In Search of the Miraculous

"And yet a person accustomed to self-observation knows for certain that at different periods of his life he has understood one and the same idea, one and the same thought,

in totally different ways. It often seems strange to him that he could have understood

so wrongly that which, in his opinion, he now understands rightly. And he realizes, at

the same

time, that his knowledge has not changed, and that he knew as much about the given

subject before as he knows now. What, then, has changed? His being has changed.

And once being has changed understanding must change also.

"The difference between knowledge and understanding becomes clear when we

realize that knowledge may be the function of one center. Understanding, however, is the function of three centers. Thus the thinking apparatus may know something. But understanding appears only when a man feels and senses what is connected with it.

"We have spoken earlier about mechanicalness. A man cannot say that he

understands the idea of mechanicalness if he only knows about it with his mind. He must feel it with his whole mass, with his whole being;

then he will understand it.

"In the sphere of practical activity people know very well the difference between

mere knowledge and understanding. They realize that to know and to know how to do

are two different things, and that knowing how to do is not created by knowledge

alone. But outside the sphere of practical activity people do not clearly understand

what 'understanding' means.

"As a rule, when people realize that they do not understand a thing they try to find a name for what they do not 'understand,' and when they find a name they say they

'understand.' But to 'find a name' does not mean to 'understand.' Unfortunately,

people are usually satisfied with names. A man who knows a great many names, that

is, a great many words, is deemed to understand a great deal—again excepting, of

course, any sphere of practical activity wherein his ignorance very soon becomes

evident.

"One of the reasons for the divergence between the line of knowledge and the line

of being in life, and the lack of understanding which is partly the cause and partly the

effect of this divergence, is to be found in the language which people speak. This

language is full of wrong concepts, wrong classifications, wrong associations. And the

chief thing is that, owing to the essential characteristics of ordinary thinking, that is to say, to its vagueness and inaccuracy, every word can have thousands of different

meanings according to the material the speaker has at his disposal and the complex of

associations at work in him at the moment. People do not clearly realize to what a

degree their language is subjective, that is, what different things each of them says

while using the same words. They are not aware that each one of them speaks in a language of his own, understanding other people's language either vaguely or not at all, and having no idea that each one of them speaks in a language unknown to him.

People have a very firm conviction, or belief, that they speak the same language, that

they understand one another.

Actually this conviction has no foundation whatever. The language in which they

speak is adapted to practical life only. People can communicate to one another

information of a practical character, but as soon as they pass to a slightly more

complex sphere they are immediately lost, and they cease to understand one another,

although they are unconscious of it. People imagine that they often, if not always,

understand one another, or that they can, at any rate, understand one another if they try or want to; they imagine that they understand the authors of the books they read and

that other people understand them. This also is one of the illusions which people

create for themselves and in the midst of which they live. As a matter of fact, no one

understands anyone else. Two men can say the same thing with profound conviction

but call it by different names, or argue endlessly together without suspecting that they

are thinking exactly the same. Or, vice versa, two men can say the same words and

imagine that they agree with, and understand, one another, whereas they are actually

saying absolutely different things and do not understand one another in the least.

"If we take the simplest words that occur constantly in speech and endeavor to

analyze the meaning given to them, we shall see at once that, at every moment of his

life, every man puts into each word a special meaning which another man can never

put into it or suspect.

"Let us take the word 'man' and imagine a conversation among a group of people in

which the word 'man' is often heard. Without any exaggeration it can be said that the

word 'man' will have as many meanings as there are people taking part in the

conversation, and that these meanings will have nothing in common.

"In pronouncing the word 'man' everyone will involuntarily connect with this word