Chang Linxia: Reading, a never-ending spiritual journey

The British writer Virginia Woolf wrote in The Ordinary Reader that when the Almighty God saw the reader with the book under his armpit approaching, he could only turn around and say to Peter with admiration: "Look, these people don't need a reward, we have nothing to give them here, they love to read all their lives." ”

Yes, God has given us a key to our eyes and hearts: reading. Reading is a never-ending spiritual journey.

My reading life began as a child, probably influenced by my father! My dad was a middle school teacher, he loved to read and he loved poetry. When I was not yet in school, he insisted on telling me stories and teaching me to memorize poems every day. In the influence and taste little by little, I know: Wang Xizhi, who studied books in Linchi and the black water of the pool; Kuang Heng", who read hard in the "Three Uppers" who borrowed light from chiseled walls; Ouyang Xiu, who raced against the clock and cherished time; Li Bai, who sharpened needles with iron pestles, persevered, worked hard, and studied on his own. At this time, I developed a slight liking for reading, so I tried to slowly approach it and look at it when I was free. I was often attracted by the plot of the book, I was in tears because of the tragic fate of the little girl who sold matches, I once praised Zhuge Liang for his ability to do things like gods, I once clapped my hands and applauded Sun Wukong's stunts; I also seemed to have tasted the joy of Bill Gates' success, felt the bitterness of Vanka, tasted the hardships of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and experienced the hard-won happiness of our happy life today. That's when I fell in love with reading. It allows my mind to travel through the 5,000-year history of China and the democratic society of the West, between the desert and the sea, through the Great Wall and the Pyramids, through Everest and Mariana... Now I understand the importance of reading thousands of books, and they are naturally indispensable on the bookcase: "Walker Without Borders", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "Life's Journey"...

If a person's life expectancy is calculated at 90 years, then I have loved a book for more than a third of my life, and this book is Reader. When I was fourteen years old, I read this book by chance, and since then I have been out of control, and this reading has been 20 years. Whenever the night is quiet, turn on the lamp, lie on the bed, hold a copy of "Reader", quietly read each article, and taste the meaning between the lines, I feel warm. Because "Reader" always tells me that although life has long and short, peace, friendliness, peace of mind, and inner strength will always be the most precious assets in life.

Now that I have entered the age of establishment, as a mother, I have a clearer and more explicit understanding of the benefits and importance of reading. I want books to moisten my child's soul and make books a light on the road of children's lives. In life, I do the infiltration and influence of reading all the time. From the moment the child falls to the ground, through the parent-child reading that I read and listened to, let the child touch the book, get close to the book, so that he can also fall in love with reading and embark on the journey of the soul. I have been working hard to create an environment for him to be "all inferior, but the reading is high". Every child has the desire to grow up, the desire to imitate the role model, and I am willing to be the object of the child's imitation.

Nowadays, electronic media is becoming more and more prevalent, and people's reading of paper books is gradually decreasing. However, people who really love to read must know the magic of reading paper books. In the spring afternoon, open a good book in the warm sun, smell the faint scent of ink, gently touch the smooth pages with your fingers, and absorb those words full of philosophical thoughts and flowing water into the eyes, projected in the heart lake, there is an indescribable appropriateness and comfort. A good book is like a good tea, fragrant and mellow, with a long aftertaste. When you are immersed in the words of a thousand sails and light clouds, it is like listening to a wise man tell the philosophy of life, at that moment, your heart calms down and is happy.

A good book is like a confidant. When you read a text that fits your heart, you can't help but marvel: there are such people in the world who understand me! You have been buried in your heart for many years, and if you want to say something but can't say it, the author has said it for you, and your words are concise and concise, and the words are pearls. Your soul coincides with his thoughts, dancing softly in the tunnel of time. Those sharp but warm, quiet and open, rational and aesthetic words soothe your lonely soul, moisturize your eyes and ears, and make your heart clear and clear.

Reading classic books is like receiving spiritual baptism again and again. They are worth reading again and again, and every time you read, there will be a different harvest. Really good words such as spring breeze blowing willows, white lotuses in the rain, red plums in the snow, and dark incense floating. They are poetic, bright and pure, full of percussion and thought-provoking. My class teacher is more of a chinese color: in view of my unqualified language teacher, in order to improve my own and students' writing level, I advocate extensive reading. I brought my favorite books into the class, into the classroom. "Reader", "Harvard Family Training", Tang poems and Song Ci, "Chinese Idioms thousand sentences", "Analects", junior high school texts and so on. Reading and memorizing these books or passages helps students open up a new world, and they also help me and achieve me. The large number of students' reading not only improves students' language literacy, but also teaches students to educate themselves, and students' self-education is far more effective than my painstaking reasoning. The qualities of kindness, integrity and selflessness also became popular in the class.

True reading is the washing and upliftment of the soul. A good text is like a painting of ink and danqing, knowing the beauty of leaving blank space, leaving the reader with space for thinking and reminiscing.

On a snowy winter night, around the red clay stove fire, tasting a pot of good tea, holding a good book, when everything is quiet, looking at the fire slightly, listening to the snow knocking on the window ledge, what is more pleasant and beautiful than this?

"Tea is also intoxicating, why should I drink, books can be fragrant, I don't need flowers." Reading is a red dust crossing, a spiritual redemption, and a never-ending spiritual journey.

Editor-in-charge: Wang Fang YuanXiu Ruogu

About the Author

Chang Linxia is a teacher at Jiyuan Jishui Xuanhua School in Henan.