“The true journey of discovery consists not in seeking new sights, but in having new eyes.”
– Marcel Proust
Have you ever read something and didn’t understand it, but felt that something important was written there?
This happened to me recently while reading Thoughts without thinking by Mark Epstein, Buddhist and Freudian psychologist who helped between these two disciplines of consciousness.
The title alone is provocative. As Epstein began to explain the deeper meaning behind it, I felt it go over my head.
I followed the logic. Clinging to the ego and desire is the source of suffering. If we can free ourselves attachment to ourselves – and separating the thinker from the thoughts – perhaps we can achieve greater equality and peace.
Thoughts were just thoughts.
It sounds profound, but I can’t say I fully understand it.
Such moments are common when we encounter ideas that are beyond our current mental framework. We can follow words and logic, but still feel that the deeper meaning is out of reach.
So what should we do?
My suggestion is: hold on. Stop it.
Instead of cataloging what you understand, start collecting what you understand did not
It’s not something I do when I’m younger.
Most of the time I cover the piece and move on. When I finished a book or an article, I had a summary of what I learned. The gist of the book was stored in my brain bank, but what I didn’t understand was quietly lost.
But there’s something important about coming across an idea that you don’t fully understand that’s important nonetheless.
This feeling is a hint.
Something about the idea will surprise you. It resonates, even if you have yet to explain why.
Writing it down in a journal can help. But don’t leave it alone. Don’t let your current version have it figured out yet.
Maybe one day, after more experience and a little more wisdomlightning strikes and the meaning becomes clear at once.
Psychologists sometimes call this incubation, whereby ideas we can’t yet grasp work quietly in the background of the mind. Neuroscientists who study cognition have found that the brain often continues to work on problems outside of conscious awareness, sometimes with a sudden “Aha!” the moment when distant ideas finally converge. Experiments have shown that the right temporal lobe is active, and before such a moment bursts of high-frequency gamma waves appear.
Maybe one day a few ideas that have been sitting in your mental secret catalog will suddenly connect.
Interestingly, some of the most impactful discoveries in science occur when ideas from different fields converge, rather than when one field digs deeper into its silos.
There are many explanations for this phenomenon: different fields create problems differently and innovative solutions can be implemented, or tools from one field can open up questions in another field.
Something similar can happen in our own minds.
When we resist the urge to discard what we don’t understand, we allow ideas to continue to speak to each other. Over time, these unexpected connections can lead to insight.
Sometimes the most important ideas are the ones we are not yet ready to understand.
