What is it also?

I would like to speak about understanding understanding. No, that was not a typo.

When we understand something, there opens up an awareness about the understood that wasn't there before. It is a piece of a proposed puzzle that gives more of the image. It is a truth of what is experienced that can be relied on.

So how do we know how to understand something better? I will attempt to touch upon this topic, knowing full well in advance, that I will not even scratch the surface of what this post can open up. The rest is for the ones with the hunger for more.

As a tool, we tend to use our past experiences to help understand a person or situation by way of recalling observed outcomes of similar situations.

Using our past in this way is problematic.

If you're already thinking about how it is problematic before we get into that, then I would recommend you think about this statement while you read on. "Change is the only constant".

We could safely say that the past is the past as it has changed since then. Perhaps that is what makes it the past. The now is not the same as it once was.

When we respond to present situations, we can also safely say that responding in the best way possible is aided by how much we are aware of and how well the situation is understood.

There is a default pattern we fall back on when we attempt to grab hold of a present situation in order to understand it more. We look at patterns. We look as similarities. We look at past situations that resemble the present one. And through conscious or unconscious choice, we respond to the present situation based on our past. Which, because change is the only constant, has changed since then. This is one way the past is kept alive and preferred change is avoided.

How this can be avoided is by understanding what we are understanding about the current situation we find ourselves in. Seeing the things in front of us without inviting the past to aid us in that understanding is a more concentrated experience for us to have. It is a fresh look without past bias.

Without inviting our past observations into the now, how can we feel comfortable making decisions without having those experienced memories?

An answer is by understanding the conditions that surrounded those past observations have changed as well. And any similarities we experience in the present is nothing more than a situation that resembles the past.
When we recall the outcome(s) of a similar situation in our past and explicitly use it as the crutch of understanding the present moment, there is a high probability that the meaning we create out of this bias is far removed from what is actually going on. The question: 'What is it also?' is a bridge question to create the understanding that there is always more to understand.

We discussed how we can respond to what is in front of us without depending on our past to help make sense of it and also discussed methods of understanding the present situation more clearly.

I hope this has been time well spent for you!

-Seanfucius