, it's better at doing what non-fiction does? No. There's a reason we have named the categories different things, i. e. fiction" and "non-fiction," because they accomplish different things. To say that "fiction us superior to non-fiction" is ludicrous, so we agree of course!
But then you quickly start equivocating. That they aren't seperate categories. That it's "all stories" and if you can't get "imagination and creativity" from non-fiction then we're reading the wrong kind of non-fiction.
This is like saying: "it's all color all the way down. You can get imagination and creativity from the creation that is God's sunset by actually looking at the real thing, instead of going to an art gallery and seeing paintings of sunsets."
Why is it like this? Because one is all art, all aesthetic, all creativity, all imagination straight up -- no chaser while the other has to grapple with realities beyond our control. They accomplish very different things because they have very different purposes. To insist that one is superior to the other would be ridiculous. My insistence is simple that both are dire necessitates, but in our culture fiction gets the slap as being merely "entertainment." This is what we've done to art -- if it doesn't entertain, it's useless.
I hope you see why I'm passionate about this and why I believe our culture is starved for art and beauty. Sincerely, a musician.