I never quite understood the point of Zettelkasten until I saw this video—Implementing a Digital Zettelkasten using Block References in Roam Research with Beau Haan.
The purpose of Zettelkasten is to allow you to have a clear, informed, and personal conversation, not to organize or summarize what you’ve read. It’s all about developing your own set of wisdom that you can convey in a way that people will believe.
Your fleeting thoughts (fleeting note) are like gas that you need to condense into a liquid (literature note), using the reference source as a container (reference note), so that you can solidify that knowledge (permanent note).
In essence, Zettelkasten involves crystallizing your thought process, being able to trace back how you arrived at your conclusion, and contextualizing it with your other relevant ideas (relevant notes).
Now I understand why and how I should use this system to create my own personal knowledge management system and to assist me in the future in creating and sharing clear, informed, and personal content.