U is for Understanding

To say understanding is misunderstood takes irony to new heights. Yet, in the end, the statement holds water. In our own ways, we all seek understanding. What is there about understanding which is so hard to understand?

Understanding (noun)

The first two definitions of understanding are not terrifically hard to understand: A mental grasp, the ability to comprehend and the power to make experience apply to life. Overall, we all understand this level of understanding. We seek it in every question. It causes us to try things merely to wrap our brains around sensations, feelings and events. We want to get it.

Merriam Webster LogoWe actively seek the third definition of understanding: a friendly or harmonious relationship, agreement of opinion or feelings, an informal, yet binding, mutual agreement. This type of understanding is reached, sometimes effortlessly…sometimes as a lifelong pursuit or everyday struggle. We seek it.

The fourth definition is straightforward: explanation, interpretation. It goes hand-in-hand with the first three. This understanding is the Why? we seek when our grasp slips or the harmony is disturbed. It brings back into balance the known and the unknown by revealing the unknown in terms of the known.

The last definition of understanding is the one we miss entirely with far more frequency than we get right: sympathy. Before you whip out your tried and true idea of sympathy, inserting crying shoulders and tissues, look very closely:

3. a: the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another”

Ubiquitous

How many of the following have you heard in a moment of pain or despair or anger?

  • I know exactly what you’re feeling.
  • I understand what you are going through.
  • If anyone understands it, it’s me.
  • I have been right where you are.
  • I’ve walked a mile in your shoes.

Yes, these types of statements are ubiquitous. Why? We want to feel like we understand (see first definition) what others feel and experience (see third definition). We liken what we recognize in their situations to our own experiences to create a point of reference (see fourth definition).

What is missing from all of those statements is the last definition. None of these statements is understanding. Take off the polite and politically correct frame. Let’s look at the bigger picture to understand the difference between what we accept as understanding and what we are offered.

Undercarriage

Oh, yeah! Your problem is obvious.

When was the last time you crawled underneath a vehicle? Looking at the engine from the bottom, you can see many things which would have eluded you from the under the hood view. From here, there are no handy, color-coded, multi-language labels. You either know or not.

One thing is for certain: Unless you know from this angle, you probably do not understand.

Undertaking

Emotions and pain are the engine. The view from under the hood is what someone allows you to see. It is labeled with useful signs and warning lights, like:

  • Insert hug here.
  • Don’t go there.
  • I’m begging with my actions.

This is the user-friendly side of the engine. It can hide a multitude of complications. When we make the assumption If everything looks copacetic on the surface, everything is in working order on the bottom (and in the middle), we are still just assuming.

Underestimating

The fallacy is:

Claiming we understand what someone else feels.

Feelings, especially hurt feelings, are on a scale. Pain, both physical and emotional, has no universal standard scale. What is a 10 for you, may be a 4 for someone else.

For example, to many people a 10 on the pain scale is a broken bone. In my case, a 10 is a 13-inch, abdominal incision (Cesarean section) with a soldering iron and no anesthesia. Having had both, I do know one is a 4 and the other a 10.

However, to a live-ammunition amputee, my 10 is likely a 4. In short, your experience at the top of the scale is not the finite upper boundary. It is merely as high as you have climbed.

Uneven

Even when facing similar situations, perspective and tolerance both change how we cope with feelings and events individually. Put the adrenaline junkie and the pteromerhanophobe on the same helicopter (with no doors) at 5,000 feet to prove this example.

When we feel a certain way, we are showing our return-on-investment (ROI) for our emotional capital. All of us expect our engines to perform in different ways. When they begin to malfunction, we are seeking others who have had similar engine troubles. We compare performance notes (fourth definition). We seek understanding for ourselves (first definition) as well as from others (fifth definition).

Usufruct

Before committing the egregious assumption of claiming to know what it is like, exercise prudence:

  • Ask what it feels like using a comparative description.
  • Admit you have never stood there.
  • Absorb the scale from another perspective.

You have the ability to understand, if not the verbatim construct of the pain, at least of its comparative effect. To make the assumption you understand without the input of the one you claim to understand, you are driving the engine without oil. The already dry or raw feelings are likely not prepared to tow the weight of your payload on top of its own.

In an attempt at harmonious agreement, be careful not to diminish the value of the feelings seeking sympathy. Someone needs your understanding.


~~~~~~~~~~

Can you think of questions you can use to promote better understanding of others’ feelings? Have you ever used a comparative example to be better understood? How understanding are you?

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(c) Ann Marie Dwyer 2012
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Author’s Note: Various foundations for this topic have been covered in other posts on M3 (linked above) and remotely. If you would like a detailed, real life example of how understanding can be misunderstood, please visit the primary foundation for this post. If you would like more information about this topic, please email. Anonymity respected.

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13 Comments

  1. Thanks Red. Understanding is one thing that I don’t have at this point. Why am I in college? Do I truly know how to love others or am I going through the motions? Why do I think we’re qualified to raise these children? Why won’t others just leave us alone? If I understood, I wouldn’t be asking.
    Love you, Grant
    Grant Helms recently posted..8 Gorgeous Nature Blogs for Earth DayMy Profile

    Reply
    • Red

       /  April 25, 2012

      The short answers are:

      1. Personal decision.
      2. You feel it in your heart.
      3. You are the only one with that answer.
      4. That is different each time someone intervenes.

      Hope that helps.
      Red.

      Reply
  2. Very well said. Often, just being there and keeping your mouth shut is what others need. It’s so frustrating when people assume they understand when you know they do not. I especially liked the car analogy and the uneven aspect. Understanding is not as easy as it seems for sure. Especially when we run it through these filters along with our own and society’s. 🙂 Angie
    Angela recently posted..My Favorite Lady FriendMy Profile

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    • Red

       /  April 25, 2012

      Far more often than you may realize, Angie. I witnessed an argument between Quaints about being impoverished. In order to prove understanding, Q2 told Q1 “I know exactly what you mean and how you feel…”

      Q2 went on to discuss personal money issues over cell bills/car notes/entertainment package, only to find out after much blowing hard, Q1 was doing without food to keep her child fed.

      Reply
  3. “No one understands me” is the worlds biggest drama cop-out used by drama cop-outs as a method of attracting attention to themselves. Must we ‘understand’ to tell people to ‘get a life’ ? We only have so much emotional energy available and it get spread awfully thin at times. If you’re going to ” get under the hood, or under the vehicle”, you better haul a toolbox along with you and goggles “as the crap drops in your face”…and no kidding.

    That being said, it helps to offer kindness and judicious understanding-which includes tolerance-to individuals really needing valid emotional support.
    Raymond Alexander Kukkee recently posted..W is for WinningMy Profile

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    • Red

       /  April 25, 2012

      On the tail of Muse for Monday, it was necessary to reach out for some understanding. Or at least have some realize why there was no understanding… Emotional capital is a finite resource. Investing it in understanding normally brings a good return.

      Reply
  4. Soldering iron Cesarean?? I don’t understand, even though I’m under the car a lot.
    Binky recently posted..Garbage CompetitionMy Profile

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    • One of those things I put on the top ten recommendations for things NOT to do.

      Reply
  5. Yes when it comes down to pain we all have our limits and different levels of these limits have to be realised before one can offer a true understanding.

    When it comes down to someone else experiencing the same pains that we have experienced, then we must show concern and try to comfort the one that is suffering, yes we know that a particular pain was somewhat mild for us but for another individual it could be far more distressing, hence our ability to use some tact, after all we too could find ourselves in a similar situation one day and criticism towards another is definitely not a nice way of dealing with it.

    I like this posting Red 🙂

    Androgoth XXx

    Reply
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