Reading, Meditation, and Self-Discovery in Thurman and Nafisi

Introduction: Reading and Meditation as Parallel Practices

Reading and meditation are similar because both involve the imagination. When one reads, one creates a vivid picture in the mind of what the words are suggesting: it is an active process on the part of the reader, who must "picture" the events being described, as opposed to sitting passively before a screen and allowing the projector to do all the work. Meditation is like reading in that it involves the active participation of the mind in creating an image or episode upon which the meditating person is to consider and reflect. Thus, reading can serve as a launch pad for meditation. In the end, both practices are about using the mind to produce a picture in the imagination's eye. This is essentially what Robert Thurman means when he writes, "None of us knows who we really are. Facing that and then becoming all that we can be — astonishing, surprising, amazing, always fresh and new, always free to be more, brave enough to become a work in progress, choosing happiness, open-mindedness, and love over certitude, rigidity, and fear — this is realizing selflessness!" (443).

This essay uses the idea of reading and meditation to show how Thurman's "Wisdom" is related to Azar Nafisi's "Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran" — and in particular to Nafisi's reading practice in her class. Thurman's exploration of the true nature of the self is comparable to what Nafisi attempted through reading, because both authors used outside means to discover one's true identity.

Emerging from the Cave: Liberation Through Text

Because reading is an outside means that can serve meditation, it offers an effective basis for comparison between Thurman's work and the figure of Nafisi, who reads in class. Thurman describes the act of reading as akin to being liberated from the cave of ignorance — similar to what Plato describes in his Allegory of the Cave. Thurman writes that "when you first melt into the spacious experience of freedom, it is enthralling, like emerging from a dark cave into infinite light" (454). This sense of emergence mirrors the movement of the self out of inner darkness by way of outer illumination — the sun, or the text that triggers the imagination and elevates the mind toward an otherness outside the self, which is the essence of meditation.

Nafisi experiences something similar when she states, "We were not looking for blueprints, for an easy solution, but we did hope to find the link between the open spaces the novels provided and the closed ones we were confined to" (290). Essentially, Nafisi asserts that through reading her students were enabled to escape the enclosures around them and to transcend the confines of space, time, and self. The immediate and the visceral are like walls — but through the engagement of the imagination, which makes use of outside material such as books, these walls are scaled and a transcendent horizon is discovered. This is the liberation of which Thurman speaks and the light of truth to which he alludes.

Truth, Identity, and the Transcendent Imagination

This transcendent movement is related to truth — an objective reality outside the limitations of the subjective perspective. Nafisi regards this movement as connected to the imaginative dimension of meditation, which is itself the product of reading and of creating a vision in the mind: "Perhaps one way of finding out the truth was to do what we did: to try to imaginatively articulate these two worlds and through that process, give shape to our vision and identity" (295). Thurman articulates a similar sentiment when he suggests that antiquated notions of spirituality may still be relevant, because something hidden in those concepts still pertains to the activity of self-discovery through transcendence — like leaving the earth in a plane to see it more clearly: "There are also various vaguely defined areas such as 'spirit' and 'soul' that, like a dusty attic or dank cellar, we may feel the need to explore" (450).

Thus, Thurman's exploration of the true nature of the self resembles Nafisi's reading practice because both are directed by an "outside" influence that ironically provides better access to a true understanding of the inner self. The "soul," in other words, is the inner self — the secret dimension of the personality that one needs to better understand through meditation. For Thurman, as for Nafisi, this act of discovery is made possible through outside means: interaction with texts, ideas, visions, and materials that activate the imagination and stir in it the desire to look inward. Nafisi links truth with the discovery process in a way that evokes the voyage of Columbus — a traveler seeking a known route who finds instead something unexpected, a new world. Discovery of the self and discovery of truth are thus intimately connected, because both require the use of something other than the self, which nonetheless allows one to turn a microscope upon the self so that a more objective understanding of both truth and identity can be achieved.

Conclusion: Becoming More Than the Self

In conclusion, addressing the questions "Does Nafisi feel as if she and her students have become like characters in someone else's book?" and "What would Nafisi suggest as a possible solution?" one answer emerges clearly: by showing her students fictional worlds, she suggests that the roles depicted in those worlds can be inhabited in reality. Related to Thurman's framework, through meditation we create our own image of ourselves, making it possible to bring that inner image to life. We transcend the old image of the self — the construct imposed upon us — and discover a better, more vibrant image, created through our association with others, whether with Nabokov or with the broader outside world. Our willingness to enter into relationships with others gives life an ever deeper meaning and fortifies us against the selfishness of isolation and self-seeking.

By reading and meditating on materials that exist outside the self, we lift ourselves from the ground and see more clearly all that surrounds us and all that we can become part of. We do not have to remain isolated in our cave; we can emerge from it and embrace the light of truth, which helps us define ourselves all the more fully. By that light — the light of the sun, or the transcendent truths that the ancient Greeks strove toward — we are given a new freshness and vitality, a clean soul, and a radiant sense of self that can never be taken away.

Works Cited

Nafisi, Azar. "Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran."

Thurman, Robert. "Wisdom."