Kenning "Grok"

A variant meaning of the term kenning derives from an older Anglo-Saxon verb for “knowing” or “recognizing,” ken. Various definitions associate this kind of kenning with sight and seeing, which dovetails curiously with the poetic device and its use of imagery (as well as the powerful use of vision in ancient memory arts). In this light, this blog – an experiment with latter-day kennings – also becomes a verb: an exploration of knowing, particularly through multimedia experiences.

That said, it seems a bright idea to help curious readers ken my more obscure references, such as the term “grokking” in the heading of my last post. For those of you unfamiliar with Robert Heinlein’s science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) “grok” is a verb invented by Heinlein and later popularized among SF fans and neopagans. It’s a useful description for a depth of understanding and communication that transcends language, and it’s one of the more useful slang terms you’ll ever come across.

In brief, “to grok” is to understand something so completely that one internalizes its meaning.

In Heinlein’s novel, grok literally means “to drink.” Because the word comes from a culture where water is so scarce that it assumes religious significance, this kind of drinking carries with it huge metaphorical associations. To drink water with another is to share life with another; sharing water is to share existence as well as sustenance. Grokking, then, is itself a metaphor for sharing meaning on so profound a level that the meaning shared (like water consumed) becomes part of each drinker.

Let’s take this from another angle. Imagine that we’re watching a particularly spectacular sunset over the waters of the Mississippi River. You say to me, “What a spectacular sunset!” I might reply: “I hear you,” which suggests that I’ve heard your opinion (without necessarily agreeing with it). I might say “I understand,” which implies that I have some concept of how and why you find this sunset so spectacular. I might reply, “I know,” which hints that I concur with your view. But if I were to say, “I grok,” what would that mean?

It would mean that – in a gesture bordering on faith – I have not only heard and understood your view, I share it to the point where I have effectively made it my own. I’ve internalized your statement, the moment, the sunset itself, and the memory that all of these have made. Insofar as it’s humanly possible, I’ve tried to make what you see my own – and, by reflecting your view, made my view yours. We have shared understanding, just as one might share a drink of water. One cannot grok without sharing.

What distinguishes grokking from other forms of understanding and knowing, I think, is the extent to which it must be shared – to grok, one must partake of a shared experience. And if we may return to kennings for a moment, the kind of knowing suggesting by the ancient words “ken” and “kenning” also involves a shared experience – a shared vision, story, or experience, whether or not that shared experience is actually present. The neologism “grok” meets the ancient logic of kenning through the sharing of experience.

This, too, is one of the guiding principles behind this blog, and I devoutly hope that if you’re reading this, you feel invited to respond and participate in a digital conversation, this digital experience of explored meaning. I see the internet in general, and blogs in particular, as an exceptional opportunity for strangers (and friends) to share their perspectives and ideas through a new and unfamiliar language of experience – a language, by the way, that increasingly shapes the world we live in.

Do you grok?