What is an “Understanding”? Standing under something? Does standing out under a tree amount to being “Outstanding”? How do we understand to understand –OR- Learn how to learn?

Normally when querying minds try to decipher the real meanings of words, often confusion is the result. Let us take a look at the genesis of language itself. As humans evolved in different geographical pockets, they found the need to communicate with one another – and hence started with “sign language” to make the others get the message.

They then added a sound (arbitrary) to the gesture to create an association among the sounds, objects and the messages. They kept refining the sounds, adding more and more with more and more objects and then the subjects … a process of evolution.

Names were given to all forms of living & nonliving – for common identification by all with regard to each object. Naming became the order for humans too … along with animals, plants birds etc. Evolution accelerates evolution, which we all know by experience of our own lives. Then, to the sounds, symbols were attached or associated … creating various scripts for each language, confined to each pocket, group, territory etc. As groups and territories merged to become larger and larger, corresponding expansion happened in words & scripts.

If people could not exchange their feelings & thoughts – world would never have progressed to this stage. Language (sounds & scripts) played the most important role in this process. We are still struggling with translations – to be able to understand others who do not speak our language. Ultimately, language is nothing but common agreement for co-relation of sounds & symbols with subjects & objects. Read the rest of this entry →