When a reader falls in love with a book, it leaves its essence inside him, like radioactive fallout in an arable field, and after that there are certain crops that will no longer grow in him, while other, stranger, more fantastic growths may occasionally be produced.
-Salmon Rushdie
Addendum from Vicky’s comment below, which helpfully develops Rushdie’s thought for those who want to deliberately cultivate “certain crops”:
Beautiful… as well as quite the vivid warning.
Matthew 6:22-23
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Commentary from the Orthodox Study Bible:
“The mind (Gr. nous) is the spiritual eye of the soul; it illuminates the inner man and governs the will. Keeping the mind wholesome and pure is fundamental to the Christian life.“
Gladsome Lights 
That’s a fabulous quote, Gretchen!
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Beautiful… as well as quite the vivid warning.
Matthew 6:22-23
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.†
23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Commentary from the Orthodox Study Bible:
“The mind (Gr. nous) is the spiritual eye of the soul; it illuminates the inner man and governs the will. Keeping the mind wholesome and pure is fundamental to the Christian life.“
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Thank you so much, Vicky, for completing the thought. I’ve added your comment to the post itself.
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EXACTLY! As someone who works in a public library – yes. Exactly. Think about what you want to invite into your mind, your memory, your imagination.
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