Literature: The Essential Path to Higher Reasoning

Tell me, when the sun has set, and you’re sitting under a lavender wisteria tree, hands intertwined with the blades of grass, eyes glistening in the shade, thinking about faithfulness that is unseen, will you turn to mathematics to realize your dream?

I will admit that paying attention to mathematics and science in school has helped me build structure in my life. Budgeting, cooking, taxes, DIY projects, and problem-solving are all essential to living a basic life. Without the tools of these subjects, there would be no architecture, technology, or recipes to enjoy. There is an outward structure to these subjects that offers stability.

When attending school, the curriculum heavily focused on subjects dealing with numbers and elements. I was often told that those would be the subjects that would propel my career. Literature was fun, and the stories we learned about in class offered interesting discussions. Creative Writing was even better; it served as a place to dump thoughts and create fantastical stories, but these were not serious classes. Script Writing? Philosophy? Religious studies? These are all intriguing subjects, but would they have the stability and skills promised by mathematics and science? Perhaps not when it comes to the issue of stability, as writing and teaching salaries tend to be lower than medical careers or those involving science. I would argue that the skill and art of writing are seen as passion projects by the majority of people, a hobby that is done for fun. However, let me offer a different perspective on the subject of literature.

Suppose you resonated with Franz Kafka and were “constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable.” Or maybe Dostoyevsky has pulled onto your heartstrings when he says, “Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.”. The world is presented with unfathomable and gut-wrenching problems, many of which seem to have impossible solutions. What does a woman do when she is about to have a child and has no money or village to support her future journey? What does a child do when a parent they turned to for guidance develops dementia? What happens when an enemy has shown their humanity, but you are to judge their trial fairly and justly? How does an enamored young man with a sensitive heart move in a world shaped by brutal competition?

Of course, these questions can be approached through a subject such as mathematics, and it will likely throw statistics and conjure up numbers that have to do with what side is morally, scientifically, or logically right or wrong. The science may say, ‘Eureka! This is the answer we have been waiting for!’ only to be disproven 50 years later by a new question that was not thought of. Yet, society tends to look at these areas of study for the end-all-be-all structure, but where does literature play in all of this?

Do you suppose that the great writers such as Kafka and Dostoyevsky were writing art for fun or because they understood something deeper? Does a starving artist paint with a brush because it helps them unwind after their 9-5 job? Sometimes, the problems we face in the world are much more profound and elaborate than what we want them to be. It is easy to say that 1+1=2 or that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. It is easy to measure how to build a new door. Except, ripping out a broken door and hammering in a new one with your bare hands can be difficult. It is difficult when that broken door is the last thing you have of your mother, who used to mark how tall you were with a permanent marker on the wood.

There is a particular wonder to literature: universal ideas that, when read, are broken up into subjective reasoning that is unique to each individual. When the reader empathizes with the author through their work, the answers in the story may be transferred to the reader’s own life. There may be no numbers or elements in play, but there is a fire lit in the soul to chase demons away with the wonder and grace of ideas too mysterious to explain soundly, only in stories that, when presented with a problem, say, “It depends.”

I believe that literature is the doorway to solving complex emotional problems that are thrust upon us daily. Stories are told to inspire us to look past the walls and invisible structures we have forged around our minds. I would like to note again that structure is important.

Mathematical reasoning and science are essential to a society running smoothly, but when we have run out of ideas, when the statistics begin swimming in circles and people are screaming their differences at each other, we must turn to literature for answers unknown to us, answers that must unfold through art.

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Samantha Green is a whimsical storyteller, poet, and metaphysics enthusiast. If you asked her what her favorite aesthetic is, she would say spooky, but make it cute with a dash of magic sprinkles. Her favorite authors are Kafka, Camus, Dostoyevsky, and other writers who sit on the edge of reason. Through surrealist and dreamlike storytelling, her works explore topics like hope, metaphysics, phenomenology, and the relationship between masculine and feminine. You can find some of her work at greenersideofsam.com and GreenerSideofSam on YouTube.