“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”

The irony in Albert Einstein’s claim that too much reading (albeit “after a certain age”) created lazy mental habits is poignant , considering the state of our current world of cell phones, television, and computer games (though I’m sure there are many that would argue that “gaming” is anything but mentally lazy).

For a man that sat and thought, and in so doing came up with E=mc2, what would he think of our current state of distraction? From the moment we get up in the morning, to the time we lay back down, it is possible to never have a moment with your own, uninterrupted thoughts.

What could we accomplish if we turned off the television, shut down the computer, switched off the cell phone, and for an hour just sat with our own thoughts?

Or is the thought too frightening?