Many people strive to understand. We seek to understand ourselves, others, the problem in front of us, the solution we were given, how a situation came about. There are many things that we may wish to understand.
Perfect understanding is not possible. All problems have too many variables to truly grasp everything in significant detail let alone with perfection. We can’t understand ourselves because we cannot understand our subconscious desires. We cannot understand others because we cannot even understand ourselves. We cannot understand the problem because entropy means any decision made today will no longer be perfect tomorrow.
The moment that you believe you have understanding, you immediately lose it. How can you understand when the simple act of observing changes both observer and subject?
Yes, this is philosophy but it is also actionable every day. If we believe that we have complete understanding, we will act on that belief. We won’t hedge against the risks, we won’t make contingencies to revisit the solution later, we will believe that our comforting words really were comforting and not painful. Believing you really understand is a fallacy few can afford.