THE ENORMITY OF UNDERSTANDING

I came to a conclusion based on evidence details examples but my conclusion isn't an example ... that's the first step and by it I perform an act of reason ... from details from examples I form a general conclusion which is neither absolute nor certain ... at first ... and here's the trick and what a nice trick it is ... indeed one of the nicest tricks our collective human mind has ever performed and of course still does ... not reason nor judgment but an understanding ... that is being able to tell the difference between a property belonging to a thing by its nature and an accident adhering to it by chance ... understanding is that first act of the mind by which we find the essence of the thing ... no perhaps not all of it but still the thing itself that in the sight of it we see as well that something else alongside it ... not passing by and stooping in its hurry to pick up the thing the essence must have dropped ... handing it over saying not at all quite welcome I must be moving on ... but there beside it not just in space and time but beyond these two the two of them together steadfast and eternally