How reading changes your perspective

You have convictions, morals, certainties, insights.

Then you start reading.

You know the earth is flat. You can see it for your five year old-self with your little eyes. Later that day you open a book and a picture shatters your preconceptions.

Our little globe, seen from up there. You are confused and run to whichever parent is near at hand. Questions start spilling out of your mouth and your fear is confirmed: you knew nothing.

Now, let us leap forward to our adult selves. Older, yes, but mostly not wiser - or smarter - as our five year old selves.

This is where the wonder of reading come to our rescue.

You read about politics, social issues, science, philosophy, history, ethics.

You read about other countries and cultures.

You read about the inner workings of the human psyche.

Thanks to the meaning hidden in scrawled ink you gain insight and understanding, even comprehension and toleration for objects, cultures and concepts that you previously abhorred. I will even go so far as to say that you will even find beauty in that which you considered ugly before.

We all live behind locked doors and shuttered windows, willingly and unknowingly.

Reading opens the shuttered windows and unlocks doors - for yourself and others around you. Reading allows you to understand people, the universe and your place in the greater scheme of Life.

May your knowledge and insight increase exponentially.

The Neon