Recently I suddently recalled that Terence Wade, who authored what I (and many others) consider the best reference grammar of Russian entitled A Comprehensive Russian Grammar, also authored a less known but no less important reference for learners of Russian entitled Using Russian Vocabulary. I spent the past several weeks using this book, not to build but to check my Russian vocabulary. Our brain, or at least mine, isn't built for memorizing new words a priori from such a word list however excellent it is as this one.
I wasn't surprised to discover that my Russian vocabulary not only has much room for further enlargment but also is unevenly distributed. Every time I studied a new language, I always felt it easy to remember abstract concepts and difficult to remember concrete objects. Having checked my active Russian vocabulary using this book, I've seen clearly this uneven distribution of Russian words I've learned a posteriori through reading and listening.
This had always been an enigma for me, but this time I've understood why I've always been able to remember abstract concepts, especially in humanities, much more easily than concrete objects. I must always have felt intuitively that the universe is one single whole and it's only us humans who divide it into smaller parts and label them. Now I'm finally aware of this. I simply don't care how certain animals and plants, for example, are called generically. I care even less how specific pets are named privately.
A few years ago I started spending the last one hour before the end of Sabbath during the summer time, secluding myself in nature and contemplating with no language. I simply listen to the stillness of nature without labeling any concrete objects and verbalizing any abstract concepts in my mind.
Through my study of Hasidic masters and other non-Jewish mystics in both wriring and speech I've gradually come to experience one fundamental difference in the way abstract concepts are used by them and others. When I read books by those who (over)use abstract concepts without basing their use on direct experiences, their words sound dead to me and even repel me. But on the other hand, when some mystics use abstract concepts based on their direct spiritual experiences, their words sound fully alive to me and deeply penetrate my soul.