The Order of Knowing

One of the most obvious things in life, though it is often neglected, is that things are a certain way.  Things are only one way, and nothing is two things at once.  Everything is breathtakingly specific, and it's the specificity of being that makes it intelligible.  It's because things are one certain way that we're able to say "This object is this way and not any other way," and when we are able to say this we have learned something, so long as what we claim corresponds to the way things are.

So learning is a matter of knowing what is and what is not.  This involves listening to the way things are.  In order to learn we have to be silent, with quiet minds, so that when we interact with something the thing imprints itself on our minds, rather than having our minds be preoccupied with things that are not what we're observing.  Our minds are a specific way, and they must be free enough of distraction so that they can specifically conform to the object they are encountering.

When we encounter an object in a state of silence, we take in two fundamental things.  First, that the object exists; and second, that the object exists in a specific way.  The appreciation of the existence of a thing always comes first, then comes the understanding of its specificity.  So a person who is able to appreciate being is actually ahead of a scholar who lacks wonder but knows every word in the dictionary.  When the first step is neglected, and only the specificity of a thing is known, the person knows in an abstract way that is not grounded in reality.  

Beginner's luck is an interesting phenomenon that I think gets at what appreciation for existence is.  When the beginner first encounters a game he has a vision of it as a whole: he sees it as an existing totality.  Then, as he plays on, he starts to zero in on the specifics of the game, and loses his vision of the whole, his balance, thus getting worse before he can get better.  It's once he masters the game, or at least becomes proficient at it, that he regains his vision of the whole with a more profound perspective than he had at first.  This vision of the whole, this vision of being, is what is most enjoyable about knowing a thing.  In a perfect world, we learn specifics in order to further our appreciation for existence, and not the other way around.  So let's do what we can to be silent, and allow existence to speak to us in its gentle way, first in that it exists, second in how it exists.