What isn't Understand?

We all start out with the explanation of others, but we need to take that and turn it into our own self-understanding.  The worst we can ever give to being asked, "Why do you do [that] that way?", is "My [teacher] said ..."  The question was not about our teacher it was about us.

The big hurdle to understanding is to take what we Know on faith.  No matter how acclaimed they are, input from our peers and superiors is only data.  We must decide to use or ignore it, and that decision must be based in self-evaluation. 

Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  While the spirit of that quote makes sense, it is our nature to only acknowledge data we have personally vetted and approved as facts.  When someone tells us that, "everyone was two arms and legs", we agree to that as fact because we have (at some point in our lives) counted our own and our numbers match.  It is better to test the creditability of any explanation during training to ensure it will work for us than to assume or hope it will work outside of training.

Only a skill that is fully understood is foundational, adaptable and can be mastered