Understanding (Megami Tensei)

==Summary==
The phenomenon of Understanding, also referred to as Observation or Cognition, refers to the a special ability inherent to the human race in Megami Tensei, which allows the masses to influence, shape and command reality itself based on their collective thoughts and beliefs, controlling the underlying informational backdrop of all existence, which is identical in substance to human thought, and thus able to be influenced by it. Although the power itself is exclusive to humans, certain powerful entities are capable of taking advantage of it as well, manipulating the souls and minds of humans in order to actualize various effects upon reality, some of which are listed below.
Resistance to the effects of this phenomenon usually requires one to either be a God, or a Persona user with a powerful will to rebel against others' desire to control them, or an entity of sufficiently high caliber that resides in realms which human understanding has difficulty reaching.
==Uses==
These abilities are acquired by possessing Cognition:
* Reality Warping, Subjective Reality, Creation, Space-Time Manipulation, Quantum Manipulation, Void Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Perception Manipulation, Soul Manipulation, Information Manipulation, Data Manipulation, and Conceptual Manipulation: The manipulation of Cognition is the manipulation of the fabric of the Collective Unconscious, a planePERSONA 3 CLUB BOOK: WORLD GUIDE Q&A of quantumQuantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, Vol. 5 formless information and void,Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse homogenousPersona 4 to the mind andPersona 4 ArenaPersona 2: Innocent Sin soulsPersona 1 Interview across the multiverse, which shapesPersona 5 Royal and is the fulcrum of the series at large,Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse Interview in which there are an infinite amountShin Megami Tensei – Yousuke Niino Interview (1992) of ways toInterview: Behind the Scenes of Shin Megami Tensei perceive it.
* Memory Manipulation: The universal reset in Persona 2 erased the memories of the cast.Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
* Empathic Manipulation: The Akashic Records, made from Cognition,Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth are able to influence the minds of others.
* Non-Physical Interaction: As shown with prior examples, Cognition is capable of interacting with souls, abstract thoughts, minds, reality, and the nothingness of the. void
* Pocket Reality Manipulation: Palaces are alternative realities created by those with distorted desires, mirroring the real world.
* Probability Manipulation: Shadow Nejima was able to manipulate the probability of him getting struck by any attack, and reducing that chance to zero.
* Transmutation: Masayoshi Shido freely manipulates the form of his human sacrifices, turning invaders into mice due to perceiving them in such a way. Furthermore, the beliefs of humans are also capable of fundamentally changing the nature of certain entities and shifting them into degraded versions of themselves, examples of which are Baal being retroactively turnedShin Megami Tensei IV into Beelzebub and Abraxas becoming a mere fallen angel after having once been the Supreme God of Gnosticism.Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE
* Matter Manipulation: As shown with Palace Rulers, who through their distorted cognitions believing something to be something else, turned those things into what they saw them as. For example, Suguru Kamoshida perceiving the school gym was a holy ground in which he was to be praised as a god, which caused his Palace to turn that gym into a cathedral in which he was worshipped. 
* BFR: As shown when the Phantom Thieves were expelled from the depths of Mementos due to the cries of the masses desiring them to get away from the Holy Grail, and on a smaller scale, whenever Futaba changes cognition in favor of the Phantom Thieves using her Position Hack ability.
* Law Manipulation: As shown with Sae Niijima during her boss fight, where she enforces rules upon combat that would severely punish those who break them. In his boss fight, Maruki manipulates reality to prevent the use of specific abilities. This was also made use of by Mikuratana-no-Kami in Persona 4: Dancing All Night, where the Midnight Stage was created with a rule where no violence can be performed.Persona 4: Dancing All Night
* Time Manipulation: SEES’ collective refusal to move on after Makoto’s death caused time to stop, and for connected areas of the real world to cycle through a time loop.Persona 3 FES
* Fate Manipulation: Nyarlathotep manipulated fatePersona 2: Eternal Punishment Tatsuya's Scenario on multiple occasions against the Persona 2 cast. 
* Biological Manipulation: As seen with an inexperienced Takuto Maruki, who used his Actualization to change the biology of his ex-girlfriend Rumi as part of ridding her of her trauma, to explain her presence in the hospital as a routine check-up for a minor disease she was born with, as opposed to her being there to be supervised for her PTSD after the bloody deaths of her parents.
* Accelerated Development: As shown with Jose, who can manipulate Mementos through striking pressure points to amplify the growth of the Phantom Thieves when fighting inside of it.
* Existence Erasure: The removal of anything from the cognition of the masses will result in the erasure of their existence. As it is the "idea" of their existence that is removed, so too is their concept erased, and depending on the specifics of the masses' cognitions, such as actualizing the cognition of "(this target) never existed", the erasure can also affect the history of the erased target; removing them across time.
* Fusionism and Absorption: As shown with Takuto Maruki, who after inheriting the power granted by the deification of the masses from the Phantom Thieves, became capable of fusing the Metaverse and Reality together in the same way that Yaldabaoth did.
* Power Nullification: As shown with Takuto Maruki during his boss fight, an application of Law Manipulation where he prevents the use of specific abilities by manipulating cognition.
* Sealing: As shown with Yaldabaoth, who sealed away the Palace Rulers within their own Palaces, after their distortions had grown too strong for Mementos to house them. Yaldabaoth was also capable of sealing Igor and immaterializing him within the Velvet Room while taking his place. Maki Sonomura was also capablePersona 1 of sealing Pandora to contain her power.
* Precognition, Cosmic Awareness, Information Analysis, and Clairvoyance: With the Akashic Records, Rago is able to analyze his opponents, directly drawing information from the Akashic Records. Enlil was able to observe the memories, thoughts, and events of the Collective Unconsciousness.
* Resurrection: As shown with Takuto Maruki in the Third Semester of Persona 5 Royal, where he brings Kunikazu Okumura and Wakaba Isshiki back to life due to Actualizing the wishes of Haru and Futaba respectively.
* Causality Manipulation: As shown with Takuto Maruki, who can change the course of history such that certain events happened, never happened, or happened differently, in order to suit the cognition he wishes to Actualize; such as making it so that Wakaba Isshiki had never been killed by Goro Akechi. Nyarlathotep, after causing the writings of "In Lak'ech" to become real, also overwrote past events such that Adolf Hitler had never died and instead escaped to the South Pole, giving rise to a previously fictional group of Nazi sympathizers (known as the Last Battalion) that had spent years building up their forces for a final bid at world domination.
* Quantum Manipulation: Users are able to manipulation the quantum nothingness of the unconscious world.
* Power Bestowal: Through the masses, the collective belief in the existence of these Gods are what allows them to live endlessly. Nyarlathotep granted all of Sumaru City the power to actualize their Cognition. 
* Immortality Negation (Types 1, 2, 4, 8, and 9), and Acausality Negation: (Types 1, and 4): Just as they are able to grant powers to these Gods, the collective disbelief of these Gods can strip of them or their immortality and acausality.
* Resistance Negation: As shown with Mementos, which actualizes effects upon the Shadows within it based on the masses' cognitions. Snowy weather conditions can inflict Freeze on Shadows that are normally immune to being frozen, such as Jack Frost, who is made of snow and inherently immune to ice-based attacks.
==Types==
===Type 1: Small Scale===
As the name implies, this level is only regulated to one mind. It involves acts such as the creation of new space-times, manipulation of matter, establishing metaphysical laws that must be obeyed by all beings within a given reality, and so on.
===Type 2: Large Scale===
At its largest scale, this level of Cognition has applications such as erasing someone on an informational level, manipulating all of reality to a whim, and altering events in history.
==References==
Category:Verse-specific Powers and Abilities
Category:Megami Tensei
Category:Persona