“Some people will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon.” – Alexander Pope
As some of you know, I host my drawings and photography on flickr.com. The most popular napkin on all of flickr is one that is almost indecipherable. It was soaked in water and looks more like a rorschach test than a drawing. I put it up anyway, many years ago, and eventually someone enhanced it a bit and figured out what it said.
I was giving a presentation yesterday (2/24/09) and showed that most popular napkin as I read the quote to the crowd. It suddenly struck me how much I love the quote so I decided I would draw a new napkin to let the quote be easily read this time around!
I love this quote because it is something I see every day. I am guilty of it as well, most people are I think. They are able to comprehend something right away, and they cement that understanding as THE understanding of that thing, event, person, etc.
But each thing, event, person is deeper than a first judgment and if you want the clearest path to really learning about whatever has your attention, the initial ‘understanding’ has to be moved aside. It is like a roadblock keeping you from going beyond it.
Where are your roadblocks and how are they keeping you from deeper learning and understanding?
Are you curious about HOW popular that original napkin is? It is my second most popular image out of more than 2,600 with over 12,200 hits on it! Don’t ask me why.
Drawings © 2022 Marty Coleman | napindad.com
