To Know yet Not Understand; To Understand yet Not Know

Carl

[cite] NotTheConstantName:[/cite]The following video is well worth watching. A famous British playright, dying of cancer gives a last interview on TV.



Keep watching to hear him talk of how "the nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous".

A textbook example of achieving clarity through the dropping of the "mask" or ego (he refers to this). In this case, his imminent and unavoidable death has done this unmasking for him. Though I think there are other routes.

You discuss "jumping" in another discussion: Maybe one can make oneself jump (out of the mask, as it were).

But perhaps we need to be pushed.

Thanks for that link. I enjoyed it. His sincerity is palpable. You say, “But perhaps we need to be pushed”. I would say life’s [chref=51]circumstances[/chref] relentlessly “push” us, as I think he exemplified. The only “other route” to actually being at death’s door, is some awareness that one is virtually at death’s door, even though that door may lie a bit further down life’s road than ‘now’. I guess it all boils down to awareness doesn’t it? What can we do to jump start awareness? Jump!

Jumping into ‘now’, it is less about “making oneself” jump, and more about letting go of enough baggage we are carrying (future and past) so that we can jump. Making oneself let go is an oxymoron of sorts. The “making ourselves” is part of the baggage onto which we hold. Like that old saying about fighting fire with fire.

It is very poignant how we deep down intuitively [chref=71]know[/chref], even while the surface waters of our lives remain choppy and changing, with thought struggling to negotiate the perceptual chasm. It is the human story.

Carl

Even though a spider knows to make a web to catch a fly, does she understand what or why? A beavers know how to make a dam but does he understand how it's done? Perhaps the difference between knowing and understanding hinges on words (language). I've noticed, moreover, that neither tends to lead to the other (if anything understanding may postpone knowing).

For instance, when I began going barefoot full time the calluses on my feet began cracking. I quickly understood that if I picked them enough they would bleed and feel worse. Despite that understanding, once I start picking it is hard to stop – emotionally. It’s like eating potato chips. Yes, [chref=32]knowing when to stop one can be free from danger[/chref]. This experience shows the difference between knowing and understanding. When, [chref=16]holding firmly to stillness[/chref], I ‘tune in’ and settle down, I easily [chref=44]know when to stop[/chref]. It has nothing to do with thinking or understanding. Indeed, those never actually bring me to [chref=9]stop in time[/chref].

Here’s another example: I understand how to play a mandolin, and that allows me to ‘fake it’ a bit. My younger son Kyle knows how to play mandolin marvelously, yet he doesn’t understand how he does it. Alas, some things we understand, some things we know. There exists such a chasm between the two, and yet it seems we tend to think of them as synonymous. Curious.

Certainly the dictionary deems understanding and knowing as synonymous. I just don’t know of a word which conveys the difference I observe or the difference to which chapter 71 alludes... [chref=71]To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.[/chref]

Luke Abbott

New words to the rescue! Take your pick:

"Understanding" at a shallow, "human" level:

• Intellectual understanding-> intellistanding, or to intellistand.
• Intellectual knowledge-> intelliectiledge, or to... intellectiknow (not so sure about this one)
• Academic understanding-> acastanding, or to acastand.

"Knowing" at a deeper, "animal" level:

• Intuitive understanding-> intuistanding, or to intuistand.
• Intuitive knowledge-> intuitoledge, or to intuiknow

Joe

Seems like you're talking, Carl, about the difference between thinking about reality, and experiencing reality. Juggling comes to mind. Thinking about moving your arms to catch juggling balls, isn't juggling. Actually moving my arms, catching the balls in my hands, that's juggling. And yet I don't have to "think" about it, for arm movement. My body works without me consciously directing each group of cells.

Just as in everything else, if I can analyze something, put it into my thoughts, that's all they are: my thoughts, not the reality of what I'm thinking about. (The name that can be named is not the constant name.)

This connects with what you've said about not being able to teach anyone something. I help my 12 yr. old daughter with her math. No matter how I explain concepts, or walk her through examples, she is only able to do, what she is able to do. And yet, I still help her.

Carl

I analystand what you are getting at Luke. Although, after synthesitting with it for I while I am now less certain.

• To analystand: a verbish kind of word meaning a rational analytical understanding of a string of words giving the thinker an illusion of real meaning. Antonym: synthesit

Carl

[cite] Joe:[/cite]… I help my 12 yr. old daughter with her math. No matter how I explain concepts, or walk her through examples, she is only able to do, what she is able to do. And yet, I still help her.

Ah yes, that brings back memories of me teaching young son Kyle math. Nothing worked until he ‘grew’ into the time where his mind was ready. In an odd way, we can only learn what we are ready to know. Yet, what we are ready to know is unknown and unknowable, so it is best to be as [chref=14]hesitant and tentative[/chref] as possible so as to stumble into what we never dreamed possible.

(PS) "And yet, I still help her". As I did Kyle. Although he didn't get much out of the math at the time, he 'learned' other aspects of life in being given the opportunity to tackle the impossible. Yep, there's always a silver lining.