I don't know what I know.
I am not saying I am dumb. What I'm talking about is the process of learning.
There is a way to test what you know. The man who came up with this test is Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist who is remembered by many for how he explained complex concepts in simple terms.
The "Feynman Technique" begins with this basic step: "Force yourself to explain complex concepts in plain, jargon-free language as if teaching an 8-year-old. When you stumble, you instantly identify the gaps in your knowledge."
Many of us experience what psychologists call the "illusion of explanatory depth," our tendency to believe we understand complex things far better than we actually do. For example, you know how a zipper works, right? Now ... can you explain it to an 8-year-old?
"Never stop questioning," Feynman said. Ask the how and why. He suggested rediscovering the basic principles used to build the formulas and rules we accept and follow. If you rebuild a bit of knowledge from its source, then you own it, he said.
So I could test my own beliefs, those things that guide my life, my choices, my politics, my faith. I should be able to explain clearly and simply what I believe and answer the most important question: Why?
I think what I will end up discovering is not what I know ... but what I don't know.
I'm Lonny Cain, and that's my perspective.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
