Strong desire to understand.

[Little lunch]

Yes, I have a strong desire to understand things.
Even those things that people don't like to talk about, like serial killers, paedophiles and scatting.
Nothing is off limits for me.
I don't feel that you have to agree with something to understand it.
Nor do I think being interested in something means you want to do it.
I think a lot of people have a hard time with that concept.
I believe that if people took more time to understand that which they don't, the world we be a better place.
Misunderstandings are a natural enemy to peace.

[bennyboy]

How strong is your desire to understand? Do you struggle to agree with what you do not understand? Do you feel like you need to understand everything? Do you hate condescension?

Wondering how many peeps can relate to this.

When I turned 13, my father gave me a book on assembly language programming.  It pissed me off-- I read everything, but couldn't run code to see what would happen because I was visiting my grandparents' house at the time.  I had to imagine it.  I read and re-read that whole fucking book about a hundred times.  I had nightmares about it.  It was like try to learn Greek.

But when I got home, I typed in my first assembly-language program, written purely in my imagination, and it ran the first time; if anyone has studied assembly language, you'll know that was a truly legendary achievement for a boy of that age.  So yeah, I can say that not knowing something I want to know is like the world's worst mosquito bite.  It will completely take over my life for weeks, and there's really nothing I can do about it.  But that obsession leads to the best things I'm capable of achieving, so it's worth it.

[Alex K]

Yes, indeed. I wrote my first Assembly stuff when I was 14 or 15. Most of my first programs could serve as reset switches

[bennyboy]

Yes, indeed. I wrote my first Assembly stuff when I was 14 or 15. Most of my first programs could serve as reset switches

haha been there about 1000 times

[Excited Penguin]

How strong is your desire to understand? Do you struggle to agree with what you do not understand? Do you feel like you need to understand everything? Do you hate condescension?

Wondering how many peeps can relate to this.

If I was ignorant of a topic or did not understand it, I would first own up to it and try to gain a basic understanding of the subject matter before agreeing with any of it (this is assuming I'm interested in it). For example, if an instructor expected me to just accept the validity of a mathematical idea without demonstrating why it works (he would demonstrate the proof later on in the semester), then I would feel awkward: I don't want to blindly accept things.  I enjoy the challenge of understanding unfamiliar ideas and being able to explain them in simple and concise language if possible. However, I do not have a need to understand everything: I've made peace with the fact that an individual can only know and accumulate a limited amount of knowledge in their lifetime.  As a man much smarter and wiser than myself said: "the smarter you are, then the more you know you don't know."

I have no problem with condescension. If someone is talking down to me, because I lack an adequate understanding of the subject matter, then I'll chalk it up for what it is: I'm ignorant of the subject matter and I can either let it go or educate myself.  If I choose to let it go, then I cannot in good conscience express any agreement or disagreement with it.

Emphasis added

That man is Aristotle.

[Athene]

How strong is your desire to understand? Do you struggle to agree with what you do not understand? Do you feel like you need to understand everything? Do you hate condescension?

Wondering how many peeps can relate to this.

I have a strong desire to understand, find it difficult to agree or disagree with matters in which I have little or no understanding, and don't feel the need or desire to understand everything; it's impossible. 

I generally have no issue with people who demonstrate actual expertise simplifying explanations for me in an effort to help me understand particularly complex matters, but I do take issue when such explanations are presented in a demeaning, disdainful, condescending manner.

Understand?