an
oversimplification of the power that comes from understanding something. once you can identify not only the thing, but the
causes, the
ramifications, the
parallels, you can
predict ahead of time what its impact will be. you can even make it serve you, if it's something you can gain from.
in the history of
human mythology, there are many stories of deities and saints who
create things by speaking their names.
philosophers and
scientists make us understand things we were subliminally aware of by spelling them out.
it's a sort of
wizardry, to know a thing so well that you own it.