DISCOVERING DETAILS

March 21st, 2019

A failure to understand often occurs due to some missing detail.  When, for example, we engage with a brand new subject, there can often seem to be so many details that a larger context seems impossible to construct.  However, with enough details discovered, their web of relationships unearthed, we begin to approach that large context, like building a mosaic, or wondering about the trunk and main branches of a tree that are hidden by thick leaves.

Peeling back a leaf gives small amount of insight into what lies beneath, but this is nothing compared to a tree in winter, stripped of all it’s leaves, leaving only its wooden structure to be seen.

Our insta-culture provides too much pressure for things to happen quickly, near instantly, but learning works more like a caterpillar on the leaves of a subject.  Luckily we need not devour the whole tree of a subject and return it to a winter-like state in order to understand something.  Usually we need only remove the leaves on a few main branches in order to peer deeply into the structure of a subject, and with that understanding we can extrapolate far more efficiently and quickly to other details that grow out from the core axioms of any given subject.

While these leaps of understanding require a consistent, munching effort. We can easily still be befuddled by one leaf, one detail we have ignored, have not investigated, or which simply stands in the way of the internal view we’ve already created. 

If we’ve spent significant time with a subject and still fail to grasp the context that allows us to exercise abilities within that domain, than we’re most likely missing a few key details, or string of details.  The learning has been a kind of patchwork, all the individual details separated by voids of unknown, like leaves blocking a larger view. 

It’s these details we should endeavor to undertake a hunt for, having faith that if other people can understand such a subject, than we too can, if only we discover the pieces missing in our mind.

The devil against our understanding is in these details..