Detailed Impressions Seldomly Connect Observed Realities Directly

The more details one knows about a certain concept, the less easy it is to connect it to other concepts that might enrich its meaning. The idea becomes like a rock, hardened and difficult to chip into a useful tool. Unless of course you have a tool that makes these connections for you.

Around the turn of the millennium I found something that did indeed evolve into such a tool, and I named it the sevensphere because it consists of seven spheres, a lot like the seven rocks the man in the image is contemplating.

Over time I found that the pattern had ingrained itself into my mind, making me think in terms of its shape when considering concepts and processes. It does lean on George Miller's 1956 paper that mentioned human short term memmemory is about 7 items, plus or minus 2. Later research suggests humans can only correctly remember 3 to 5 chunks of information, depending on the information. If not chunked, it is around 7 for digits, 6 for letters, and 5 for words.

But what if we have a structure to connect those items which is not a linear progression, but a cyclical one? The SevenSphere is such a connector, as it can be viewed in several ways:

• A concept in the center, that is further explored by the six satellites.
• A sequence of six, starting at the cyan sphere.
• A pair of trinities, a static one pointing upward, and a dynamic one pointing downward.
• Three pairs or opposites, that together define the center concept.
• Six seemingly unrelated concepts, that together clarify the center concept.