Sources+of+Knowledge

The Sources of Knowledge...

How do you acquire knowledge and understanding?

What are your sources of this knowledge?

The word ‘acquire’ originated from the Latin words //acquirere// meaning //‘get in addition,’// and //ad quaerere// meaning ‘//to seek.’// Which I believe is a perfect description of one of the ways we acquire knowledge and understanding, we seek it. Humans were created as inquisitive beings, we read, ask questions, google, we always want to **know** everything concerning everything, yet do we really **understand** it? Understanding, is also something we seek, however it is always harder find, for instance, I know that paper is made from wood pulp, BUT can I **explain** why paper is made from wood? Can I **justify** that is was made purely from wood pulp? Can I give an**example** as to how it is made? No, because I know that paper is made from would pulp, but I do not understand the concept of wood being made into paper. To understand requires deeper reading, asking more questions, and researching to the tee. Until a light bulb goes on in your head, the moment you can say “I GET IT!!” when something just clicks. That is when you reach true understanding, but most of us do not even reach that point, we just believe we do because we confuse knowledge with understanding. Besides seeking, I believe we also create knowledge and understanding, all of the books we study from, the answers to our questions, and our research results, were created by people just like us, only they acquired the knowledge and understanding (K&U) and decided to share it with us, in order to broaden our K&U. However not only the smarty pants, elitists, and geniuses create K&U, we all do, whenever we share our mere opinion, by writing, singing, dancing, drawing, building, etc. And when we create this K&U we ourselves know and understand something new. The last way I believe we acquire K&U is by experience. I believe that your culture, upbringing, surroundings and environment affect what you know and understand. For example, before I came to Saudi Arabia, I was resided in Virginia, USA, where the Muslim religion was very much slandered and discriminated against, which is why I hardly knew much about it, and what I thought I understood was biased because of the circumstances in America. When I moved to Saudi, I learned the Muslim religion and Arab culture, not by reading about it, or researching it, but by seeing people interact with each other, by witnessing a prayer session, seeing people fast, and listening to the Arabic language. I learnt something, came to and understanding of something, and acquired knowledge of something, by experiencing it.

The Symbols of Knowing!

The Ways of Knowing...

﻿ Perception, Emotion, Language, Reason.


 * Personal || Impersonal ||
 * Belief || Empirical ||
 * Faith || Logical ||
 * Acquaintance || Authority ||
 * Practice || Memory ||
 * Empathy ||  ||
 * Introspection ||  ||
 * Instinct ||  ||
 * Ethics and Conscience ||  ||

What do I think?

Acquaintance- Don't really know each other yet. Memory- becoming aware of something from the past. Empirical- Using our senses Practice-Becoming aware of something. Instinct-No thinking, just senses. || Faith-It is from the heart. Memory- They bring back emotions. Introspection-Way more personal then the others, has to do with who you are, linked to emotion. Ethics and Conscience- Guilt is a feeling. Empathy-Feeling strong emotion for someone elses situation. || Acquaintance- Affects first impression. || Practice- It has a purpose. (Instinct-We understand why.) ||
 * Perception || ijijdgpafg'apfdkjgpddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddjj
 * Emotion || gaeirgoeirngoaenrgoanerogjna;erjgnlkjrngkjnrekgjne;rkjng;kaerjng;kenr;kgjn;ekronega;jenr;gjkaer;kjgn;akrjng;kjarng;k j
 * Language || Authority-A lot of influences are made through the wording.
 * Reason || Logical- Reasoning behind all of it.