The Structure of Knowledge: Parts, Layers and Hidden Assumptions: Inspired by the Teachings of J. Krishnamurti, #5

THE STRUCTURE OF KNOWLEDGE

PARTS, LAYERS AND HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS

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A meditative exploration of how knowledge is structured into layers to create thoughts with hidden assumptions.

Inspired by the teachings of J. Krishnamurti and the philosophical clarity of David Bohm.

Written by Silent Perception.

Copyright © 2024 Silent Perception

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles, reviews, or educational commentary.

This book is an original work inspired by the life and teachings of J. Krishnamurti. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with the Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, the Krishnamurti Foundation India, or any related organisation.

All reflections, interpretations, and philosophical expressions within are those of the author. No part of this work reproduces copyrighted content from J. Krishnamurti’s official publications. Any references to his teachings are paraphrased and presented in original language, with the intent to support inquiry and personal understanding.

This digital edition is intended for educational and contemplative use only.

For related works, visit: www.silentperception.co.uk

To contact the author, email: [email protected]

First Digital Edition, December 2024

Images designed by Freepik: www.freepik.com

INTRODUCTION

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In this book we explore the creation of knowledge as the recording of sensation by perception. This leads us to understand that the knowledge we capture is a snapshot of perception. We then comprehend the acquisition of knowledge over time, making reference to the process having been taking place since we were born. This enables us to refine our understanding of knowledge, and state knowledge to be the totality of past perception.

Knowledge, recorded at an instance of time, is a snapshot of perception. We refer to the snapshot of perception, once it has been recorded into memory, as a knowledge fragment. Each knowledge fragment exists as a representation of the what one perceived. We discuss the activity of thinking as the means of organising the fragments of knowledge into a coherent whole, which we refer to as ‘the structure of knowledge’.

We explore the process of organising knowledge fragments in detail. We state that once a relationship between physical objects has been identified in perception (e.g. we see a bird with green feathers), the knowledge fragments that represent those perceptions are associated together in memory (to form an understanding that birds have green feathers). Our ability to identify relationships through perception comes from the knowledge we have already gathered and organised. This shows us that the identification of relationships produces knowledge, and our ability to identify those relationships is determined by the knowledge we have. Thus, the process of identification and knowledge acquisition is an indivisible movement: perception and knowledge are an interoperable system.

We discuss the process of identifying relationships in more detail. We state that the most significant feature of the object we are trying to identify is used to create a possible identification of the object, we then assess that possibility against all the other associations we relate to such an object. The more associations we can confirm, the greater the likelihood that what are perceiving is what we think it is.

We state that once thought has identified what it is perceiving, it is able to interpret what it is perceiving according to