Don't Be Too Smart

I hear people say that they read a book that was really helpful in making their life better and fuller, or at least less miserable.  I ask them, "Did you ever reread that book?" Often they say no.  Hmmm.  Why would you not reread something that was so pivotal in your life?  I sometimes think that we get too smart and need to get a little more stupid.  Maybe you forgot key passages in that book that would help you now as your life is changing?  People say they read the Big Book, the Bible, the Tau Te Ching, the Vedanta, and so on.  For information? A bucket list item checked off?  I am always finding new things, or things I forgot in previous readings of transformative books.  I tend to keep them around.  Any underlinings were useful in the last reading, but hopefully, I have moved on and I need to read the whole passage or chapter, because there might be something there that I dismissed in previous readings.  Poetry can be like that too.  Read a poem once and then never again?  Ouch, that hurts.  But then maybe you never read poetry.  Whatever, but keep those books nearby that are helpful to you. They are our friends.