Open That Door!Ingersoll, R. Sturgis (Robert Sturgis)
Philosophy
Open That Door!
Ingersoll, R. Sturgis (Robert Sturgis)
Books and reading
Matthew Arnold defined culture as a knowledge of the best that has been
done and said by man—but the one who _opens that door_ must have more
than that knowledge. It is not enough to cram away facts in the corners
of your brain. These facts must have a direct bearing upon your life.
To have knowledge of the best that has been written, you must not only
read a great poem but you must allow the thought or fancy to sink into
and become part of your personality; of the best that has been done you
must not only have knowledge of the courage and wisdom of the early
Americans who broke the yoke of Great Britain, but you must apply their
courage and wisdom to your daily life; of the best that has been said
you must not only read one of Abraham Lincoln’s great speeches, but
absorb the quiet spirituality of the man who uttered them, and allow his
personality to become part of yours.
Farcical moving-picture shows and talking-machine rag-time surely have
their place, but can they enter the soul of man as can "the best that
has been written, done and said"? The plays of Euripides and the words
of Marcus Aurelius have for many centuries given deeper understandings
and wider horizons to a multitude of readers, and it is probable that
the intensity with which they have acted upon the individual is
commensurate with the length of time that they have acted upon the mass.
We do not believe that this can be said of the time-killing "movie" or
the rag-time song of yesterday.
Let us enter the world of living through the world of books. It is from
the printed page that we can best equip ourselves for a rich life of
value to ourselves, our family and our neighbors. If you do not believe
it, read some book that the world has acknowledged great. Having read
it, live it in your eternal self, and you will have passed through the
Open Door.
It is a rainy day at the seashore; I am writing in the reading room of a
summer hotel. Without, the rain is sweeping across the bathing beach,
the tennis courts are flooded, the golf course, without a doubt, is a
swampy morass. It is a dreary sight for one who looks through the
window pane. Our little world is upon a vacation, and all but the few
who wish to tramp the beach in raincoats and gum boots must stay
in-doors. And yet there is happiness, and I believe greater promise of
the morrow. In one corner of the room there is a stripling of about
thirteen, curled in a chair, absorbed in his book, which from the cover
I know to be "Treasure Island." He is with Old Pew, John Silver, and
the cut-throat buccaneers. On the morrow the sand-dunes for that boy
will be places of mystery where weird and exciting fairy deeds might
have been accomplished. The commonplace bathing beach will have new
mysteries, as the waters that splash at his feet are the same that
surround some sunbaked, South Sea Treasure Isle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account