Read it seven times

                              9 September 1985
                                Z-NEWS 302

WOW! again: Foot put into mouth! Suggesting (in Z-News 209, pg 2, first line) that everyone read material seven (7) times, without simultaneously giving full explanation of why, has been big stumbling block for many. So we deliver details to remove those (mental) blocks; remember, read through explanation (and everything else) seven times:

Readings 1 and 2. Skim material twice, quite rapidly. Use your finger to help your eyes play over words, lines, and paragraphs. Key words and phrases, ideas, and concepts begin to take from. You gain a feeling of the thought-flow, a framework making next step more powerful.

Reading 3. Read material now from beginning, much more slowly and care- fully. Pause to re-read and ponder new ideas and deep thoughts. Use dictionary for unfamiliar words.

Readings 4 and 5. Skim over material twice again, but not quite so rapidly as first two times. Let key concepts sink in even deeper. This is a more leisurely skim. Pause at any word looked up in dictionary and make sure you know both basic meaning of word, and its meaning in present context. Sometimes the thought expressed by a particular word or phrase is so new that it's difficult to grasp at once, even with dictionary help! Do not worry at this point. Future readings add clarity.

Reading 6. Now, read material from beginning again with extreme care. Now is the time to really pause, to ponder, to digest, to impress deeply. Try to obtain essential, inner feeling of messages, even though you may not under- stand them fully or grasp completely at this stage. Try at this point to read material aloud!

Reading 7. It's a slow skim. Somewhere between your leisurely skim and your first careful reading, #3. It is time to enjoy, to bathe yourself in new insights and viewpoints opening up to you…new understanding comes (in next octave)!

There you have it–we do our best to explain. Never think that learning something new, really new, comes quickly or easily. GREAT EFFORT IS INVOLVED! But keep reading even if you think you don't understand–what comes later (down the lines) explains what came before, following natural back-and-fill (smoothing) concept.

Z-News 302 is Copyright 1985 Echelon, Inc. [Now out of business.] All Rights Reserved. Permission to reprint, wholly or partially, automatically granted if source credit is given to Echelon.