I think understanding is the way to gain perspective - and therefore can live among those hideous realities. You can live with them.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Our understanding is correlative to our perception.
Understanding does not cure evil, but it is a definite help, inasmuch as one can cope with a comprehensible darkness.
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.
I believe that if you can discover something of the truth of a person, then you will start to understand, and to understand is to move towards, if not like, then at least an empathy of some kind.
I don't think you have to have experienced things to understand them.
Now the truth of the matter is that there are a lot of things people don't understand. Take the Einstein theory. Take taxes. Take love. Do you understand them? Neither do I. But they exist. They happen.
You don't understand anything until you learn it more than one way.
You have to see and smell and feel the circumstances of people to really understand them.
Ultimately, it's an illusion that you can understand yourself.
Understanding is a three-edged sword. Your side, my side, and the truth.