There is a subtle yet very important difference between knowing and understanding. "Pure" knowledge is dissociated, abstract, intellectual. Understanding is... I hesitate to say emotional, but it is only with a certain deep-rooted sensitivity that we can truly comprehend. When it's no longer just an abstract idea in your brain, but something "felt" within you, fathomed not just with the mind but with your entire being and experience. Sometimes I think that our society, with its emphasis on cerebral thought and left-brained logic, has forgotten how to understand in this way. It's well-accepted that there are different kinds of intelligence (naturalistic, interpersonal, verbal/linguistic, etc); can't there be other ways of knowing than just with your gray matter?
Obviously something must be known before it can be understood. But knowledge alone is empty; one must take it a step further. Everyone knows that animals have to be killed if you want to eat hamburgers or chicken fingers or pork chops. But it is only those who understand the horrors of factory farming and modern slaughterhouses who refuse to support the practice. Everyone knows that trees are cut down for paper or to make way for "development." But it is only those who understand the effects of deforestation who take a stand against it.
What's more important, knowing the date the U.S. bombed Hiroshima, or understanding the gravity of the event? Knowing the definition of ethnocentrism, or genocide, or global warming, or comprehending their implications? What do we do with knowledge once we have it?
Fact: one out of every three women in America will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Knowing the statistic is one thing. Appreciating the horror of that reality and being moved to want to do something about it is something else entirely. It's hard if it's never happened to you, but go ahead (even men can do this), try to understand what a terrifying, belittling, and dehumanizing experience it is to be sexually violated. Don't just think about it, try to really feel it, become the person who is assaulted, groped and/or penetrated against your will by a stranger, or worse (and more frequently), by someone you know and thought you could trust. Unbearable to even imagine, isn't it? How much worse must it be to actually go through it, when you can't pull away from the nightmare simply by pulling back out of your imagination? Pretty fockin' scary, right? Multiply your imagined horror by 1,872. That's how many women are raped in the United States every day. So do you or a loved one have to be personally affected before you realize the need to do something about it? Can't you be moved just by knowing that even one is too many?
This is what needs to be emphasized. Not just facts, but meanings. Not just knowledge, but true understanding.
The process, of course, is far from flawless. I can try to imagine what it's like to be called a racial slur, or what I'd do in the event of an unwanted pregnancy, but I can't really know until it actually happens. And even people in the exact same situation can have drastically different reactions, simply because they are different people with different backgrounds. So I can only surmise how I might feel, not being able to say for certain how someone else. So you can't completely understand a person, whether you walk a mile or a thousand miles in their shoes. But even an imperfect comprehension is better than not even making the attempt, so long as you also acknowledge the limits of your own understanding.
Another caveat, this is not to say that everything must be rooted in emotion instead of logic. Far from it! We're looking for better balance between the two, flying with both wings, as it were. Nor is it to say that we must spend every waking moment contemplating the horrors of our culture; that would just lead us into despair and a feeling of futility. We must also be aware of the the life-affirming wonders the world has to offer, the rays of hope that still shine through the gloom, so as to not take them for granted. And we must realize that through understanding, we can make a difference to put right what is wrong with the world of our making. If knowledge is power, how much more potent must understanding be? First know, then understand, then act. This is how you enact positive change, whether it's protesting drilling in the Arctic Refuge, or changing a personal bad habit. Engaged mindfulness is the most powerful tool we have.
"To know and not to do is, as a fact, not to comprehend." Wing Yang-Ming
"We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgment of the intellect is only part of the truth." Carl Gustav Jung
