Volatile Avidity

The way our brains work is vastly different from the way our minds work. Different in the same way that physics differs from philosophy. Different like mainstream science differs from religion. Different, just as language differs from art. Both are perspectives of reality, frameworks of comprehension, perceptions of truth, frames of reference, vocabularies, doctrines, beliefs, ideas.

Pain is a notification. A signal communicating information to the authority. If it were not unpleasant, how would we as unreasoning beings learn to avoid things that cause it? An alarm that fails to alert fails to function. Understanding pain offers us the option to dismiss it. Acceptance of risk permits us to override the signal. Until the threshold of the accepted risk level, we endure it. Determination to sacrifice oneself provides proportional immunity to pain.

What exactly does it mean to “make sense of” something? To understand it? My intuition (what is that, anyway?) offers this definition: To snugly integrate a new concept into what you already know. The more connections between the new concept and the existing concepts, the deeper the understanding will be. “Pondering” any concept, old or new, can deepen your understanding. Having a diverse set of frames of reference helps build an accommodating infrastructure for new concepts. But what is “knowing”? The result of recognizing truth.  To accept as indisputable, potentially foundational, or even fundamental, fact. What about “knowing about”? To have an existing mental representation of the object. What’s the difference between knowing and understanding? The same as the difference between looking and seeing, listening and hearing.