WHAT MUST BE KNOWN BEFORE ONE CAN UNDERSTAND

What Must Be Known Before One Can Understand ~ 158 ~ half, then one can be told the rest of the story; but if one does not have half of it in one’s mind beforehand, then how can one grasp the whole picture? However reasonable a thing may be, and however well substantiated, if one does not have some prior knowledge of it, it will remain beyond one’s comprehension. If one says to someone, “So-and-so batsman scored a century,” he will immediately understand that what is meant by a century is a hundred runs in cricket. But if one says, “A century of hard struggle is needed for the development of a nation,” no one will truly understand; for no one can know what it is to devote oneself individually to constructive work for so long a period.