Essay writing is the beginning of understanding

[coberst]

Essay writing is the beginning of understanding

Knowing is like day breaking, understanding is like lightening striking.

Comprehension is the payoff for struggle. There is a hierarchy of comprehension. Like a pyramid with the base being awareness, followed by consciousness (awareness plus attention) then comes knowledge with understanding at the pinnacle of the pyramid.

Reading is the key to knowing and essay writing is the canvas for creating understanding.

Of all the creatures perhaps humans are the only ones who fail to live up to their potential. Obesity is the evidence of a lack of physical endeavor and boredom is the consequence of a lazy brain.

“Reading is fundamental.” Essay writing is the art and science of creation.

We can take any issue that might enrage any one of us and we can discover that the root cause of it is the fact that we the citizens are not doing our job. In a liberal democracy wherein the sovereignty rests on the shoulders of the citizen any outrage committed by that society can ultimately be traced back to the lack of enlightenment by the citizen.

Enlightened does not equal informed. Information flows over us in a daily deluge but consciousness is the missing catalyst for action. Our daily dose of information might be compared to our drive to work each morning. We are deluged with information reaching our perception on our drive to work and very little of that information becomes an object of consciousness.

Humans are pattern recognition creatures. We survive by the patterns of which we are conscious. To be an enlightened citizen is to be a citizen who has rationally organized a matrix of pattern detecting systems.

We have in our genes some pattern detecting systems. When hiking in the woods I am occasionally stopped in my tracks with a deep chill by some kind of form or movement. Among this infinite amount of movement and pattern one particular set penetrates my consciousness. We have evolved with this detection system so as to survive the predators.

I think that if we make the intellectual effort to understand some domain of knowledge and perhaps take the additional effort to write out our understanding of that matter, our essay will serve as our pattern for recognition for matters pertinent to that domain.

I consider that writing an essay is a major means for reaching an understanding of a domain of knowledge.

I think that these forums offer a great opportunity for practicing our writing skills. Do you agree? Is writing part of your learning process?

[Could_Strife007]

Humans were never meant to express thier ideas on paper. We are social beings, and reactionary conversation is the only true way to express understanding. In fact, I think that the new wave of technologies soon to become common in the digital space will finally bring us back to our primal roots.

[RandomPscho]

I fully disagree.

Essay writing is a way to convey your message onto others, but not to learn. You learn from reading, watching, and doing. How can you learn without knowing what you are going to write about? -- Research, which is not writing.

[jamuko]

While I agree with the above, I also think there is some truth to what Coberst said. Writing essays forces you to think through your topic in a much clearer fashion than you would just thinking or reading about it.

It's kinda like that phrase.... uhh, I forgot how it goes. Something about how teaching is the best way to learn. Same principle... reinforcing your knowledge in this way allows you go have a much stronger understanding of the subject.

[Kilgamayan]

Originally Posted by RandomPscho

I fully disagree.

Essay writing is a way to convey your message onto others, but not to learn. You learn from reading, watching, and doing. How can you learn without knowing what you are going to write about? -- Research, which is not writing.

Do you not learn through research?

Does writing not force you to think about the subject you have researched and draw your own conlusions about it as you write?

[RandomPscho]

Research is not writing, though.

You can research a topic without having to write an essay about it.

[coberst]

Originally Posted by Could_Strife007

Humans were never meant to express thier ideas on paper. We are social beings, and reactionary conversation is the only true way to express understanding. In fact, I think that the new wave of technologies soon to become common in the digital space will finally bring us back to our primal roots.

I fear you might be correct.

[coberst]

Originally Posted by RandomPscho

I fully disagree.

Essay writing is a way to convey your message onto others, but not to learn. You learn from reading, watching, and doing. How can you learn without knowing what you are going to write about? -- Research, which is not writing.

You are in for a marvelous surprise. Writing is the best way to learn. You were not taught this in school or college but there are many delights to be learned after the school daze are over.

[madmatt621]

Try writing a speech for your graduating class. When you're up at the podium reading your speech, you feel all light headed and like you're going to fall down.

[Kilgamayan]

Originally Posted by RandomPscho

Research is not writing, though.

So that aspect of learning is indirect. Doesn't mean it's not there entirely.

Originally Posted by RandomPscho

You can research a topic without having to write an essay about it.

But can you write an essay with any sort of quality without researching your topic?

[RandomPscho]

But can you write an essay with any sort of quality without researching your topic?

No, but can you research with high quality without writing an essay? Yes. The root of this knowledge comes from research, not the writing. The essay isn't the first, research is.

[drummerlsu]

Originally Posted by RandomPscho

No, but can you research with high quality without writing an essay? Yes. The root of this knowledge comes from research, not the writing. The essay isn't the first, research is.

Right but you're missing the point. Forget about the actual act of writing the essay. You can read volumes and volumes and comprehend them perfectly, but if you don't actually do something with what you read - something original and something with purpose - then you are just missing out on that "top" level of understanding.

Writing is a straightforward way of doing this - it forces you to process the ideas completely and apply your own original thinking to the ideas you've read. But you could also go through the process by having a verbal discussion. Or possibly by thinking very systematically.

There is a similar process with learning in other fields. Mathematics for example - you can watch many problems being worked, but you just don't get the same level of understanding as you get from working one yourself.

[tsugomaru]

When you are writing an essay on a subject, you are literally teaching the subject itself. I tend to learn a subject better if I teach or talk about it to someone else. Listening to something is not quite the same as talking or applying it.

~Tsugomaru

[Kilroy_x]

I agree with pretty much everything that has been posted so far. Strange.

well...

"Obesity is the evidence of a lack of physical endeavor"

This is largely false.

Also, any claim as to what constitutes the "beginning" of knowledge or wisdom or understanding is automatically suspect. As the OP itself states, human beings have certain innate pattern detection capabilities, so the "beginning" of understanding is actually just "being".

Also, scholars typically credit Montaigne for creating or at least popularizing the essay, which would essentially mean we owe the form of writing to the ramblings of a highly depressed man. Humorously enough some of his writings would actually be applicable to this discussion.

Human beings only have limited capacity for turning things over in their own head and writing them all down at once. Problems of memory, and of focus, limit the benefits of it. Being able to think in this way is of course critical to learning in many ways, but correspondence based education comes much more naturally to most people and holds a host of other benefits and practicalities.

[OrganisM]

You of course greatly learn from writing....

but that crap one does in grade school is not what i call writing.

[Kilgamayan]

Originally Posted by RandomPscho

No, but can you research with high quality without writing an essay? Yes. The root of this knowledge comes from research, not the writing. The essay isn't the first, research is.

But the essay requires research. Even if the actual typing process does not generate new information, the assignment on the whole does, which is why I said it was "indirect" in my previous post.

This is a moot point regardless because you'll be learning through writing anyway when your writing forces you to think about the subject for yourself and form your own conclusions.

[RandomPscho]

Originally Posted by Kilgamayan

But the essay requires research. Even if the actual typing process does not generate new information, the assignment on the whole does, which is why I said it was "indirect" in my previous post.

This is a moot point regardless because you'll be learning through writing anyway when your writing forces you to think about the subject for yourself and form your own conclusions.

Coberst is only talking about the writing, I believe. This would still put writing towards the end of understanding. Not the beginning.

[Kilgamayan]

You seem to be equating knowing with understanding, which is a bad decision to make.

I can research a subject a whole bunch and know a lot about it. Does that mean I understand it? Not necessarily. When I write an essay about the subject, I am forced to think about it in depth - beyond what encyclopedias and the like would present - and make my own decisions about the subject. That is where the understanding part kicks in.

[RandomPscho]

You still understand while you research. Maybe you don't make all the connections, but you still understand at least some of the information.


I am not disagreeing here that writing helps you understand things, but it is definitely not the beginning of where the understanding starts.

[Kilgamayan]

"Understanding some of the information" still falls under the category of knowing rather than actual understanding.

Either that or you're researching something scientific, in which case you'd be writing a lab report rather than an essay.