I have been meaning to do this post for some time – four years to be precise. I was inspired by Albert Einstein’s simple explanation on what it means to understand something. At the time, I was curious and wanted to have a better understanding of a study topic. So I added the quote this quote as my email signature to constantly remind me of what it means to understand. Interestingly, inspired by the signature, an old barrister who ran a law firm a few blocks from my residence at the time hired me for a student part time job. The fact that I got hired thanks to a quote on my email signature still boggles my mind to date.
Opportunities can present through the tiniest of things that we do.
Image source: Flickr
Einstein, in his wisdom and works as the genius behind some of the theories we apply today, made it amazingly simple by saying that if you can’t explain something to a child, then you do not understand it. For those of us who have no idea – Einstein was a Physicist and mathematician famous for developing the theories of special and general relativity, and the theory of quantum mechanics, among others. He won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his discoveries and extraordinary contributions to Scientific body, notably in photoelectric effect. Upon death, his brain was removed and stored at the Princeton University Medical Centre for research purposes. It is speculated that Einstein had preferred for his brain to be used for research upon demise. A past study revealed that a portion of his brain, responsible for human intelligence, was 15% larger than what is considered the norm for most people. Although not completely proven, it is believed that this rare size does explain why he had an extremely high IQ. You can read more about this and other elements of his life on various online resources including this biography.
I studied some of the Einsteinian theories in my earlier years of undergraduate studies. I can tell you for free that those are no easy concepts to fully comprehend and importantly apply in everyday life. I found the theory of Relativity most intriguing. One of the things it explains is time travel and its possibility, although not in the literal meaning as often seen in the sci-fi movies where people go back in time. Past research to test the validity of this theory has found that time moves faster on a stationary item here on earth than on a fast-moving aircraft. Imagine how slower it would be if you were traveling at supersonic speed (greater than the speed of sound of in air which is approximately 340 m/s, or nearly 1,225 km/h in the more familiar language of expression). Now imagine if you were moving much faster than the speed of light, commonly denoted as c = 3.0 X 10^8 m/s, in the extraplanetary or while orbiting around the earth as do satellites. I would say it is impossible to exceed the speed of light for now, because man has continuously proven that nothing is impossible. Maybe, just maybe, this impossibility will come to pass one upon a time. If you find all these concepts on relativity and time travel hard to understand, you are not alone – we are in this together. It is difficult to put them into perspective from the abstract and explain to a third party. Now imagine trying to make a child understand such theories.
Whenever faced with situations where there is need to explain something to an audience, try to employ the Einsteinian meaning of understanding. What that means is that communication in everyday life should take the simplest of form to make it palatable to most. One easy way to poison the understanding of an audience, even if the words are simple, is by deliberately choosing to speak too fast – it is well known that fast speech is inherent for some people, or so we have been wired to believe. If writing, doing rather long texts when you could easily go straight to the point is another easy ticket to the poison. I am often a victim of the latter, not sure when I will hit the ultimate mark of conciseness. As I have mentioned in previous posts – we learn every day. And so, I continue to work towards reducing my verbose nature of writing, while maintaining the palatability and nuance.
One thing I have noticed with a few of the most remarkable leaders of our time is their demonstrated understanding. This admirable attribute was recently exemplified by Hon lady Justice Martha Koome, Kenya’s first female Chief Justice. The few times I have listened to this lady, I realize that there is no rush when it comes to demonstrating one’s understanding. I also realize that it is an arsenal to be able to easily drive points home to both learned and non-learned friends (which constitutes myself and many others).
Understanding is not about how much we have read or the breadth of knowledge. It goes further to include the application, interpretation, and explanation to third parties with little to no idea of the subject. Think about Early Childhood Development teachers; how often do we appreciate their effort and energy– through online and offline tools – to get children to a level where they understand and explain things quite clearly to us while we, being the adults that we are, struggle to explain everyday life affairs to them.
If you happen to have six-year-olds, do they understand why and what you do in the name of employment or self-employment? How about we start there….
