Greater Integration of Knowledge

Knowledge is something we accumulate throughout our lives. When we are thinking about the world in an appropriate way we begin to  building upon our knowledge and create greater insight to the world in which we life. The greatest integration of knowledge comes from finding its value and applicability in solving real problems and integrating these lessons into our current mental frameworks.

Greater integration means we must reflect on the information in a way that adjusts our previous beliefs, knowledge, experience, and expectations. For example, let us assume that we are trying to understand a new photography method. We would need to take in new information, add it to our knowledge of previous photography methods, and then find a way of connecting the information into a cohesive model.

We must also be willing to learn the information in depth. It isn't easy to integrate knowledge when we don't have the details that would make that possible. For example, the statement "Sails move Boats because of air pressure." There just isn't enough details to take this to a more integrated level of knowledge without further practice and learning.

All knowledge should create as much practical use as possible for solving problems. When information is added just to make information it is discarded because it is useless. It is wasted effort to learn. However, when the knowledge solves some problem it has utility and the motivation to integrate the information is higher.

Integrating knowledge can take some time to do well. It may require us to think, feel, experience, and manipulate the information to determine its overall usage to determine its nature. As we find additional benefits for this information we will have the motivation to use it and continue to use it in a way that strengthens our capacity.