Reading and the Shaping of Identity

There are different reasons why people read. Some read for entertainment only, others read to enhance themselves, still others read to be more informed about their jobs. There are also reading for research, reading for study and reading for escape. There is, however, at least one thing that kind of or reason for reading have in common and that is in the fact that it helps in shaping your identity.

Every time we read anything, from newspapers and magazines to novels and popular fiction as well as any kind of non-fiction, we consciously or unconsciously interact with the text. We may cry or get angry at certain characters in a novel or get upset and write letters to the editor due to certain articles. These interactions, I believe, influence the way we think, form opinions and act. Unconsciously we do not only have an opinion on what we read about but we also change our opinions as we read.

Our identity is who we are, how we think and argue, what we like and dislike; and it help us make decisions. In other words, identity is what we identify with. Of course, we do not have to read in order to have an identity as we do not live in a vacuum. Our identity is also shaped by the people we are close with, the television programs we watch, where we work, who we are married to and many other things.

Why then are reading, in general, and books, in particular, important for the shaping of identity? Most of us grow up and live within specific communities. We go to a specific church denomination, grow up in a neighborhood made up of a specific ethnicity, see our work colleagues for long periods of the day and so forth. Even within these communities we gravitate towards those we really like or towards those who think, and look like us.

The result is that we do not have contact with other churches or religions, other cultures and sub-cultures, or ultimately with other ideas and opinions. When we do have contact with these it is not enough as we fear the ‘other’ and keep our conversations safe and superficial. The reasons we do this is exactly because we fear being influenced, are over-comfortable with our isolationist lives and believe that we are right. We also fear confrontation.

Some of us forgot or did not realize that going on the Internet means reading a lot, despite the high number of videos. This helped in making more people, especially the younger generation, more open to new ideas. The older generations are especially scared of this because they feel they are losing their cultures, believes and way of life. We will thus always find the older generation warning us against other religions or scoffing at the music and sub-cultures of the younger people.

This makes reading one of the safest ways to explore new ideas. In the first place, there is no one who is going to argue with you – if you disagree you disagree and there is no need for anyone to know. Secondly, there is no awkward situations in which you ask, say or do something which is considered insulting – of course you do need to be careful of what you learn from other communities, for instance check the date the book was published (if it’s more than ten years old it’s history, a lot could change in ten years).

This said, I want to assure that there is nothing to fear. Shaping your identity means growth while staying within the same all the time leads to stagnation. There is more to fear from not growing than there is from change, as difficult as it is. In my personal life, especially in the religious field, I started to read books written by people who actually practice the religion because I realized that those who write from a outsider point of view are very biased. My dad feared two things – first that I will stop reading the Bible and second that I will convert to another religion. His first fear came to nothing as I still read the Bible, however with a lot of comparison between it and what I read elsewhere. His second fear did, in a way, become true; but I strongly believe that I grew much stronger spiritually because of it. Of course, we should not fear change in our own identities, but even less so should we fear this for someone else, even if it is your child. Each of us have our own choices to make in exactly how far we are willing to go and what we are willing to live with.

I want to suggest that the next time you read something you interact with it in a more conscious way. Ask yourself questions such as, why do I feel this way when I read a particular passage?, why do I agree or disagree?, what do I want to do about this in my life?. Next, I want to suggest that you do not only read books with which you know you will agree. These books do have its place as you will always learn something new about your chosen topic which you did not know before. However, reading a book you may not agree with will help in seeing and acknowledging the existence of other ideas and opinions and may lead to a more understanding and compassionate world view. Lastly, I would like to suggest that you read widely. If you are a spiritual person do not only read spiritual books, if you like romances or thrillers or fantasy do not only read that one genre, if you prefer magazines do not only read one type of magazine or magazines only. In doing this you do not only expand your knowledge but also widen your comfort zone which may lead to easier interaction and conversation with people who are different from you.

Reading will lead to some sort of change, but I sincerely hope that you will embrace the change in order to better yourself and life in general.