Understanding something properly is helpful not only in acquiring knowledge, but also in protecting ourselves from the many attempts that can mislead us.
Today's social media is filled with numerous misleading claims, half-truths, and sometimes even meaningless statements. They may be malicious, or simply attempts to attract attention. Either way, protecting ourselves becomes important.
In this context, today I would like to discuss a very important question with you.
Have you ever analyzed how we understand anything? More importantly, why do we sometimes falter in understanding correctly? Think about it for a moment.
To analyze this topic, I will take a simple example. This example is only for the purpose of discussion. It is certainly not my intention to demean the person I mention here.
There is a very famous guru. Millions of followers blindly believe every word he says as if it is Gospel truth.
But if you think carefully, many of the statements made by this person are meaningless and misleading. Yet, his followers praise his "great wisdom." In fact, many people are attracted to him precisely because of such absurd statements.
Let me give a widely discussed example.
In it, this guru explains why cooked food should not be eaten during a lunar eclipse. This is a widely prevalent ancient Indian belief. Even though the renowned Indian astronomer Aryabhata rejected such beliefs centuries ago, even today most Indians hold such misconceptions.
A guru should elevate his followers above false beliefs. That is also his duty. Yet, somehow, this guru pushes people even deeper into error. As if scientific, logically and experimentally, he presents the same old belief.
According to him, during an eclipse, the moon passes through all its phases very quickly. Normally, it takes fifteen days for the moon to go through those phases. That means a few hours of an eclipse are equivalent to 15 days. Therefore, if cooked food is kept during that time, it will spoil—because it is as if you have kept it for 15 days. That is his logic.
If mere reasoning does not convince you, he also demonstrates it experimentally.
He suspends a rosary over the food. He draws your attention to how the rosary, which was rotating clockwise before the eclipse, begins to rotate in the opposite direction on its own as soon as the eclipse starts. According to him, this indicates that the food is spoiling.
I have seen even highly educated people being influenced by this reasoning and experimental explanation. For them, whatever that guru says is literally true.
However, if you think a little, you will understand what is actually true.
The phases of the moon do not control time. Time determines the phases of the moon. So that logic is absurd.
And what about that rotating rosary?
That is a well-known phenomenon called the ideomotor effect. The same effect lies behind spirit communication using Ouija boards, or identifying underground water using a pendulum (water divining). In such cases, a person produces movement unconsciously.
What personal motive this guru has in doing all this is a separate matter. It is irrelevant here.
Even so, many people believe such things. Why—that is the important question.
This brings us to the fundamental question: how do we analyze things? How does our brain behave when something new comes to our attention?
Our brain immediately starts searching for something similar that we have seen or heard before. There may be many such things in our memory. Among them, the brain selects the one that appears most similar.
If it finds such a match, we feel, "We have understood."
If no clear match is found, some people say, "I didn't understand this," and give up. But most people mistakenly assume that something vaguely similar from past memory is the same thing. That is where their understanding goes wrong.
Some of us go a step further.
They break the subject into smaller parts and try to match each part separately.
When everything seems to more or less fit, they say, "Yes, I understood." This is the right approach.
But there are problems in this process.
Sometimes we stop our search too early. There can be many reasons for this.
Sometimes we do not have sufficient prior knowledge in that field. Even very intelligent people can be completely ignorant in a new subject. Many of us may not be aware of the ideomotor effect.
There is another problem.
When we search for similar prior memories, we may find many events that are somewhat similar. Then we have to choose among them. What is the correct way to choose?
• Our selection must be objective.
• They must not contradict each other and should be mutually consistent.
• The selections must be logical.
This is where we falter. Somehow, instead of objectivity, we give more importance to subjectivity. Instead of logic, we surrender to belief. Instead of our own judgment, we give more importance to others' opinions.
The guru's highly confident and authoritative statements begin to appear more correct. Our reasoning ability loses against them. The enormous number of followers the guru has silences our inner voice. We want to belong to the crowd.
But none of these guarantee the truth.
In today's world of social media,
• Followers can be created.
• Falsehood can be presented as truth with authority.
• Fake confidence can be displayed.
And based on these factors, we fall into a wrong understanding. Once we accept a wrong idea, we build further understanding on top of it.
Thus, errors keep accumulating.
So what really misleads us?
• One: —Our limited knowledge in that field.
• Two: —Believing false yardsticks like authority or popularity.
• Three: —Our brain choosing quick and easy answers instead of correct ones.
So what can we do?
Some self-driven practices can help.
• First, gradually expand your knowledge across different fields. Do not limit yourself only to your own field.
• Second, examine why you believe what you believe. Not because of who said it.
• Third, if something appears very impressive—pause for a moment. Break it into parts. Analyze each part. See whether it is truly meaningful. Stay mentally alert. Do not jump to conclusions easily.
Yes, adopting some of these becomes harder as we grow older.
Therefore, if you are a parent or a teacher, help children develop this way of thinking at a young age. That is the greatest gift you can give them. Once they adopt it, there is no limit to their learning.
After all, analytical ability is not just a way to know more things. It is also the ability to avoid being deceived by many things that merely appear to be true.
There is a very famous guru. Millions of followers blindly believe every word he says as if it is Gospel truth.
But if you think carefully, many of the statements made by this person are meaningless and misleading. Yet, his followers praise his "great wisdom." In fact, many people are attracted to him precisely because of such absurd statements.
Let me give a widely discussed example.
In it, this guru explains why cooked food should not be eaten during a lunar eclipse. This is a widely prevalent ancient Indian belief. Even though the renowned Indian astronomer Aryabhata rejected such beliefs centuries ago, even today most Indians hold such misconceptions.
A guru should elevate his followers above false beliefs. That is also his duty. Yet, somehow, this guru pushes people even deeper into error. As if scientific, logically and experimentally, he presents the same old belief.
According to him, during an eclipse, the moon passes through all its phases very quickly. Normally, it takes fifteen days for the moon to go through those phases. That means a few hours of an eclipse are equivalent to 15 days. Therefore, if cooked food is kept during that time, it will spoil—because it is as if you have kept it for 15 days. That is his logic.
If mere reasoning does not convince you, he also demonstrates it experimentally.
He suspends a rosary over the food. He draws your attention to how the rosary, which was rotating clockwise before the eclipse, begins to rotate in the opposite direction on its own as soon as the eclipse starts. According to him, this indicates that the food is spoiling.
I have seen even highly educated people being influenced by this reasoning and experimental explanation. For them, whatever that guru says is literally true.
However, if you think a little, you will understand what is actually true.
The phases of the moon do not control time. Time determines the phases of the moon. So that logic is absurd.
And what about that rotating rosary?
That is a well-known phenomenon called the ideomotor effect. The same effect lies behind spirit communication using Ouija boards, or identifying underground water using a pendulum (water divining). In such cases, a person produces movement unconsciously.
What personal motive this guru has in doing all this is a separate matter. It is irrelevant here.
Even so, many people believe such things. Why—that is the important question.
This brings us to the fundamental question: how do we analyze things? How does our brain behave when something new comes to our attention?
Our brain immediately starts searching for something similar that we have seen or heard before. There may be many such things in our memory. Among them, the brain selects the one that appears most similar.
If it finds such a match, we feel, "We have understood."
If no clear match is found, some people say, "I didn't understand this," and give up. But most people mistakenly assume that something vaguely similar from past memory is the same thing. That is where their understanding goes wrong.
Some of us go a step further.
They break the subject into smaller parts and try to match each part separately.
When everything seems to more or less fit, they say, "Yes, I understood." This is the right approach.
But there are problems in this process.
Sometimes we stop our search too early. There can be many reasons for this.
Sometimes we do not have sufficient prior knowledge in that field. Even very intelligent people can be completely ignorant in a new subject. Many of us may not be aware of the ideomotor effect.
There is another problem.
When we search for similar prior memories, we may find many events that are somewhat similar. Then we have to choose among them. What is the correct way to choose?
• Our selection must be objective.
• They must not contradict each other and should be mutually consistent.
• The selections must be logical.
This is where we falter. Somehow, instead of objectivity, we give more importance to subjectivity. Instead of logic, we surrender to belief. Instead of our own judgment, we give more importance to others' opinions.
The guru's highly confident and authoritative statements begin to appear more correct. Our reasoning ability loses against them. The enormous number of followers the guru has silences our inner voice. We want to belong to the crowd.
But none of these guarantee the truth.
In today's world of social media,
• Followers can be created.
• Falsehood can be presented as truth with authority.
• Fake confidence can be displayed.
And based on these factors, we fall into a wrong understanding. Once we accept a wrong idea, we build further understanding on top of it.
Thus, errors keep accumulating.
So what really misleads us?
• One: —Our limited knowledge in that field.
• Two: —Believing false yardsticks like authority or popularity.
• Three: —Our brain choosing quick and easy answers instead of correct ones.
So what can we do?
Some self-driven practices can help.
• First, gradually expand your knowledge across different fields. Do not limit yourself only to your own field.
• Second, examine why you believe what you believe. Not because of who said it.
• Third, if something appears very impressive—pause for a moment. Break it into parts. Analyze each part. See whether it is truly meaningful. Stay mentally alert. Do not jump to conclusions easily.
Yes, adopting some of these becomes harder as we grow older.
Therefore, if you are a parent or a teacher, help children develop this way of thinking at a young age. That is the greatest gift you can give them. Once they adopt it, there is no limit to their learning.
After all, analytical ability is not just a way to know more things. It is also the ability to avoid being deceived by many things that merely appear to be true.
© Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2026
Yes, teaching Analytical thinking very early on is very important. Fortunately the current Education policy has included it in the curriculum framework.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great step. Are you talking about some specific part of the world or in general?
Delete