There is nothing quite like the silence that comes over the room at the close of the final sentence. For a brief yet timeless stretch we are all there together, highly aware of one another but in wonderful solitude. Then, the conversation begins.
The power of reading aloud in the home—whether just two spouses or friends, or with family or guests—is an astounding gift we can rediscover. Much more than just a nice pastime, it is a basic enactment of who we are and what we seek in our homelife.
Especially today, it can stand up to the potent centrifugal forces pulling us away from the heart of life, in the center of our home. This is not simply a bedtime story for children, as wonderful as those are. This uniquely engages all of us, and as such is more an expression of who we are.
Does this sound dramatic? The steady evisceration of life at the hearth and heart of our home sets the dramatic context. It is ours to determine what to do. We can be pro-active by turning to what it is right at hand, even if it takes some intentional arranging.
But is this really one of the basic forms of shared life? What about all those throughout history who couldn’t read or didn’t have the books?
They, I suggest, of necessity became story-tellers in their own right, something that for us is more remote and therefore more difficult. I do not rule out recovering that art too. But here I focus on what is more accessible and serves a similar role in our life. Besides, turning to the stories and essays of masters can provide a uniquely artistic, beautiful, and viewpoint-expanding experience.
Getting started need not be daunting. Listening to audio recordings has been a great gift in our own household and can function either as a change of pace or a helpful introduction to the experience of shared listening. [For this reason, we are now making and sharing recordings of some of our own favorites.]
Is it really worth the effort to do this as opposed to watching a film together? I do not question the merits of a good movie-watching. I do suggest that there is something unique, prior, and indeed irreplaceable in shared listening. Consider again the image with which I opened: the moment the last sentence is read, or heard. My own experience of this has been uniform and clear though hard to capture in words. At the end of listening to a story or essay questions immediately arise. How did this strike you? What did you see when you heard that? And so on. Somehow reflecting and sharing our thoughts seems to follow more naturally than when a movie ends.
Is it that our attention has not been focused on a screen and so our eyes and thus consciousness remain more engaged with one another? Is it that we have had to exercise our own imagination and so are simply more engaged as a whole person and have more to share? Good questions. What I am sure of is that I have seen a significant difference in the effect of reading/listening aloud together, one that brings to light what seems to me the best reason to do it in our homes, or wherever we can.
Reading aloud is a unique way to live together precisely as persons. We are rational creatures whose very existence is itself a story, and indeed a shared story. Somehow listening together we feel this on a gut level, and we are powerfully reminded that we very much in this together. ~ ~ ~
LISTEN to THIS SHORT STORY, a perfect winter read-aloud by Belloc! We now have a selection of stories and essays for immediate download and listening! We will be bringing out weekly additions from a variety of genres to enrich your reading/listening aloud wherever you are.
Watch/Listen at YouTube: You’ll love this!
Announcing Man of the Household and Woman of the Household special sessions for Lent. INFO AND SIGNUP HERE. Do it alone; do it as a couple; do it with friends. We hope you can join us.
Husband, father, and professor of Philosophy. LifeCraft springs from one conviction: there is an ancient wisdom about how to live the good life in our homes, with our families; and it is worth our time to hearken to it. Let’s rediscover it together. Learn more.
