KNOWLEDGE IS POTENTIAL POWER

       IGNORANCE IS FRUSTRATING NOT BLISSFUL

Significant change is possible but often requires a great deal of effort to make it happen. Change, or the need to make some kind of  change, is largely motivated by feeling quintessentially stuck. Stuckness either takes the form of wanting to do something one can't begin to do; and/or one want's to stop doing something one can't begin to stop doing. Thus we human beings often find ourselves to be slaves to "repetition compulsion" - that is caught on a wheel of positive or negative inertia - creatures of habit - suffering whatever.

Case in point. Who hasn't awakened from a fitful sleep with a severe pain in your mouth? If you are like me you instantly swear - hope it is just "one of those things" and both hope and wish it will pass in a very short amount of time - like 5 minutes.

If it persists the next level of concern is another groan associated with the terrible thought of possibly calling the dentist. If the pain is severe enough the initial denial expressed in negative inertia is overcome and results in a reluctant call to the dentist.

Typically at this point the sufferer generates a theory as to what is causing the particular pain. Thus the pain is thought to be not just an unwanted fact but is, instead, a symptom of an as yet undiagnosed problem.

Here we finally come to the crux of my article.

Both the sufferer - now also a patient - and his/her dentist - will diagnose the condition in question. Different observers often diagnose the same set of symptoms in widely divergent ways. All diagnoses may be "right" but only one is the most "right." The patient may believe he only has a cavity. The Dentist  aware that the same symptoms may have a different root cause than that which seems to be obvious - runs a series of tests. Frequently the patient's diagnosis is accurate but equally as frequently he is inaccurate or doesn't go far enough. Thus the patient's pain may be caused by both decay and an impacted root canal issue.

A given diagnosis determines the nature of a given intervention. It obviously follow that the knowedge that is most accurate is potentially most powerful in aiding a person resolve a given problem in the "best" way known at the moment.

Thus knowledge functions like a key that can potentially open the most recalcitrant lock. For example:

• My family has a home network linking a computer downstairs with one upstairs by means of a router and a wireless adapter. For literally years the connection has intermittantly disconnected to the consternation of the entire family. We have nearly come to blows. My wife has insisted that I am a no it all and cheap because I wont let a service man configure it for $150.00, and the likes. I have not been immune to her frustration and certainly do not like her thinking ill of me, letting me know in no uncertain terms she thinks I am out of my mind. Attempting to remedy this obnoxious problem I have sat on the phone numerous hours with numerous technicians from AOL, and Linkysus (the router company) unsuccessfully  to resolve this frustrating problerm once and for all. Finally, a few days ago I spoke to yet another technician who instantly diagnosed this intermittant disconnection problem as a need for the most current firmware download. This particular piece of factual and specific information was new to me. It only took 2 minutes to locate and download what  I needed. A moment later VOILA! - fixed forever. To boot - my whole family was pleasantly "shocked."
• Similarly I thought it wise for us to convert to Verizon's FIOS - fiber optics. We did so yesterday with little difficulty. Only one problem. My son's new Xbox 360 gamer wouldn't play as it wasn't recognized by the sipposedly non compatible router given to us by Verizon. He had a fit stirring the family. All of the rise in respect I had obtained by my problem previously described breakthrough was now seriously threatened by total erosion. Fortunately I reached a knowledgable technician at Verizon who helped me configure the X box to what X box instructions way is a non compatible router. Voila! Once again accurate information - a factual piece of knowledge - was like a key opening what initially appeared to be an unopenable lock.
• One more example should more than make my point crystal clear and then some. Previous to the Verizon installers coming to our house I have been aware of an increasingly sluggishness in starting up my computer. In setting up the new router I mentioned this to one of them. He said I have too many programs showing on my desktop which is eating up an enormous amount of memory. After deleting about three quarters of the programs - a process which eliminates the shortcut but not the program - the computer ran as if it was the first day I had ever run it. Once again accurate knowledge resolved a long standing problem I had suffered as if that is the way it is.

My conclusion is that when frustrated - rather than just suffer try to view the details of the context as a problem to be resolved. Then make the necessary effort to find the just right piece of knowledge necessary to resolve the particular problem at hand. Happy Learning.

Comments

[Todd Brunman]

I agree that ignorance is frustrating but also a believer in your scenario that it takes both the patient and the dentist to make the analysis and fill the gap of missing knowledge. The patient can only make guesses at determining the solution but also requires the expertise and knowledge of a professional to provide feedback and assist the patient in bridging the gap. Feedback and guidance of the dentist is essential otherwise the patient is left to make the same mistakes and uneducated guesses at solving his issues. If the dentist does not participate in providing feedback and guidance the patient's frustration in not solving the issue will grow and fester within him.