When we listen to someone speak a language we do not understand, does it make the content of their speech wrong? The answer, of course, is no. But to the untrained mind, the communication may seem impossible to understand. However, with the right education, we would recognize the various sounds, pronunciations, words, and grammatical structures for that language and hopefully understand the message being communicated. In other words, we would experience and comprehend the exact same conversation in a very different way.
Such is true in various areas of our lives. Many events, conversations, and visual imageries are occurring around us each day. What we internalize is largely based on what our brain is trained to recognize. This reminded me of the quote by the writer and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, “We hear and apprehend only what we already half know.”
Thoreau presents a very interesting point with the exception that new knowledge can still be acquired inadvertently, of course. Our personal experience shows that many lessons we learn in life can come from unexpected situations where we knew little or no information initially. I do believe, however, that the spirit of his quotation holds much truth.
The psychology behind Thoreau’s statement is simple. We, as humans, are deletion creatures. There are literally millions of events, sounds, and images simultaneously occurring around us at one moment in time, and we’re not consciously processing everything we encounter. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, our subconscious mind acts as a filter to sift through and prioritize all of this information. And here’s the kicker: What our mind deems important is often based on what our brain is already familiar with. In other words, what our brain focuses on is based largely on past experience, personal beliefs, and existing knowledge. Why is this significant? Because the extent of our focus becomes the extent of our awareness.
The truth is it’s not our occasional ignorance that presents the greatest danger, but rather, our disinclination to learn, grow, and cultivate our worldly understanding to prevent future ignorance from reoccurring. This is why we must actively pursue more knowledge and education in order to broaden our realm of awareness. When we’re consciously reaching out to educate ourselves we are, by default, widening and refining the lenses through which we view the world. Ultimately, the more we recognize and understand the more exciting and intriguing life will be.
-Kent Healy//Sun Post News
On that note... Im going to go read a book or something... ANYTHING... EVERYTHING!!
//ffffound.com
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