All of the talk about hardgainers and atypical gainers actually brought a thought and some questions to my mind.
Long Reflection That Can Be Summed Up In the One Sentence:
At some point (late teens to early twenties), I finally observed that I had a particular pace and cycle to how I best learned information and integrated skills. There tends to be a longer period of processing at the beginning, as I internally reflect and attack the concept or activity from many different directions. This tends to make me slower at the beginning. I’m not content to simply internalize what I’ve been told. My brain wants to keep questioning it. “Squeezing the fruit”. Sniffing at it and comparing it to what I’ve seen before.
When I studied Chinese as a young man, I was not in the top of my class in the first year, but I was closer to the top in the third year. I did okay in the first year from a purely auditory standpoint. The sounds made sense and I could reproduce them accurately. But as far as integrating all of it into a coherent, competent whole, that was definitely going to be a longer process.
As a student, I almost always found that the ‘semester’ did not give me enough time to feel that I’d actually become comfortable with a subject. I joked that my brain worked by ‘Farmer Time’. I needed at least a year to get a feel for the whole cycle, Spring to Summer to Autumn to Winter and back to Spring. Then another year to start interacting with that cycle. Finally, in the third year, I was comfortable to relax with it and work with it in the easy, competent way that my peers had been doing much earlier.
I don’t tend to develop trust in an idea until I’ve driven around in it and walked around with it for a few seasons.
So, that’s my personal style.
Here’s the thing:
((Warning astrology follows))
Years later, I learned that in my birth chart, Mercury is placed in Taurus.
Mercury is the planet that embodies mental processing, processing of experiences, communication of ideas and information. It’s how we learn; how we incorporate and integrate information. And also how we teach.
When I learned about the implications of Mercury in Taurus, it fit very well with what I had observed about myself through my past experiences. (Taurus is literally the stable, stolid farmer. The bull, the elephant, the gorilla. Does things at its own pace, and tends to be deliberate and to luxuriate in process.)
I’m not always slow, but I’ve come to appreciate that this style is one common feature of my Learning and Processing orientation. What it sacrifices in speed at the beginning, it more than compensates for with enhanced solidity, nuance, and thoroughness if I can but stay with the process long enough for it to bear fruit.
Long story short: I think that the archetypes of astrology may be helpful in conceptualizing the different styles in which people respond to and integrate subliminals. This is, in the end, a variety of Learning.
It would be interesting to see how the placement (and aspects) of Mercury might correspond to our various styles of working with the programs.
And since this has ended up being so astrological, I’ll link over to the Astrology thread for anyone who wants to discuss more on that side of things.
Astrology and Healing: Limitations and Wounds - #18 by Malkuth
But as to the more general, non-astrological point:
There may be a great variety of diverse styles, processes, sequences and “Seasons” in how various individuals respond to these subliminal programs.
