Ming recently bought a home. He was very selective about the neighborhood, so he had to settle for a 40-year-old home. Immediately upon closing the purchase, Ming began an extensive remodeling project to update it. Spring saw the completion of the remodel.
Ming’s Simple Task
As Ming went through his checklist of what he had to restore for the spring, he found a note from the previous owner, Sam, that read “…Then turn on the faucet where the line attaches to the house next to the garage. It has a pressure relief valve on the line just to the right of where the line connects to the house faucet. It will sputter and spurt as the line pressurizes…”
Ming stepped out of the house to locate the faucet by the garage and “pressurize it.” This was his first home, and home maintenance tasks were unfamiliar to him. Nevertheless, this was a simple task. He figured it would take about five minutes to complete it. Half an hour later, Ming was still looking. He was a bit confused about the whole thing. He was supposed to “pressurize the line,” and he understood that meant turning on a faucet by the side of the garage. But there was no faucet to be found!
Maybe he misunderstood the whole thing? He quickly looked up the word “faucet” just to make sure his understanding of the word, based on experience with faucets in his kitchen and bathrooms, was applicable to faucets outside the home. He scratched his bald head for a few minutes and decided he should contact Sam to clarify his instructions.
Ming Tackles his Confusion
“Sam, you mentioned I should pressurize the water line by the garage. How do I do that?“
Sam replied, “Turn the faucet on. The line will sputter and spurt as it pressurizes.“
Ming already knew that. So he went out again and looked around trying to figure out what he had to do pressurize the water line. After a little while, frustrated and confused again, Ming sheepishly wrote back: “Sam, I am not sure what it means to pressurize the line. What do I turn on? Where do I find it? What will it do when I turn it on?“
Sam was a bit surprised. That should have been an easy task but Ming didn’t seem to get it. So he patiently replied: “Turn on the faucet below the window where the garage attaches to the house. When you turn it on it will go gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. Then you can turn it off and connect a pipe to feed the sprinkler system.“
Ming looked for the faucet where Sam had directed him, but he only found a hole there. Using a flashlight, he peered into the inch-wide hole and saw something that resembled a pipe. He wasn’t sure how to “turn that faucet on!” So he took a picture of the hole, with the window showing above it, and emailed Sam again: “I only see a hole there and what looks like a pipe inside. What kind of tool do I need to turn it on?“
Situation Resolved
Sam realized immediately that someone had removed the faucet. He remembered Ming telling him about the extensive remodeling plans. In his response, Sam advised Ming to contact his contractor and ask them to reinstall the faucet they had removed. A week later, the contractor installed the faucet, and Ming eagerly turned it on. To his delight, it gurgled and gurgled and then, magically, the water line pressurized!
Ming’s experience trying to complete a simple task is a good example of confusion. He knew what he had to do: “locate the faucet,” “turn it on,” and “wait for the gurgle of water to ensure water was flowing.” When he couldn’t locate the faucet, he felt sheepish and wondered if he had misunderstood the whole thing. He questioned whether his understanding of what he had to do was the same as what Sam had instructed. When they communicated about this, they both shared the correct mental model of how to pressurize the water line. However, their realities differed in one important detail. That was the source of Ming’s confusion.
Ming’s confusion dissipated soon after the gap between expectation and reality closed. The task was as simple as he originally understood it to be. He wasn’t a dummy.
Philosophical Context
Confusion, in a philosophical sense, is not merely a momentary mix-up or the result of misinformation. It’s a profound experience that ties into deep questions about how we think, how we understand things, and the essence of reality.
Various philosophical traditions discuss confusion — ranging from the ancient Greek philosophers, to the Cartesian tradition, to Eastern philosophical traditions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, to existentialist philosophers, and even to modern philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein.
These traditions collectively view confusion as more than an obstacle; it is a critical indicator of our profound engagement with the intricate and sometimes contradictory nature of existence. Confusion points to our limitations but also to our capacity for growth. It reveals the gaps in our knowledge but also propels our relentless pursuit of deeper understanding. Confusion, therefore, is not merely a problem to be solved but a condition to be explored, a starting point for philosophical inquiry that can lead us to deeper truths about ourselves and the world around us.
A philosophical exploration of confusion is intriguing. However, we will restrict our focus to the everyday experiences of confusion, leaving the philosophical aspects for another time.
What is Confusion?
At its core, confusion arises from an encounter with the unknown or the unknowable, a clash between a person’s current cognitive framework and an experience or concept that does not neatly fit within it. Like Ming’s situation earlier, it’s what happens when what we expect to happen doesn’t match up with what actually does.
Confusion can be overwhelming, leaving one feeling helpless because of the absence of helpful information to bridge the gap between expectation and reality.
Dealing With Confusion
Confusion results from a mismatch between our expectations and reality. The object of confusion is usually complicated or complex. We can reduce confusion by doing the work needed to understand and appreciate reality. This is our challenge in the next steps of the four-step framework.
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