Get Understanding

“NO MAN’S KNOWLEDGE,”said John Locke, “can go beyond his experience.”1 Knowledge is, of course, valuable. But as we seek not only to learn but to apply what we learn, we obtain experience. And lived experience leads to the priceless gift of true understanding.The book of Proverbs teaches the importance of this principle: “With all thy getting get understanding.”2

When we seek to understand, we can more readily relate to another person, another culture, another way of doing things. We more easily see patterns and principles that expand our ability to learn. And not only do we become better learners—we also become better teachers.

I once observed an experienced corporate financial officer describe a complex accounting matter to a group. I marveled as he explained it in less than 90 seconds. Entire articles had been written to explain the same idea—yet here was this man, teaching in plain words in a way all could understand.

True understanding helps the complex become simple. But there is nothing simple about the work required to gain it. I have a friend who struggled for years with learning. It was difficult for him to focus, and dyslexia made reading and studying a challenge. He fell behind his classmates, and though he graduated, he did so near the bottom of his class.

He went to work in a fast-paced, demanding industry. One day, exhausted from years of not feeling capable, he determined to do something about it. He set a goal to listen to audiobooks each day, studying everything from business to human relations to political science, even chiropterology—the study of bats! For nearly five years, he listened three hours a day. And for more than a decade since, he has continued the habit—at least one hour every day.

As the hours and years passed, he applied what he was learning to his daily life—turning knowledge into experience and experience into understanding.

The price my friend paid to “get understanding” paid off. He learned how to succeed in what matters most—love in his home, connection with God, and confidence in himself.

The process of gaining understanding does more than increase knowledge. The under-standing that comes through experience stays with us. It changes us, it teaches us, and it guides us along life’s journey.

John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), book 2, chapter 1, section 19.Proverbs 4:7.