The Value of Reading

In The Power of Basics, Ryuho Okawa teaches us about the significance of reading:

“ The best thing about reading was that I could transcend or 　become detached from worldly matters when I was absorbed 　in a book.”

Every day, we are surrounded by an enormous amount of information.

Work, relationships, news, emails, social media—before we realize it, our minds are constantly being pulled toward the outside world.

Yet there is a time when we can step away from all of this, even if only for a little while.

That is the time we spend reading.

When we open a book and quietly turn our attention to its world, we can leave behind the busyness before us. We can encounter the thoughts of people who lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago. We can also bring the experiences of people who lived in completely different worlds into our own lives.

Reading is not simply about acquiring more information.

It is a time to step away from the noise of everyday life and encounter wisdom greater than ourselves. It can also be a quiet time to deepen our own minds.

In fact, when we look at the lives of people who left a great mark on the world, we often find reading at the heart of their lives.

Bill Gates — Making Time to Read Because He Was Busy

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been an avid reader since childhood.

In his autobiography, Source Code: My Beginnings, he describes growing up in a family that attended church and becoming familiar with the Bible. As a boy, Gates took on an assignment given by his minister and memorized the Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament. Reading was also close at hand as he thought about religion, faith, and the meaning of life. Source Code itself portrays how his voracious reading habit began in childhood.

What is especially interesting is that he did not lose this habit even after becoming the leader of one of the world’s largest companies.

Beginning in the 1990s, Gates regularly set aside what became known as “Think Week.” He would withdraw from his everyday work, stay alone in a cabin in Washington State, and spend the week reading large amounts of books, technical papers, and other material while thinking deeply.

He later reflected that, as CEO of Microsoft, daily problems could easily consume all his time, leaving too little room to learn about new ideas. So he deliberately created time for reading and reflection.

Even someone standing at the forefront of the world did not think,

“I already know enough.”

Instead, precisely because he was so busy, he intentionally stepped away from the world for a while—to read and to think.

His “Think Week” seems to resonate remarkably well with the idea that reading is a form of meditation for the modern age.

Abraham Lincoln — Making Books His Teachers

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, grew up in circumstances very different from those of Bill Gates.

Raised on the American frontier, Lincoln received less than one year of formal schooling in total, according to his own recollections.

Yet he read.

By around the age of eleven, he had read a biography of George Washington. He later read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, Robinson Crusoe, The Arabian Nights, and other books. Accounts preserved by the U.S. National Park Service even describe young Lincoln as often carrying a book along with his axe.

Even without sufficient schooling, books could become his teachers.

Even without great people nearby, opening a book allowed him to learn directly from those who had lived before him.

Lincoln continued throughout his life to make up for the education he had lacked. In an autobiographical account, he explained in essence that whatever education he possessed had largely been acquired by himself as circumstances required.

Reading, then, is also a way of educating ourselves beyond the limits of our environment.

Gandhi — Reading, Comparing, and Turning Knowledge into a Way of Life

Then there is Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian independence.

As a young man, Gandhi also read widely in order to think more deeply about faith and life.

While studying in London, he read the Bhagavad Gita and also turned to the Bible.

Although he found it difficult to become interested in the Old Testament, he was deeply moved by the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament.

But he did not stop there.

In his own mind, he compared the Bhagavad Gita, The Light of Asia, which portrays the life of the Buddha, and the Sermon on the Mount, seeking to understand the truths that ran through them.

Gandhi later wrote in his autobiography that these reading experiences awakened in him a desire to learn more about other religions and religious figures.

Here we can see another dimension of reading.

It is not enough simply to say, “Now I know.”

We read.
We compare.
We think.
We look within ourselves.
And then we turn what we have learned into a way of life.

For Gandhi, books were not a collection of information.

What he read eventually helped shape his own philosophy, his life, and the ideas through which he influenced countless people.

What Lies Beyond “Knowing”?

Gates continued learning even after achieving extraordinary success.

Lincoln educated himself through books.

Gandhi compared different teachings and transformed what he learned into his own philosophy and way of life.

When we look at these lives, we can see that there is something beyond simply reading a book.

We first gain knowledge.

But we do not stop there.

We think.

Through continued reflection, our judgment becomes stronger, and eventually knowledge can become our own wisdom.

And that wisdom can then be used for the happiness of others.

In The Ten Principles from El Cantare VOLUME II, Ryuho Okawa explains the development of wisdom through four stages.

Stage One — Continuing to Seek Something Higher

The first stage is:

“Continuing to seek for something higher” and “learning as an end.”

This is the stage of continually seeking something higher and making learning itself an end.

Those who avoid learning may eventually find themselves simply accepting the opinions of others without thinking for themselves.

Instead, we continue to seek:

“I want to understand more deeply.”
“I want to develop better judgment.”
“I want to reach a higher level of insight.”

Ryuho Okawa explains that the principle “Ask and you shall be given” also applies to receiving spiritual inspiration.

In other words, the starting point of wisdom is not how much we already know, but whether we continue to seek.

Stage Two — Building Unshakable Confidence in Your Wisdom

As we continue to learn, think, and accumulate experience, we eventually enter the next stage:

Building up unshakable confidence in your wisdom.

The first stage is still a period of self-discipline, and at times we may feel tempted to show others how much we know.

But once true wisdom begins to take root within us, we no longer need to compete with others or feel jealous of them.

Instead, we become able to radiate a gentle light to those around us.

Knowledge is no longer something we use simply to make ourselves look impressive.

It becomes part of who we are.

Stage Three — When Wisdom Becomes Love

The next stage is:

The wisdom of service.

At this stage, wisdom is no longer something kept only for oneself.

It goes beyond the mere accumulation of information and skills.

Knowledge is transformed into love.

The question changes from:

“How much do I know?”

to:

“How can I use this wisdom for the happiness of others?”

When knowledge becomes love and wisdom is shared with many people, it can develop into a philosophy of one’s own.

We can see something of this in Gandhi’s life. He did not keep the many religious and philosophical ideas he studied simply as private knowledge. He transformed them into a way of living that he used for the sake of others.

Stage Four — Fundamental Thoughts in Human History

And then comes the fourth stage:

Fundamental thoughts in human history.

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Confucius.
Jesus Christ.
Shakyamuni Buddha.

What these great figures left behind was far more than a large amount of knowledge.

Their wisdom transcended their own times. It changed the way people thought, influenced cultures, and even helped shape entire civilizations.

The wisdom developed and refined by one person can eventually become a body of thought that guides humanity across generations.

This is how far wisdom can develop.

It Begins by Opening One Book

When we look at reading in this way, we can see that it is much more than putting information into our minds.

We seek something through a book.

We think about it.

We transform it into our own wisdom.

And one day, we may use that wisdom to help someone else.

Perhaps all of this begins with something as simple as opening a single book.

Just as Lincoln educated himself through books.

Just as Gandhi deepened his philosophy through the books he encountered.

Just as Bill Gates continues to value time for reading and thinking.

Precisely because our lives are so busy, perhaps we should sometimes step away from the world for a while and open a book.

“Reading is a form of meditation for the modern age.”

The book you encounter today may give birth to new knowledge within you—and someday, that knowledge may grow into wisdom that becomes a light for someone else.

Sources: Ryuho Okawa, The Power of Basics; Ryuho Okawa, The Ten Principles from El Cantare VOLUME II; Bill Gates, Source Code: My Beginnings; Abraham Lincoln autobiographical materials; Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth.