Grokking 101

reply to post by Zetetic_of_Truth


sweet. I'm curious if you notice any result. It'll be difficult without having someone guiding you/timing you along the way. Keep us informed!

Cool thread, interesting input.

One thing I was taught years ago about "speed reading" is to skim diagonally. That is, start in the upper-left-hand corner of a paragraph and just kind of scan it towards the lower-right corner. Different system than the OP's, but I find it works very well in most cases.

[edit on 6/18/09 by silent thunder]

im pretty sure the purpose from reading right to left is so when you read from the right it activates your left brain, which deals with logic and structure and words fall into this, the systemisation of memorization so the infomation passes into your logic first so you make sense of it then you pass it into your creative brain to ellaborate and look at this understood infomation in a different way and this can be numerous. This is strange because ive always felt like ive known this and it makes sense, so many other languages use right to left because really putting the infomation straight into the right brain and looking at it as a whole before actually properly acknowledging what you've been taught doesnt make sense it would be like handing the money over for your purchase without it being scanned (funny this metaphor because it makes you think well actually thats not so bad since id be getting the item for free, BUT they could have over charged you ) Then again i think this method of controlling how infomation is handled by our brain can backfire if you are a very creative person and not very left brained as we are all manipulated to be, as this infomation being handleded creativly first can change the meaning vastly of the infomation from what you were logically supposed to percieve.

reply to post by steven barnes


I see what you're saying, but many cultures read from right to left. Some read from top to bottom, and others from bottom to top. I've never seen a diagonal language, but I have seen some based on circular writing patterns. Basically, I think it was a system that was set up, and evolved over time depending on where you/your ancestors are located in the world.

As I mentioned before, the higher levels of grokking are scanning the page from top to bottom using your peripheral vision to 'capture' the text. And the highest is tantamount to taking a screenshot of the page for you to access from your subconscious at a later date.

Well, depending on your individual stance, it could be positive or negative. Honestly, it's this skill that got me through my boring education! I was one of those A+ students that never studied.......nor did I ever retain any information I wasn't particularly interested in.....DOH!

This has become such an ingrain thing that now if I enjoy something I have to re-read it. I'm too much on auto-pilot. My subconcious absorbs everything while my concious mind seldom has a chance to enjoy it. ~~Just my .02 darlins'

reply to post by jackieps1975


Retention is very interesting. It looks like a bell curve. If you don't review the information within 36 hours of reading/experiencing it (no matter what technique you use), you will only retain about 3-6% of the info.

Here's an exercise on retention:
1 hour after learning, review an outline of the information for 2-3 minutes
24 hours later, review an outline for another 2-3 minutes
Doing this will increase your total retention to 20-40%

1 week later, review for 2-3 minutes
1 month later, review for 2-3 minutes
Doing this will increase your total retention to 40-60%

By reviewing a total of 8-12 minutes over a period of 1 month, you will retain as much as 60% of all of the knowledge you gained... instead of the average 3-6%!

this sort of sounds like some of the research done by Piotr Woźniak, a polish computer scientist and abit more than that really who invented a program called supermemo which has an algorithm that predicts when you're going to forget some infomation and then makes you relook at it as apparently he believes the best time to remember something is just before you forget and apparently this has quite amazing results.

supermemo wiki

interview with piotr

As far as I can tell from the discussions here, you guys are confusing mechanics with understanding...you don't seem to grok grokking.

As far as retention goes, a few years ago some researchers discovered that a brain enzyme mediates memories (αCaMKII, aka the memory molecule) and that you have about a fifteen minute supply of it at any given time. so studying or memorizing should been done in fifteen minute bursts. Fortunately it does't take long for the enzyme to replenish, so taking a short break resets it. For you art types, think of the sort of collor blindness you get from looking at one color for too long: you lose the ability to see shades of that color, but looking briefly at a complementary color restores it.

That said, grokking is something different.

If you wish to practice it, try this: look at something, anything...what it is makes no difference. Now truly look at it until you begin to see it. By that I mean first see all the surface features, color, shape, texture, etc.

When you have absorbed that, look at what makes this particular thing unique: variations in color, scratches, nicks, wear marks etc, until you can pick this particular one out of a thousand similar ones.

Now look at it and see how it came to be unique, begin to understand it it, understand how it was made, how it was used, who used it, how it came to be in your hands.

For example, a friend recently brought me what she called an interesting rock she found while out horseback riding. It had a peculiar triangular shape. I held it for awhile, looking at it, grokking it, and then laughed and asked her if truly she didn't recognize what it was. It was a left-handed grinding stone for grinding acorns. Proved it to her, too. The wear marks, both obvious and subtle proved it visually, once you held it properly it was perfectly obvious that it fit a left-handed person far better than a right-handed one. I can almost hear the teasing gossip when I hold it. An interesting find.

But still, that is only the beginning, the easy levels. To truly grok something you need to go deeper, and feel the interplay of energies that compose it, and see the tendrils of intertwined energies that connect it, this particular it, to the web of energies enveloping it, and see its back trail through time and space. It doesn't come easy. You must do lots of hard mental work.

Learn a modicum of chemistry, physics, math, biology, art, literature. Learn at least one other language. Learn to accept and enjoy complexity that collapses into profound simplicity. Then you begin to grok what I am trying to show you.

reply to post by apacheman


I do grok what you're saying... these mechanics that I'm promoting are merely an exercise to balance your brain. You can't grok anything fully, unless you're using your whole brain.