It is simple yet can be difficult to comprehend at first. Before we dive into "it" let's take a look at some situations that may help set the stage for smoother transition to understanding.
At some point in your life you learned that a car is useless if it does not have some essential things like gasoline, a charged battery and wheels. Let's say you lived your life not knowing anything about cars and suddenly you have one. You're told when you get the car how to find the owner's manual, and that it contains basic knowledge about automobile ownership. You're also told that in order for the car to go you need to put gasoline into the car. Without this basic knowledge, it may be useless to own a car - and we have yet to discuss driving it and the rules of the road.
We possess many things we know some fundamental and important things about that without such knowledge we could do something that ruins them. For instance, we know most electronic devices may not work after we drop them from a high place or leave them in the rain. These are two pieces of very important information about owning electronic devices.
Nearly anything we acquire has a manual that informs us of such important knowledge.
Now why cannot we have that with ourselves? You may argue you are the world's foremost expert on you. Certainly it is true; but in reality only to a point. This most important thing to know reveals that point where the altruism, "I am an expert on me", fails the litmus test.
The most important thing to know about yourself is this: you (we) are only aware of the results of thinking and not the process of thinking.
So how is this the most important thing to know? Well, you'll need to stay with me a little bit longer - I did say that comprehending this isn't so easy at first.
With understanding anything often comes the need for some addition knowledge to apply it, and the most important thing to know about ourselves is no exception.
One such piece of knowledge is that the process of thinking can be long and travel numerous and unknown paths before it comes into our awareness. These paths of thinking are influenced mainly by our life's experiences and otherwise our psychological and emotional makeup - and all of our makeups are different. When you also consider this knowledge, the most important thing to know about yourself starts to have a little meaning.
If we are only aware of the results of thinking, and that the distance between stimulus and our conscious awareness is long and unknown, how can we know what thoughts we have or conclusions we draw are valid or accurate?
Generally speaking, what starts our clandestine processes of thought is usually low-level physiological responses to signals relating to our social environment. We recognize situations, emotions in others, and try to find pattern matches to stimulus coming in. We assign meaning and its impact on our view of the social environment.
...more to follow...
