strings: Krishnamurti: What do we mean by 'intellectually' ? When we say that we understand something intellectually, what do we mean by that? Is there such a thing as intellectual understanding? Or is it that the mind merely understahds the words, because that is our only way of communicating with each other? Can we, however, really understand anything merely verbally, mentally? That is the first thing we have to be clear about: whether so-called intellectual understanding is not an impediment to understanding. Surely understanding is integral, not divided, not partial? Either I understand something or I don't. To say to oneself, 6 ' | understand something intellectually", is surely a barrier to understanding. It. is a partial process and therefore no understanding at all.