the ways of knowing

lately i've been pondering the various ways
we humans "know" things
the way we "know" in our minds
that we "know"

it would thus seem to me that the guiding question
for all education
should well be
"how do you know?"
and that question then
should inspire a certain restlessness
a certain lifelong deliberation
that is the natural tendency to know
what we call TRUTH

complacency is inimical to knowledge
however rest is as important to knowledge
as is activity

so then
i will set about some
free ranging thoughts
concerning this matter


the joy of knowing

it is all but impossible to
speculate
about "knowing"
in the womb

insofar as we can
acknowledge activity
in the growing fetus
it would then stand to reason
that a form of PROTO-knowing
occurs in the earliest stages
of human development

i have heard it said that
some babies are born
with a knowing look in their eyes
this may be projection
but it is contrasted with
those babies who
develop that knowing look
only after a few weeks or months

this being said
i think it safe to say
that the first thing a baby knows
is a person
and while this is rather limited
to a basic function
"food"
the association is made
almost instantaneously
and is determined by
a sensory awareness
"odor"
which the infant detects
and discerns
for the purpose of comfort

the psychological inquiry into
childhood cognition
has known something like
a fascination in the past
100 yrs or so
perhaps no area of psychology has done more
to help us with
a more focussed understanding
of how we come to be who we are

i have often wondered
whether or not an astute and mindful mother
knows as much or more than any psychologist
or perhaps even a curious and loving father as well

months before a child begins
making the sounds which will one day
become words
there is vibrant mental activity taking place
when the eyes have cleared
and the things and the faces
are becoming familiar
there is no alternative
but to say
there is cognition
there is a manner of knowing

and as any mother can attest
it is not long in the growth of an infant
that the situation can become
quite complicated

thus it is safe to state
that our initial experience
of knowing is determined
by sensation
by perception

it must also be understood that
our initial experience in knowing
is best sustained with
old fashioned love
the kind of love a mother
rather instinctually gives
if that is not there
one would have to wonder
about those fragile initial
perceptions

i am reminded of an incident
some years ago when my niece
was but three months old
she seemed a fairly content
and rather indifferently happy baby
but i was shocked out of my adult
observation by her cousin (maybe 4 or 5 at that time)
who at one point captured the infant's attention
and it was pure unbridled glee
the laughter betrayed a cognition
that was a surprise to everyone

the mother of my niece
employed the technique
of SIGN language
using the hand to point
to basic things and wants
which all of her children
mastered before talking

the first two statement/questions in every mind
one unstated
the next verbalized repeatedly in many forms:
(1) "there is something...do i perceive something?"
( 2) "what is it?"

existence and essence are primordial for the mind

next i will consider
the knowing which is
conveyed by the making of sounds
and words

when words begin

for the vast majority of humans
the impetus to speak
begins sometime around the first year
certainly by the second year
children are making gallant attempts
at being coherent

mothers note the first word
and with the first comes the second
and the vocabulary seems to double
with every passing week

the action of the mind is imitative
the child is prompted by a natural desire
to do what she/he hears her parents
and her siblings doing
it might well be that
a child discerns a distinction
the sounds of humans are different
than the sounds of dogs or birds

however we wish to observe
and speculate about this time
it remains obvious that there
is an effort at making the cognitive connection
between objects and vocalized sound
under natural circumstances
the process of relating sounds to objects
the act of naming
occurs with increasing intensity
as the child grows

there is considerable unconscious trust at work
the child trusts that the knowledge of things
is precisely what it is
nobody is going to tell her that a ball
is a tree

it is at this point in the development of knowledge
that the principle of the PHANTASMS comes into play
it may be unrefined
it may be subject to correction and refinement
but once the object is understood
once the ball is indubitably a BALL
there exists in the mind the universal object
BALL
and all orbs then fall into a general category
of recognition
even the moon
until a proper discernment is made
will appear in the childs' eye as a ball

"the senses are the cradle of perception and cognition"
i paraphrase Merlou-ponty

and thus begins the adventure
of knowing that one knows
even if it is not stated thus

( i think i was in my thirties before i pondered
the epistemological distinction of knowing that i know)

sight touch hearing tasting smelling
all give way to an intentional activity

there is nothing like critique happening
although very soon after knowing objects
a child will discern quality
such as big

the innocent fascination with the world
a fascination that is fairly impartial
to begin with
marks the minds' natural effort to attain
to some sort of mastery of what is perceived

i would imagine that by the age of three
the predilection for enchantment is in full swing
wherein all the "things" and the "words"
begin to coalesce into "narrative"
often children will begin to tell the story
of what they know before the "storytelling" begins

my experience is that most adults miss this

basic counting indicates the first degree of abstraction

once quantity is happened upon as a possible way
to account for the ordering of the world
the mind has taken a leap

i suppose we could call the "story" an abstraction as well
in that it takes familiar objects and works them
into the narrative world that is dependent upon but distinct from
reality

song and rhythm
are a further advance
and bring about the amazing awareness
that life despite everything else
can be fun

if you ask a 3 or 4 year old
"what do you know?"
you will most likely hear quite a bit

basic knowledge
stories
some songs

what more is there?

other people

the integration which occurs
so naturally
with family neighborhood
town state nation world
begins with a few basic observations
of the awareness of oneself as human
whild children often display a candid
affection for little animals
cats dogs birds ants etc.
there develops the unmistakeable reality
that humans are different
humans speak

thus the great leap into society
is the cognitive awareness
that "I" am here with other people

comraderie is easy for most kids
not without some tangles and scrapes
but in all daycare centers
in all pre-schools in all occasions
where little humans intermingle
it is done with real ease
people tend to enjoy
the existence of other people
and it is rooted in the unspoken knowledge:
there are other people
i know there are other people

while communication skill may take
some time to develop into
a way with personality
it is nonetheless the initial experience
of interaction with other humans
which brings about some clarification
in self knowing

if a child were given to
philosophical synthesis in thought
he might say
i know there are other people
i know that i know there are other people
i know who i am in my knowing of other people

the world for a child is still quite small
quite contained within the parameters
of home and local social awareness
but the possibilities for knowing
are expanding almost daily

and while every child is marked with
characteristics of temperament
curiosity begins to display itself

more words more stories more songs
begin to mark the advance
of ever greater possibilities of knowing

counting

the articulation of sounds

humor

anxiety

contentment

irritability

the complexity of being
and knowing are beginning
to manifest in ways that are at once
general and universal
and unmistakably unique
in every little person

the mystery of knowing
is the terrible milieux
into which we are "thrown"
as heidegger was wont to say

most of us make it somehow

knowing and desire

attraction appetite desire
all of these inclinations begin quite early
observant parents discern likes and dislikes
in children before they (the children) can walk

however
it seems to be quite logical
that with the growing awareness of
objects
with the growing recognition of tastes
with the daily sensory carnival
there begins to be some focus
in regards to wants
likes and dislikes
of course this is an evolving phenomenon

we might call the age between 4 and 11
the age of innocent desire
there is an almost instant attraction
to almost anything new
that appears to be either fun or edible

girls precede most boys
in the social awareness field
and seem to have some expectations about
appearance rather early on

as a young person approaches the teen years
there are some fairly significant DESIRES
at work

and most of these desires can be attained
or we believe the objects of desire
to be attainable

individuation is often a complex appropriation
of personal desire and proclivity

and while the mind is not yet adapted
for the most part in weighing the importance
of desire nor the consequences of
unchecked desire
there is a definite selfawareness
an awareness that is the proto-self-knowledge
that may not come about for a long time

the desire to know has now taken on an
auto didactic quality for most kids
they know how to read
they know how to maneuver in the computer
world
they know how to get places
they know how to read moods
they know how to play
they know what it means to compete
and they are becoming adept at acting
experimenting with ways of expressing
the complexity of thought and emotiion

and amid the oftentimes chaotic interior world
of thought and feeling and body awareness
is the unspoken recognition of what is not known

it is quite possible to have had an intense desire
to be with a particular person before one is twelve years old

i had a visual attraction to a girl when i was 11
and that attraction has returned to me at the age of 50

desire for some power
desire for success
desire for accomplishment
desire for knowledge
desire for affirmation
desire for delirium

all of these and more may be acted upon
without coherent cognitive awareness
of what is the motivating impetus

it may even be that a desire for something transcendent
is apparent in a young person
a desire to understand GOD
to know about GOD

the question of an all knowing all powerful being
at least is available to the mind
at the age of 15 or younger

i was questioning religious principles
by the age of 12

if there were to be one overarching desire
which defines a young persons' life
before he steps timidly
or not so
into the drama of the the wide social world
is the desire for acceptance

the desire to know how to do things
the desire to gain some confidence
the desire to know

without being aware of philosophy
the child the young person
has embarked on a metaphysical journey

all that is in the mind
all that is in the world
is at once
fascinating
and at times
capable of producing
intense anxiety

we desire to be free to be

desire for the other

what is it in human nature
that finds attraction to another person
so all-consuming?

this is a complicated question

but it is at the center of any inquiry into
the nature of discovery and meaning

there is something of natural curiosity
in being drawn to interact
with specific characters

in childhood this is more or less
given over to chance
we do not decide where our parents
will live and work out their lives
yet we make the best of it (hopefully)
displaying attraction to the people and things
around us
displaying curiosity and innocent openess
to the lives of strangers

this may or may not result in something
commonly known as friendship

i still maintain friendships with people
i came to know when i was 8 or 9 yrs old

the deciding factor for being attracted
to people is milieux

we find ourselves existing in certain places
and we inevitably come in contact with people
who manifest interests and thinking
which is resonant with our own

there are moments in the push and pull of life
when this attraction to another person
becomes all comsuming
when the mind is so drawn to another
as to be carried beyond the calm confines of
self awareness into the frightening and
at the same time desireable regions of
LOVE

i speak here only of my own experience
insofar as i regard the momentous episodes
in my life as being fairly normal

my earliest inclination for desiring to
know a person in the intimate character
known only to humans
was evident at the age of 10

by the age of twelve i had discovered that my body
yearned for something that i did not understand
perhaps even as i write i do not understand

i think it safe to say that the urge for
sexual contact was
in it's first emergence
something primarily biological
my body was responding to the natural urge
to procreate

my mind however was attempting to
adjust this urge with a need for personal meaning

call it romanticism
call it psychological social adjustment
call it natural eroticism
call it the inklings of poetry

whatever it is
it is perhaps the most powerful
human urge

something we are either inclined
to overstate
or understate

it is the opportunity for peace
and the context for the most tragic
human chaos

to know that one is known and loved
by another and that that knowing
might be expressed in union
of bodies
my flesh might become her flesh
her flesh mine

within this there are numerous difficulties
as is evidenced by the remarkable degree
by which human attempts at love fail

in the healthiest milieux
human desire is not confined to personal inclination
there is also a social dimension
there is the awareness that
not only one person is being drawn
into the life of another
but that the life of the other is
a rather complicated web of relationships
of family and friends

while i must at this point to leave off
of this most significant topic
i wish to state that this desire
trumps all other desires

no matter what motivates a mind
the recognition of the need for
human intimacy will surround and consume
that interest
if only for a time

i know that i know that i have been known
and loved by another person
and hopefully that knowing carries with it
something of a timeless quality


THE DESIRE FOR KNOWLEDGE