sometimes understanding comes to us suddenly. one moment, we're scratching our heads and blinking in bewilderment at a baffling proposition. the next, a little light bulb goes on in the back of our brain. eureka! and all is clear to us. most often though, our journey towards 'enlightenment' is slow. we follow a winding road towards revelation. sometimes, the bends on the road to wisdom are so sharp that they cause us to double back on ourselves.. giving us a false impression of lack of progress. we start to figure out that we're really getting nowhere just when we're on the threshold of discovering that we have gone somewhere quite spectacular!