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Fri 30 Jun, 2006 07:23 am
What's on your mind? This is about ROI, man!
If you do not have a question on your mind that is important to you, you are a loser! We are all born with one of the principles of capitalism coded into our genes, i.e. use your assets to obtain maximum leverage.
When I have willed that my mind help me to find an answer to some matter that I really care about I have placed on my ?'mental bulldozer' an operator seeking that answer. My M/B (mental bulldozer) is waiting in the shed for my assignment. If I have not given it an assignment the operator of that M/B is any scatter brained monkey that comes along.
Your mental ROI (Return on Investment) is 1000 if you invest time and effort in creating questions that you are curious of and care about. If you are ?'curious and caring' about a matter your M/B will be working 24/7 to help in the quest for a solution. Our brain is a marvelous instrument that can function in parallel mode on many problems simultaneously.
Your M/B depends upon the knowledge in your data bank to organize its efforts. The bigger and more diverse your data bank the greater scope the mind has for organizing a solution.
I have for some time been interested in trying to understand what ?'understand' means. I have reached the conclusion that ?'curiosity then caring' is the first steps toward understanding. Without curiosity we care for nothing. Once curiosity is in place then caring becomes necessary for understanding.
I suspect our first experience with ?'understanding' may be our first friendship. I think that this first friendship may be an example of what Carl Sagan meant by "Understanding is a kind of ecstasy".
I also suspect that the boy who falls in love with automobiles and learns everything he can about repairing the junk car he bought has discovered ?'understanding'.
I suspect many people go their complete life and never have an intellectual experience that culminates in the "ecstasy of understanding". How can this be true? I think that our educational system is designed primarily for filling heads with knowledge and hasn't time to waste on ?'understanding'.
Understanding must come in the adult years if it is to ever come to many of us. I think that it is very important for an adult to find something intellectual that will excite his or her curiosity and concern sufficiently so as to motivate the effort necessary to understand.
Understanding does not come easily but it can be "a kind of ecstasy".
Comprehension is a hierarchy, resembling a pyramid, with awareness at the base followed by consciousness, succeeded by knowing, with understanding at the pinnacle.
Awareness--faces in a crowd.
Consciousness?-smile, a handshake, and curiosity.
Knowledge?-long talks sharing desires and ambitions.
Understanding?-a best friend bringing constant April.
We might appropriately compare understanding and knowledge with love and the quickie. Understanding requires an intellectual investment just as does love.
I am speaking of understanding when I speak of having something on your mind.
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