Vital Contextual Nuance

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

To really come to understand a subject, an issue or the history of some event or a people or a nation it is important to first understand the relationship of context to knowledge and the relativity of knowledge to understanding.  

Context is more than a word thrown out in a conversation to impress the audience of one's intellection or to massage one's own ego. It is a vital requirement to learning then understanding anything. 

In fact I call it vital contextual nuance after years of listening and studying under Dr. Black and to come to discover just how much I missed on issues I believed I knew something about.
Absent the VCN I came to realize that with many subjects and issues I was just scratching the surface though I believed I had gained some mastery in understanding what I was trying to learn.

 

However, by not being aware the gradients to understanding I made the classic mistake of placing wisdom last when in fact to understand far surpasses wisdom in worth. When I discovered what the source of context was and how it worked it started to make sense just how much work goes into understanding anything. 

 

The ego is a strange thing. It loves being being right and deathly afraid of being perceived as not knowing. Therefore it will lie to you and others about your depth of understanding. It will keep you silent when a question is begged to be asked. It will make you put a look on your face of smug agreement when in fact you are clueless. It will make you lie to children that you know what education is all about and you will never question if indeed you have really be educated. Right now it will allow you to finish reading this thread without ever cracking a dictionary and assume you know what I am writing about. 

 

It can be humbling to admit that one must,  if they really want to learn how to learn, put everything they believe they know under the microscope of truth for re-inspection. It is disconcerting to suspect that many of the things that were projected to one as truthful may indeed be a lie. It is unbalancing to think that people who truly cared about you, that you looked up to didn't know either because whomever taught them didn't know. 

[Clifford Black]

Standing at the crossroads TELLS  that you have arrived at the crossroad---how do you KNOW what to do?  The Revelation should have informed you about what is next.  If not, then, you are guessing. You must be SURE, when and if the life of your child is at stake.

B.

[Clifford Black]

@Al-Or THEY, in fact, were stupid. This is a hard pill to have to swallow, but, if one wants to get well sometimes it will mean taking some nasty medicine.

B.

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

Truth can indeed be nasty or just what it is. Always looking for light makes one ignore the darkness where the light comes from.

[Adisa]

Learning to learn and learning what I thought I knew reminds me of the experience I had taking a mountain bike certification course.  I went into the class thinking it would be a breeze because I've been riding bikes for a very long time.  After about 2 minutes of instruction I knew it was going to be a long week and I knew I had to unlearn what I thought I knew to be successful by the end of the week.  It was then that I realized, there is more than whats on the surface.  Its much easier to and soothing to the ego to continue on the same path as everyone else and not go against the grain.  Al, you are correct about the ego and not only will it cause some to not even open a dictionary but the ego will cause some to insert their own definition or ignore the true meaning of a word to continue embracing their beliefs about what it is they assume they know.  Ive had discussions with my son about not asking questions when he doesn't have a complete understanding, yet his ego tells him if you ask everyone will think you are dumb.  I know I was not the smartest one in my class and did just enough to get by, but I'm acutally glad that I never completely sold out to the training, I mean education system.  Had I completly sold out, what ideas or concepts would I have held onto that would prevent or block me from even attempting to gain an understanding.  I dont expect to know everything or want to pretend I do, but I know its a very dangerous thing to believe I know enough about even one thing to say there is nothing more to learn.

[Aaron (Al) Lewis]

Adisa, you are mighty right and not only will one do themselves a disservice, but will invariably pass on bad information to their children. That is a perpetuation of ignorance.

 

 

[Nick All That I Am Whitfield]

Some may begin to feel let down especially those who have been out of the education system for numbers of years because when they have to admit to themselves that they have been derailed they then begin to think that it is too late to start over or that they have been getting by just fine all this time. I myself have recently seen some of the powers of the dictionary since I been involved with Dr. Black and I instantly felt that I have been the person you guys warned about. The one that believes he knows what he is not sure about or unintentionally teaching others what I have not fully verified myself.

[Craig]

"Some may begin to feel let down especially those who have been out of the education system for numbers of years because when they have to admit to themselves that they have been derailed they then begin to think that it is too late to start over or that they have been getting by just fine all this time. I myself have recently seen some of the powers of the dictionary since I been involved with Dr. Black and I instantly felt that I have been the person you guys warned about. The one that believes he knows what he is not sure about or unintentionally teaching others what I have not fully verified myself."

For so long my brother I thought I "knew" and, unfortunately, maybe even fortunately for my students, I am a teacher in the public school system of Memphis.  My "ego" has been blown away since enlisting some of the tools of Dr. Black and Al Lewis.  Like Al said, I was guilty of the "perpetuation of ignorance!"  At least now, I do a some research!  Being a world language (French) teacher I know I don't know so I am real careful.  I have to at least be honest with myself before I can be honest with our kids!

[Clifford Black]

@Craig &Nick---This is a beginning, sometimes it can only happen one step at a time---one foot in front of the other---in this case one can depend on the arithmetic 1&1=2---2&1=3---3&1=4 it is slow but it seems as if I Might be getting there, as if I just might become WE.

B.

[Brandon Imhotep]

Learning that there is a difference between a definition and a how to get a meaning was vital for me to absorb light, find water and start to become whole. I went 30 years being nice under the veil of someones else's thinking. I thought my critical thinking was deep enough to strike oil; looking back i spent too much time being critical/analytical of things outside of myself. The question of why i called myself "Black" before anything else, to state who I am, is an example of my lack of thinking. It only took 5 to 10 minutes at the presentation (A Case Of Race 2) to destroy something that i lived for 25 years. The pointing of etymology made me finally realize that language is the program and experiencing Dr. Black execute the Socratic method of teaching/learning, made I/Me = S/elf question every concept and program embedded within. 

Now i'm still wondering... am i still missing something that is right in my face and mind that may give me more power to do/be? I know the answer has to be.. Yes