Musings

Reading for Immersion

by Mikal Lewis

Long ago I wrote about immersion as the secret to how I learn. I don’t just skim a topic, or a reading. I dive in it.

I converse about it, I critique. I learn the language and its rhythms.

In doing this, the facts and figures of the thing don’t matter. What matters is the essence of the thing.

For example, I’m currently reading no less than seven books. The precise number doesn’t matter but here are a few sample:

  • Genius Zone
  • The Tools
  • The Confident Mind
  • Man’s Search for Meaning
  • Good Business
  • The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy
  • The Feminine Mystique

Individually they represent a single thread, a single idea or perspective. But when you explore them as one they all cover purpose, safety, and connectedness.

The Feminine Mystique is a study of the consequences of the propagated myth that the purpose of femininity is wife and mother. In other words, an examination of what happens when you remove calling/higher purpose.

Man’s Search for Meaning is a study of the consequences of purpose. How it played a role in living through genocide, and the life to come.

Read by themselves each work is powerful—together they say far more.

I find reading for immersion challenging.

So often when I read, I’m pulled towards completion—each chapter, a step towards the finish line.

But reading for immersion is like ‘run aheads’—progress in one book is a call to revisit another book in the cycle that I’m trailing behind.

The good news is most books establish their premise up front. So as I read each, I’m able to benefit from the connections of others. Comparing the tools and methodologies—and understanding the commonalities among each.

On average, I read at least two chapters a day. Often a different book in the morning than the evening.

With time, some of the books will drop from the collection, once it becomes clear that I’m not gaining new perspective with each additional chapter.

More often, I’ll feel a gap in my understanding and add another book to my collection, to feel and experience the topic from other angles.

To what end?

I’m not currently in a degree program. So the question can be, to what end?

A better humanity demands better humans.

Immersion and immersive readings on topics that pull me, is an exercise in my personal growth towards being a better complete Mikal.

Maybe it will work for you too.