the tree of thought

last semester, we did a project with english teachers at berkeley high and one of the teachers told us about research that showed that an individual needed (on average, i suppose) seven different meetings with a word to be able to incorporate it into his/her vocabulary.

although i haven't counted to verify this for myself, this is perhaps true also for new ideas that come our way. sometimes, in our life's meanderings, we must meet an idea several times before it finally becomes a part of us, of our lives.

perhaps the moments we think are idle are not really so. like a tree, perhaps, the seed is first sown. and gradually, the leaves come out, the tree bears fruit. as we walk past a tree we think it is idle, don't we? but it isn't - it's really growing, just not at an immediately discernible pace. perhaps our sparks of insight are just the same. perhaps like the tree these too are growing? and perhaps we only take note of them when the first leaf comes out, when the first fruit begins to grow, until it finally ripens. that spark has then matured into an understanding that is then subsumed by the soul.