Reading books is not so different from installing new cyberware in a game like Cyberpunk, or unlocking new powers in a video game, or learning magic spells. Knowledge has a way of deepening our connection to both our personal histories and the wider world. What it boils down to I guess is that ideas can take many forms, they can be viewed through many lenses, and the way we approach them can determine how exciting and fun ideas are to us. In my experience, memory functions like a sixth sense, the more ideas and memory we have at our disposal the more detail we can notice in our environments, in the world around us. Learning deepens perception. When I say spiritual what I mean is “the relation of perception to the world”.
To put this another way, let us take the example of two people looking at a computer. Someone who knows absolutely nothing about computers will just see a weird glowing rock with mysterious buttons on it. They might not even know what a button is! Whereas, the computer scientist sees a world of data and possibility, calling to mind an entire cyberspace, an alternate dimension to the everyday world of streets and buildings, buses and cars, trains and planes and automobiles. There’s depth, and entire worlds of memory, magic, an entire spirit realm of living memories and ideas.
Let’s take another example. Two people look at a tree. One of them is a tree expert, they’ve read over 9000 books about trees and they know every tree algorithm and structure imaginable, they can tell you what every single cell in a tree does and how they work together to make beautiful trees everyone loves. Meanwhile the other person who knows nothing about trees will just see a boring old tree and stare blankly at it. What I hope is becoming clear here is that the person with more knowledge quite literally sees a larger, more complex reality. They have a deeper connection to the tree or the computer, and are able to engage more deeply with whatever the context is, not just mentally, but also picking up on sensory details others may miss.
I’ve heard it said that graphic designers can see more colors than the average person, because over time they train themselves to distinguish between subtle shades of blue, or green, or whatever you want, and so eventually their reality deepens, becomes more complex and textured, richer with detail and possibility. This is something knowledge unlocks for us, it deepens our connection to the everyday world around us, and opens us up to the experience of reality! I’m sure chefs can taste more flavors than others, novelists notice more details. Reading plays a huge part in this deepening of connection to the world, but so can hobbies, experiments, learning, playing, walking, climbing, living your life, anything really can contribute.
Returning to that example about the graphic designer who can literally see more colors than other people, let us apply this to other contexts. Someone who has studied acting or psychology might be able to pick up on nonverbal communication better than someone who hasn’t. Someone who has studied multiple languages can read books which have never been translated, and has access to entire sections of the world map other people might be unable to access at all! It’s almost as if learning is the key to unlocking the “true” reality, underneath the deceptive world of mere appearances. The reality is that there’s an infinite depth to the world, but only those who have taken the time to read and study, explore and reflect, can access depth.
It’s as if there are some people living in a false surface-level world of shallow appearances, while others are engaging with an incredible rich and textured world full of unthinkable depth and complexity. I don’t think this is an exaggeration at all, and I would even argue the more a person learns the more alive they are, the more engaged with the world they become. An ancient ruin means something very different to someone who has never read a book in their life, than to someone who has read 100 books about the civilization which built the ruins. To the reader, ruins are rich with depth and meaning, texture, imagination, another piece of a vast living puzzle.
When I use the word “psychic” I don’t mean magic powers, I mean perceptual depth, a depth of memory and memory-sense. The reason I would argue memory is a sense is because we can only sense as much complexity as we can imagine. In a way, imagination projects consciousness into an environment and is capable of listening for changes in that imaginary field. Imagination is fed by knowledge. The more a person studies history, philosophy, literature, science, and everything else, the better their imagination will be. Part of the root of the word “imagination” is image- and then there’s the -ination part. What I think imagination really means, is the projection of images out of a context, the assembling of a context out of the projector slides of memory. Psychic projections, or psychological projections if you prefer, involve the projection of memories onto reality, an overlaying of maps on top of territories.
I think this kind of psychic projection is the projection of inner-maps onto territories in a way which maps accurately, which aligns so perfectly that the map becomes a part of the image and the vision, like a HUD in a video game. This is why learning is a form of psychic enhancement. The more we learn about the world, the more details we can perceive in everyday life. If we learn truly and scientifically, we can project useful information into the world around us and walk around in the infinite depth of it all. Reading books isn’t just a nerd thing, it’s a wizard thing. It’s a way of seeing more reality, more truth, of being more plugged into the moment you’re in right now so you can feel more alive, more excited to wake up and explore the possibilities of life.
Books are skill trees. Reading unlocks new abilities and develops intuition, especially when we take the time to practice and explore, to arrange and re-arrange thoughts, to organize our maps, and explore the connections. Memory is your third eye.