To Comprehend

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

For me, intellectual understanding is helpful, but to comprehend what a thing or process is, I need to engage with it, taking it into action in any way possible and see how it applies. Sometimes when studying I take an idea and write it down or reword it. That simple action often opens up a whole new level of seeing and engaging. It’s an action supporting increasing comprehension. Understanding something intellectually places it in a handy container, to be examined with the intellect, and is the very beginning. But, moving ideas and concepts out of the stream of thought into direct engagement is where I finally move the concepts from the head into the whole bio/psycho/social/emotive/spiritual/ process of “Bryan.” Then the heart and body are in comprehension. I can intellectually carry a concept my entire life, and never comprehend what it means if I don’t act on it. In the application intellectual understanding becomes How I Am.

Be good to you today!

Bryan Wagner