| Confucius also has a similar remark: "Studying* without thinking leads to incomprehension; thinking without studying leads to peril." However, I'd like to offer a counter-argument here. There different ways of reading. Some are passive. Some are active. Reading with a critical mind is anything but detrimental to creativity. Notably, great authors are often voracious readers, and reading is what they all agreed to be the foundations of their craft. It didn't hinder their creativity. The reason is two-folds: 1) they read critically; 2) they wrote. The true way to foster creativity, is to create. Unless one read so much that no time is left to do anything else, reading isn't the enemy of creating. And a further note on vicariously living one's life. I don't really see what's wrong with that. A person gets one life only, and it may be a fortunate one, a challenging one, a boring one, or one that's an absolute dismay. Drudging through the day and fantasizing through the night is hardly the worst form of life, in my opinion. * "Studying" here refers to the intake of information. |