How to Understand More
How to Understand More
To understand more, remember this:
- Nothing is ONE thing. Everything consists of a larger number of component parts.
- Nothing is isolated. Everything sits with a surrounding context.
1. Nothing is ONE thing. Everything consists of a larger number of component parts.
In order to fully understand anything, break it down into its component parts; give each part a name; then figure-out the internal relationship that exits between the component parts.
Re-iterate the process; because each part you named, is itself made up of its component parts, and can be resolved into its subsets, then named, and their internal relationships established.
Each time you re-iterate this process of analysis, your level of understanding increases.
For example: The human body is not a single entity. It consists of a number of sub-systems:
- the skeletal system
- the circulatory system
- the digestive system
- the muscular system
- the nervous system, etc.
When you have resolved the human body into its component sub-systems, you have completed a first level analysis, achieving a higher level of understanding than you had when you started.
To increase your understanding still further, you could make a second level analysis.
For example, the nervous system is not a single thing either. It too is a system of systems: the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system.
And the third level analysis would take the central nervous system and resolve that into its component parts.
Each time you resolve something into its component parts and name them, you increase your level of understanding.
This is an endless process, since you wont live long enough to become all-knowing.
2. Nothing is isolated. Everything sits within a surrounding context.
Analysis is the act of "burrowing down" into a thing, or idea, to understand it in ever greater detail.
There is an opposite process, called synthesis.
Synthesis is about looking at the big picture.
Everything is part of a bigger whole. And you gain a full understanding only if you grasp how a thing fits into the bigger picture, (its context).
You must never think of anything as if it sits alone, in splendid isolation.
Everything is affected by its surrounding context. And everything forms part of the context for the other things that surround it.
For example, each individual human being is surrounded by a social, physical, historical, technological, political and economic context.
To FULLY understand what a human being really is, you must first figure-out how the human being fits into its larger context.
- Always take the context into account.
- Never take any fact or statement out of context.
- Your brain can perform both analysis and synthesis.
- Analysis is the act of breaking things down into their sub-set parts.
- Synthesis is the act of putting parts into larger wholes. (Larger holes?)
To understand anything better, practice the twin arts of analysis and synthesis.
Blogs by Email
Do you want to receive an email whenever we post a new blog? The blogs contain article 5-10 minutes long - ideal for reading during your coffee break!
Further Reading in General Development
-
I have made an amazing discovery
Apply this discovery and you will be better able to persuade people to accept your proposal, buy your products, and accept your ideas.
Read Article > -
Optimum Nutrition
Exposes the mismatch between human body composition and mainstream dietary guidelines, arguing for a shift toward high-fat, high-protein diets and minimal carbohydrate intake to better reflect our physiological needs and improve health outcomes.
Read Article > -
10 Ways To Improve Remote Online Training
Remote working during the COVID pandemic has seen a significant rise in remote learning. If remote training is here to stay, then it must be effective and enjoyable. Here are ten ways to ensure your remote training is of high quality and engaging.
Read Article > -
What Could you Learn from Socrates, Plato and Aristotle?
What Could You Learn from Socrates, Plato and Aristotle? I am guessing that you have heard the names Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. You probably know that they are the three most famous philosophers in history. But unless you have made it a special study, you may not know much about what...
Read Article > -
Take Back Control
If you have not succeeded as well as you would have liked, how do you explain that? Is it because of your parents, your boss, your friends, the government, or God, or just bad luck, or is it down to yourself?
Read Article >
Looking for Leadership and Management Training?
If you're looking to develop your General Development Skills, you may find this Leadership and Management Training Course beneficial:
Open Training Course Pricing and Availability
Next Open Course Starts in 12 days, London - Central, places available