The Importance Of Understanding

What do we think life is all about?

Our answer will reveal what life means to us.
Is it about wealth, power, cleverness, skill …
or understanding?

The word ‘understanding’ does not mean knowing about something; it literally means to stand in the midst of or to stand between, placing ourself in the very middle of a situation. To truly understand a concept, a language, or a person, we cannot look at it from the outside.

This is so important to understand.
As long as we’re outside something,
we can’t know what’s inside.

We have to stand among the details, surrounding ourself with the context and achieving clarity from within the midst of it. In practical terms, understanding means that we can successfully apply knowledge to new situations, rather than just repeating facts.

It is the shift from memorisation to capability. If we truly understand a concept, we can strip away the technical jargon, and explain it to a child or a beginner. We can create accurate analogies because we grasp the core logic, and not just the words. We can troubleshoot and fix mistakes.

Memorisation: we know exactly which buttons to press – but if a glitch happens, we’re stuck.

Understanding: we know why and how the system works. If something goes wrong, we can trace the problem back to its source and fix it. In practical terms, understanding means that we can successfully apply knowledge to new situations rather than just repeating facts.

Relating this to spiritual teachers, they must explain complexities in a simple language, rather than making it more complex and exotic.

To understand, we have to be in it.
This is why it’s important to actually be one
with the illusion of life.