Wednesday, August 25, 2010

There is quite a bit of a distinction between reading and learning.

There is quite a bit of a distinction between reading and learning. The more interesting question is what roles do the brain and mind play in reading and learning? Has anyone asked this question?
Reading is the domain of the mind and understanding the domain of the brain.
Of all the mental capabilities the one most frequently mentioned as needed is understanding. Yet in spite of all the progress we still do not know how to define understanding precisely. Checking in Wikipedia this is what I found: "Is understanding definable? - It is difficult to define understanding..."
Reading is a means to learning. Just as hearing a lecture is a means to learning. You employ the tool of reading to become educated. Learning is a journey, a cognitive process and reading is the bus that takes you on this journey. Becoming educated results in understanding, which is the destination of this journey.

Reading enables the reader to wake up to the ideas of the author, learning is when the idea is weighed, chewed, digested, slept over, cross referenced and placed in its right context with the aim of understanding. Reading is the activity that transfers knowledge from the book to the brain.

The more interesting question is what roles do the brain and mind play in reading and learning? Has anyone asked this question? To get to the bottom of this question one must first understand the distinction between the brain and the mind.

All new information is first processed by the mind. Knowing is the first step to becoming familiar with any information. Knowing is the domain of the mind. It is the mind cells that come into play when the information is being processed. Understanding is the domain of the brain. The brain cannot perceive. The brain is handed over information by the mind. The brain cross references any new knowledge with its stored knowledge and believes not the new information but in the new information in the light of old information. Its like if some one who in the past has been a source of bad experiences does something good. The mind passes the good experience to the brain. The brain cells break down this new unexpected behavior and reassemble this behavior in the light of the past memory of the person. So the brain at best doubts this new experience. Unless this new good experience is repeated again and again the brain does not change its opinion over night. What the brain does is understand. In order to understand the brain has to be exposed to the same knowledge again and again. This is why the more homework the student does the more he understands the subject because the brain develops a better and better understanding of the subject.

When the brain and mind are on the same page then it becomes awareness. When what the mind perceives and the brain has the same experience stored in the brain then both the brain cells and the mind cells know and understand on the same level. When the knowing and the understanding are the same then it becomes awareness. Awareness is the key to a +2 life. The differences in the knowing and the understanding are the key ingredient of a confused and unhappy life. Even in relationships if the mind and the brain don't have the same feelings then this relationship is in trouble and a source of agony. When knowing divided by understanding = 1 then the brain/mind collective is run by awareness. Awareness is you. Awareness is your consciousness. It is not just the third eye. It is the pure real you. It is generated by a fully developed mind/brain collective.

However one can also consciously create better awareness by focusing on the differences of ones knowing and understanding by bringing both onto the same page through your own lesser consciousness, through your lesser awareness. Its like with your first million you create the next hundred million.

So which is superior knowing or understanding? It is both. Both are essential. However understanding is the ultimate goal of knowledge. If you are in a job that needs a certain level of expertise and you understand this expertise then understanding this expertise is more important than knowing this expertise. Knowledge is the tool but understanding is the process that improves the brain to develop to a higher level(which is the goal of education, especially my way to create wisdom - develop the brain to +2)). Therefore understanding is the king. But the king cannot function without his staff. The king cannot remain healthy without his physical therapy coach. Without new knowledge the brain becomes stale.

When the brain is educated it understands. But knowledge is always needed because the brain has to be a perpetual learner. So new knowledge is always needed especially for those who want to advance the frontiers of science. When both are +2 they become one. They both work in complete harmony. When we have them both on the same page at +2 then they create pure awareness - the real you.

The most important question, 'Who am I?' for most people is answered by a mixture of knowledge and understanding. By the mind and brain. If correct knowledge keeps coming into the brain via the mind the brain continues to develop its understanding of the self to the extent that one day knowledge and understanding both come together to create the true self. The true self is also the mind of the person. Thus the answer to the question, 'Who or what is my mind?' is 'I am my mind!' So when I read, it is the mind that does the reading. But we only learn when we have developed our knowledge of the subject to the extent that the brain understands the subject. Thus for learning we have to educate the brain.

The mind lives in the here and now while the brain lives guided by the personal reality that it has become accustomed to over the years. If the mind is given a new difficult equation and the brain is not sufficiently educated to solve or understand this equation then there will only be confusion and frustration. The understanding depends on the knowledge base of the brain.



While reading is waking up to knowledge. Understanding is the end product of learning that integrates knowledge/knowing into the brain infrastructure.
The mind can read but it is the brain that understands. And understanding occurs by repeated exposure to a gradually more and more advance knowledge. As the lower level knowledge is understood the brain is ready for more advance knowledge.

Thus reading is the domain of the mind and learning the domain of the brain.

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