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Gestalt Psychology, developed in the first half of the 20th century, was devoted to this concept- "The whole precedes the parts." We want to believe that we can contruct a picture of the world, but neurologically, this is not how our brains are wired. We are wired to see patterns and then fits the pieces we observe later into the patterns we carry with us all the time. Thus, the whole precedes the parts, we see what we have always seen. Real change, therefore, comes not from seeing some new fact. It comes from accepting a new whole, a new pattern. No one ever convinces someone else of something with one new fact. But we can learn, we can accept new things. It is just very hard.
