最近我一直在思考一个问题，在互联网时代人们常常说信息过载，不知道如何选取有用的信息。很多人将当代出版的很多书籍和论文，与互联网诞生之前很多著名专家学者所写作的内容进行对比，试图说明在互联网出现了之后，很多信息的质量降低了。而我认为恰恰相反。古埃及的亚历山大图书馆，建立于托勒密一世索特统治期间，大约在公元前295年，在其鼎盛时期，估计图书馆收藏了4万到40万卷卷轴。在它存在的时期，这里成为了许多著名学者的聚集地。其中包括以弗所的泽诺多托斯，他规范了荷马的作品；卡利马科斯，他编制了最早的图书馆目录之一，名为《皮纳克斯》；还有埃拉托色尼，他以惊人的精确度计算出了地球的周长。这些收藏的书籍很多人穷其一生都阅读不完，更何况这些书籍还培养了一大批托勒密王朝重要学者。但那时候那些学者也没说信息过载。

对于我们大多数人来说，重要的不是信息的多少，而是有几点比较重要：

  1. 信息的可得性
  2. 信息可被迅速检索
  3. 信息具有高质量

互联网的出现主要解决了第一点和第二点的问题，至于高质量，实际上高质量的信息是不断增多的。我们今天看民国时期人才辈出，文学有鲁迅、胡适、蔡元培、梁漱溟；科学技术领域有竺可桢、李四光、华罗庚、钱学森；艺术领域有徐悲鸿、齐白石、梅兰芳。但之所以那个时候诞生了很多学术成果，似乎今天学者的贡献不如他们的前辈，恰恰是因为真正有志于学术且有能力的人被筛选下来了，而在那个社会动荡的年代，能坚持做学术的人是社会当中凤毛菱角的存在，于是产生了以前的信息质量比互联网时代的信息质量要高的错觉。在互联网兴盛的今天，做学术的门槛已经大大降低，高质量的一流信息仍然在不断增加，而二流信息相比以前呈现出爆炸性增长。给我们造成了今天的信息质量不如互联网诞生以前的错觉。

不过对于我们个人来说，最重要的还不是浏览了多少新信息，而是深入学习高质量的信息。古代僧侣有一种阅读经文的方法叫“Lectio Divina”，在拉丁文中叫做“divine reading”，也就是“神圣阅读”的意思。这是一种古老的祈祷和经文阅读的实践，旨在促进与上帝的交流并提供特殊的精神洞察力。神圣阅读不仅包括仔细阅读文本，还包括对文本进行冥想、祈祷和沉思。这是一种用“心灵之耳”聆听文本的方式，让文本以个人的方式与读者对话。神圣阅读的四个步骤是：

读经（Lectio）：慢慢地、专注地阅读一段圣经经文。 默想（Meditatio）：反思经文，让它对你说话。 祈祷（Oratio）：通过祈祷回应经文。 默观（Contemplatio）：在神的同在中安息，让经文深入你的心。

我觉得我们今天学习新知也要有这种精神，关键不在于读得有多块，而在于能否深刻理解文本中的内涵。只有通过不断反复思考学习的知识，并且与他人讨论理解的异同，最终付诸实践，才算是真正掌握知识了。

English Version

The Most Important Information

Lately, I’ve been pondering a question: in the internet era, people often talk about information overload and the difficulty in selecting useful information. Many compare contemporary books and papers with those written by renowned experts and scholars before the advent of the internet, attempting to argue that the quality of information has declined since the internet’s emergence. I, however, hold the opposite view. The ancient Library of Alexandria, established during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter around 295 BC, was estimated to house between 40,000 to 400,000 scrolls at its peak. During its existence, it became a gathering place for many famous scholars, including Zenodotus of Ephesus, who standardized Homer’s works; Callimachus, who compiled one of the earliest library catalogs, the Pinakes; and Eratosthenes, who calculated the Earth’s circumference with astonishing accuracy. The volumes collected there were more than one could read in a lifetime, let alone the fact that they nurtured a significant number of important scholars of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Yet, those scholars never spoke of information overload.

For most of us, what matters is not the quantity of information but several key points:

The accessibility of information The ability to quickly retrieve information The high quality of information

The advent of the internet primarily addresses the first two points. As for high quality, in fact, high-quality information is continuously increasing. Today, we look back at the Republic of China era and see a plethora of talents: in literature, there were Lu Xun, Hu Shi, Cai Yuanpei, and Liang Shuming; in science and technology, there were Zhu Kezhen, Li Siguang, Hua Luogeng, and Qian Xuesen; in the arts, there were Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi, and Mei Lanfang. The reason why so many academic achievements were born then, and why it seems that today’s scholars contribute less than their predecessors, is precisely because those truly dedicated and capable in academia were filtered out. In those turbulent times, those who could persist in academic pursuits were rare gems in society, creating the illusion that the quality of information was higher before the internet era. In today’s flourishing internet age, the threshold for academic work has significantly lowered, and high-quality, first-rate information continues to grow, while second-rate information has exploded compared to the past, giving us the illusion that today’s information quality is inferior to that before the internet.

However, for us as individuals, what’s most important is not how much new information we browse, but the deep learning of high-quality information. Ancient monks had a method of reading scriptures called “Lectio Divina,” which in Latin means “divine reading.” This is an ancient practice of prayer and scripture reading aimed at promoting communication with God and providing special spiritual insights. Divine reading involves not only careful reading of the text but also meditation, prayer, and contemplation on the text. It’s a way of listening to the text with the “ear of the heart,” allowing the text to speak to the reader in a personal way. The four steps of divine reading are:

  1. Reading (Lectio): Slowly and attentively reading a passage of scripture.
  2. Meditation (Meditatio): Reflecting on the scripture, letting it speak to you.
  3. Prayer (Oratio): Responding to the scripture through prayer.
  4. Contemplation (Contemplatio): Resting in the presence of God, letting the scripture sink deep into your heart.

I believe that today, as we learn new knowledge, we should also embrace this spirit. The key is not how fast we read, but whether we can deeply understand the essence within the text. Only through continuous reflection on the knowledge learned, discussing the similarities and differences in understanding with others, and ultimately putting it into practice, can we truly master the knowledge.