Why do I read the 10 million words?

Years ago when I stumbled deep into my spiritual ecstasy mystery I consumed book after book on contemporary spirituality. 

Because New Thought pierced me/resonated with me, I read widely from its inception to the current day. This means from Phineas Parkhurst Quimby onward, the last 150 years or so.

Since I can’t be contained when I’m immersed in a subject I read backward in time too. 

Emerson, Swedenborg, Brother Lawrence, Francis of Assisi, Marcus Aurelius, Jesus, Daoist philosophy, Hindu thought, Buddhist teachings . . . 

And sideways.

From Abraham-Hicks to Louise Hay to Neale Donald Walsch to Marianne Williamson to Michael Bernard Beckwith to Deepak Chopra . . . and so many more.

Easily 10 million words plus 10 million words have passed before my eyes since my spark more than a decade ago.

Now I’ve become fascinated with the creative-spiritual continuum— the entanglement between creativity and spirituality. So I’ll be reading 10 million more words.

Why do I do it?

It’s not necessary at all. 

Brother Lawrence who was poorly educated and worked many of his years in a kitchen likely read little other than the Bible. Yet his spirit shines on as an example of how to live humble peace so thoroughly every moment becomes rapturous. 

The reading is not necessary. I know artists who can barely manage to read a comic book and they are pulsing with creative power. 

In my estimation 10 million words is the threshold for understanding a field of knowledge. 100 books and you’ve got a comprehensive look at the landscape. 125 books and beyond and you’re beginning to dive deeper than most will ever care to go.

I read because I want to know what others know. I want to live what others have lived in some small way. I want to know the fullness of thought in the fields that excite me. 

Beyond the reading of words is the reading of people.  

Inspired by my brother who long ago began interviewing those who inspired him, in recent years I’ve been sitting down to chat with a range of individuals. 

I sit down with artists, writers, yoga teachers, entrepreneurs, freelancers, people grappling with spiritual issues, people creatively propelling themselves forward, people engaged with life. Everyday people I come across who intrigue me in some way.

Everyone lives remarkable stories, though many don’t see it that way. I’ve not met a person yet who hasn’t lived some form of phenomenal in the midst of a seemingly ordinary existence.

These meetups mean I’m also on my way to 10 million words in direct people reading. It’s the best reading I’ve ever done. It’s the most rewarding, the most surprising. It’s also the most humbling.

Because people are amazing! People will blow you away with how they’ll bare their scarred yet unsurpassable souls if you only take the time to inquire with real and true interest.

When you sit down with someone to discover something awesome, awesomeness unfolds itself before your very eyes. 

You find what you seek. I seek the extraordinary.

It’s why I read the 10 million words.

For you —

Evan Griffith
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