Principles, Parenting & Purpose

The Context For Understanding

February 28, 2021

“Can’t keep my eyes from the circling skies / Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I” — Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly (Official Music Video HD)

How we see the world depends on our values. But, the way we understand the world depends on our context.

Memory is relative. Everything is remembered within a scheme built by the learner. So, each of us has different models of reality.

A mental model that lacks the structure to accommodate a particular concept leaves the learner without a place to anchor that concept. It is possible to perceive insight, but with an insufficient framework for understanding, that insight will soon be forgotten.

This is evident when a new programmer hears the same information repeatedly. Each time, it appears that they are hearing the information for the first time. And, in a very real sense, they are—without a context for integrating the information, it is largely forgotten by the next day. A week later, it may be as if it had never been heard at all.

Everything we perceive is contingent upon our context. Our context depends on our experiences; what we have learned, and what we choose to believe.

But we always have a choice. When in doubt, we may choose to expand our knowledge, and with that expansion, improve our context for understanding.