THE SPIRITUALITY OF READING

In the latest issue of Sojourner magazine Nancy M. Malone, OSU, finds the act of reading as one of faith, of spirituality; in this feat she sees the need to be alone, in peace, in contemplation which the faithful summons while in the act of praying. For Malone, reading helps her to be her true self, the self that sees the world, others, herself.

If Marcel Proust's words can find its way in Malone's thoughts, then I am at peace. The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes, she quotes, and I cannot help but agree that in reading, in its full spirituality, the best thing we need is what is termed the eye of love.

Right now I can feel the stillness of time. In a stationary world, my mind takes a goodtrip in a journey piloted by the eye of love. Right now you can find me wandering from centuries back as I serve eyewitness to the discovery, erase that, to the invention of the New World as accounted for by the greatness of Alejo Carpentier's spiritual pen. The Harp & the Shadow is my current heaven and right now I am dying for you to be with me.

But that may not be fair, in view of your own exercise of faith.

So, fellow practicioner, I'll just throw in the spiritual question: what are you reading right now?