Full transcript
0:00Men's literature has become a joke. It's
0:03filled with regurgitated fiction slop
0:06churned out merely for profits or
0:08practical self-help guides which
0:11definitely serve a purpose, but they're
0:13not touching upon the deeper elements of
0:15humanity that great literature does. And
0:18so in this video, I wanted to break down
0:20why literature is so important and needs
0:22to be taken more seriously in today's
0:24culture and then share some practical
0:27advice on how to cultivate a deeper
0:29reading life. Starting with part one,
0:32why literature's importance is being
0:34massively undervalued today. CS Lewis
0:37wrote, I take our emotional life to be
0:40higher than the life of our sensations.
0:43not of course morally higher, but
0:45richer, more varied, and more subtle.
0:48And he's right. If all we do is rely on
0:51our practical, literal sensations, our
0:54life will feel less alive, and we will
0:57lose a firm sense of who we are and what
1:00our purpose is, which I do think we're
1:02in danger of today because we live in a
1:04world where there are constantly
1:06conversations around men losing a sense
1:08of their role in the world or men
1:10feeling lost. And one of the most
1:12undertalked about reasons is because we
1:15as men, much to our own doing, have
1:17reduced ourselves to a mere tool, mere
1:20practicality, which has trickled down
1:22into the books targeted at men. Like I
1:24said, they serve a purpose. But we need
1:27more than practical guides on how to
1:29focus or make more money or how to build
1:32better habits. We need actual stories.
1:35real stories that connect us, ground us,
1:38and don't treat us like idiots and tell
1:40us directly what to do and when to do
1:42it, but rather draw us into a story to
1:45allow us to draw our own conclusions and
1:48find our own purpose. Because as
1:50Hemingway and CS Lewis knew so well,
1:53when we are in the trenches of war, it's
1:56not a practical guide that tells us what
1:58courage is that will keep us fighting
2:00forward, but rather stories of love,
2:03family, morality, and country that will
2:06inspire us to keep going. Which is why
2:09in the middle of the Second World War,
2:11CS Lewis chose to address the nation on
2:13radio through short literary parables.
2:16It's why war inspired Hemingway, Ian
2:19Fleming, and Tolken to write the
2:21beautiful pros that they did because
2:24they saw life at its full force and it
2:26led them to feel more alive and not fall
2:29into the shallows of the slop that we
2:31get today. And today is really the first
2:34time in history that literature,
2:36especially men's literature, isn't being
2:39taken seriously. From Plato in 300 BC to
2:43Dante in the 13th century to James Joyce
2:46in the 20th all the way to Kazuo
2:48Ishiguru in the 80s, men have always had
2:52a rich literary culture. And I feel that
2:54it's no coincidence that now men are
2:56feeling more lost than ever before. Why
2:59charlatans have risen up to try and
3:01corrupt men for their own personal gain.
3:03and why almost all of the books targeted
3:06at men are just regurgitated dumbed down
3:10ideas and analysis of greater books and
3:12greater ideas that were written
3:14centuries before that honestly we would
3:17just be better off reading the originals
3:19of and I think Plato put it best when he
3:21said they make a merchandise of words
3:24and what he's saying there is that
3:26charlatans take words and turn them into
3:28something that they can sell rather than
3:31something that holds great power depth
3:33and responsibility. Because at the end
3:35of the day, stories are vital to us at a
3:38granular level. It's no accident that
3:40across every culture in the world on all
3:43different sides of the planet, they all
3:46had stories that were about a man
3:48slaying a dragon or some form of beast
3:50to rescue other people or stories of the
3:53virtue of charity or true love or love
3:56of family. Despite the fact that many of
3:58these cultures never met and never
4:00shared ideas together, there was still a
4:03similar understanding of what was good,
4:05noble, and virtuous. And most
4:07importantly, they understood that
4:10stories were the only way to pass down
4:12these deep ideas and keep them alive. CS
4:16Lewis referenced this when he said,
4:18"Myths
4:19is a real, though unfocused, gleam of
4:22divine truth falling on a human
4:25imagination." What he's saying there is
4:27that myth or stories or literature is a
4:30way for truth to be spoken and
4:32reinforced in the world. And because of
4:34that, we need myths in society in order
4:37to feel attached to reality, to feel
4:40closer together with other people, to
4:42feel purposeful, and really just feel
4:45alive. Which leads me to part two of
4:47this video, which is how we can
4:49cultivate a deeper literary life
4:52ourselves. First and most crucial step
4:54when trying to improve your reading life
4:56is to not just jump in and read a
4:59classic, deep, complex book like Crime
5:01and Punishment straight away. Because
5:03like what happened with me, it will only
5:05result in you after three pages putting
5:08it down in frustration. But I would
5:10rather recommend that you seek out
5:13analysis or better yet conversations
5:16about the book and its themes before you
5:18actually read the book. And you may
5:20think that this will ruin the experience
5:22because you want to take your own
5:24interpretations from the book and not
5:26someone else's. But actually this is
5:28crucial and it's a practice that has
5:30been passed down from generation to
5:32generation from the ancient philosophers
5:34in Greece to the Renaissance period
5:36where they would have tutors or teachers
5:38or professors who would lay out the
5:40ideas and themes of a book before they
5:43actually read it because that way they
5:45automatically have some firm footing
5:47when they begin to read and they can
5:48then look for those themes and cling to
5:50them like a road map while reading the
5:52book. Then after they've read it with
5:54those themes in mind and actively seek
5:56them out of the book, they now have a
5:59better ability at comprehending how the
6:01professor found those themes and how to
6:03look for those themes themselves. And
6:05they can then begin to read the book a
6:07second time and look for new themes that
6:09perhaps the professor didn't find or
6:12didn't share. Think of it like classical
6:14music. If you just start randomly
6:16listening to Brahms, so much of it will
6:19go over your head and you will feel that
6:21it's just not for you. But if you watch
6:23a video on Brahms or a documentary or a
6:25breakdown of one of his pieces before
6:27you listen to that piece, you will find
6:30themes, ideas, and takeaways that you
6:32couldn't find before. It's like Plato's
6:35cave. Brahms is trying to tell you about
6:38the world outside, but you need to see
6:40the light first before you can actually
6:42listen or make sense of what Brahms is
6:45talking about. And so for me, I started
6:47reading Crime and Punishment, and I
6:49honestly just couldn't comprehend a
6:52single line. And so after about two or
6:54three pages, I put the book down. But
6:56then a few months later, just by chance,
6:59I stumbled on a video on Hemingway's A
7:01Farewell to Arms. I then watched a
7:03documentary on Hemingway because I was
7:05interested from the video, which then
7:07led me to want to finally read the book.
7:10After reading a farewell to arms myself,
7:12I absolutely loved it and it led me to
7:14read more Hemingway novels, which then
7:16led me to read his friend F. Scott
7:18Fitzgerald, which then led me to read
7:20James Joyce. And then all the way from
7:23there, I trickled back to DSTVKI's Crime
7:25and Punishment. And all of a sudden, I
7:28was so much better at analyzing literary
7:31texts that I could actually piece
7:32together some of the ideas that DSTVKI
7:35was writing. But I still wanted a little
7:38bit more clarity. So I took what I did
7:40with Hemingway and I listened to a few
7:42lectures on the novel. Then I listened
7:44to a few podcasts about Dossi. Then all
7:47of a sudden those deep words in Crime
7:49and Punishment spoke off the page and he
7:52has since become my favorite writer of
7:54all time. Which leads me to the second
7:57step of trying to cultivate a deeper
7:59literary life which is to follow your
8:01own curiosity. If you're not enticed by
8:04Doski just yet then don't read him. You
8:07have to make it fun, enjoyable, and
8:09energizing. So, start wherever you want.
8:12Start with the Iliad or start with James
8:14Joyce or start where I started with
8:16Ernest Hemingway. It really doesn't
8:18matter just as long as you follow your
8:21own curiosity and whatever story you
8:23find interesting. As Leonardo da Vinci
8:26called curiosity lamiglora,
8:29the best guide. And he was honestly
8:32right because I had to follow my own
8:34curiosity which led me from Hemingway to
8:36Russian novelists all the way to Dante.
8:39And so if you start by actually
8:40listening to some analysis on these
8:42great books and then follow your
8:44curiosity starting with the ones you
8:46want to read and allow that to spur on
8:48your next read and your next read and
8:50your next read, eventually your life
8:52will radically change like it did for
8:55myself. as now I just cannot get enough
8:57of ideas and books and it just makes me
9:00feel so much more nourished, so much
9:02more fulfilled. And while I still do
9:05like reading some of those practical
9:07guide books, some of those self-help
9:09books that break things down into an
9:11easy uh literal granular level that that
9:15isn't going to fully fulfill you. You
9:17need more complex ideas, more deep
9:19themes. You need to go back and read
9:22stories, not just books that outline
9:24every step for you. Because while those
9:26guides are good for getting things done
9:28or coming up with good systems, you
9:31still need to know why you're coming up
9:33with systems. You still need to know
9:34what you're working towards, what you
9:36want to focus for. It's not enough to
9:39just focus. It's not enough to just work
9:41hard. It's not enough to be more
9:43productive or learn the laws of power.
9:45you need to also contemplate the deeper
9:48ideas that humans have been talking
9:50about and contemplating for centuries.
9:53And it really is just so undertalked
9:55about today. But I truly feel that it's
9:57one of the most vital pieces missing,
10:00especially for men in today's modern
10:02culture. But with that said, I hope you
10:04guys like the video. If you did, let me
10:07know your thoughts down below in the
10:08comments. Like the video, hit subscribe,
10:11and until next time, take