Elements | What is an Insight? | EP. 1 Insight (CWL 3)

Ever had a fact refuse to land, then one image and one why flips the lights on? This episode makes that flip, insight, visible and repeatable. We stage Lonergan’s classic circle example, define insight precisely, show how questions, images, and concepts cooperate, and place insight inside the three levels of knowing so you can teach it, apply it, and judge it responsibly.

What you’ll learn
1. How to stage a dramatic instance that actually causes an insight.
2. Why image is often necessary for insight—and when it misleads
3. The pure question (the desire to understand) that drives inquiry
4. Nominal vs. explanatory definitions (and how to write the because-statement)
5. The three levels: data/images → questions/insight/concepts → reflection/judgment
6. Inverse insight (when the right move is to correct the question)
7. Three drills to train attention from image → insight → concept → judgment

Chapters / Timestamps
00:00 — Intro / Title card
00:09 — Hook: one image + one question flips the lights on
01:26 — How this series uses Lonergan’s Insight
01:40 — What this episode delivers (and why it matters)
01:54 — Outcomes: five skills you’ll leave with
02:32 — Dramatic instance: the perfect circle (center • radii • curve)
04:06 — From reciting to **grasp**; why the image is necessary
05:22 — Elements named: image • question • insight • formulation
06:18 — Insight as the *pivot* from images/questions to concepts
06:58 — The **pure question**: desire to understand before words
08:20 — Examples of the pure question (when wonder wakes up)
09:05 — Workflow: experience → question → insight → formulation → “Is it so?”
09:56 — Four moments of a definition: Awakening • Hint • Process • Achievement
11:28 — *Nominal* vs *explanatory* definitions (the because-statement)
12:58 — Three levels of knowing: data/images • insight/concepts • judgment
14:42 — Second instance: integers & the meaning of “etc., etc.”
15:36 — After the pattern: why judgment still matters
16:10 — **Inverse insight**: denying an expected intelligibility
17:28 — Everyday & scientific examples of inverse insight
18:20 — Images: when they help, when they mislead (keep the order straight)
19:28 — *Drill A:* the Image Constraint (write the because-statement)
20:24 — *Drill B:* the Four Moments journal (aim your next question)
21:10 — Five takeaways for practice this week
21:58 — Preview Episode 2: heuristic structures (empirical method)
22:30 — CTA: subscribe, bell, and share your Drill B notes
23:26 — End screen / credits

Key takeaways
• Insight = grasp of a relevant connection, not a picture or a sentence.
• The pure question drives inquiry; images often supply the needed constraints.
• Prefer explanatory definitions that state what must be so in the object.
• Knowing culminates in judgment: we conceive to judge whether it’s so.
• Sometimes the right move is inverse insight—correct the question.

Try the drills
A) Image Constraint: “The insight here is the grasp that because X, necessarily Y.”
B) Four Moments: Awakening → Hint → Process → Achievement.

Post yours in the comments.

Playlists to continue
1. Insight (CWL 3)
2. Method in Theology (CWL 14)
3. Meaning & Formation

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How do we recover meaning in a fragmented world?
Short reflections on consciousness, conversion, and responsibility.

Read the full essays at Mediated by Meaning: https://mediatedbymeaning.substack.com

#meaning #philosophy #faith #psychology #jordanpeterson #catholic #lonergan #selfunderstanding