One of the tasks for Week 4 of the Artist's Way is reading deprivation. I'm not supposed to be reading at all.
The theory, as best I understand it, is that a lot of people use reading as a distraction and as an anaesthetic to dull their own emotional pain. I know that's true of me.
Julia Cameron writes that this is a task that creates a lot of resistance and animosity in people when she suggests it. She says people always have excuses why they can't do what she suggests. For example, "I'm an important business executive and I have to read reports."
Her answer to that is procrastinate.
Well, I can't do that. I don't exactly feel animosity toward the suggestion. I just don't see it as completely practical. On my current assignment, most of what I'm doing is editing online so I won't have to read very much (except for re-reading and editing my own words, which I don't think counts). However, I may have to do a little research reading in the course of my job, and I refuse to procrastinate that. It's not really fair to the people who've hired me to meet tight deadlines if I decide to put off certain tasks just because I'm doing this program of creative exploration.
Other than that one exception, though, I am going to be as true to this self-imposed discipline as I can. I started Saturday, and through the end of the day Friday, I will not be reading newspapers, magazines, catalogs, poems, novels, prayer books, the Bible, Internet articles, blogs, discussion forums, or Wikipedia.
I've caught myself a couple of times forgetting and starting to read something, but I stopped quickly.
I'm not sure at all if this experiment is going to have the intended effect. Some other things happened this weekend that required a lot of emotional energy, so I haven't really been tracking the impact of not reading. Maybe it's cumulative, though, and I'll notice more as I go along.
9 comments:
I think it is not practical to avoid reading in the course of one's job that one is paid to do. But the extraneous stuff I can see avoiding for a week.
Interesting, though, that one can use reading to dull or avoid one's pain. I never considered that before; however, upon reflection, I can see that is so.
I understand the exercise you are doing, but not reading the Bible doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. There are places in there that can remove the pain altogether, which is different from dulling or avoiding it. Not reading God's word separates you from your healer. Of course, He can speak to you apart from the printed page, as long as you have hidden His word in your heart. Otherwise, it can be an uphill struggle.
I'm not sure I could go without reading anything for any length of time. It is my mainstay. I can see, however, that it is antithetical to writing.
That is totally what I do with reading. Will be interested to see how it works out for you.
This is fascinating and frightening...in a good way.
You're inspiring me to explore The Artist's Way.
I would hate not being able to read for any length of time - I have to read the newspaper in the morning and I go into withdrawal if I can't read before I go to sleep at night or read blogs! Keep us posted how this is working for you.
The one thing about this kind of "work" is that you really need to rest and recover...we expose deeply hidden fears, emotional issues etc. Be good to yourself Ruth!
Yeah, you have to read to do your work - there's no way around that. But I can see not reading anything for fun. And while yes, I do see myself using reading the way you described - I think I tend to do it more so with the television. So I'm really trying to wean myself off of that. Good luck with your experiment this week.
Wow ... I was completely with you on the course until you said that. There is No Way on Earth that I could survive a week without reading. I can't even survive a few hours in a waiting room without reading - and how I'd ever manage to buy safe food for me, or remember the right doses of medicines etc without reading the package I have no idea.
Does it include not reading road signs, I wonder? Yes, that's flippant, but we are such a text-oriented society that I wonder if it's even possible to 'not read' for a week!
To require you to not read for pleasure is one thing, but not read at all? Sounds impractical, if not downright impossible.
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