What I will attempt to convey might be better understood with a visual reference. However, as I am pathetic with the mere drawing of stick figures and even worse with computers, you will have to do your best with these words alone.
Now back in the day, our view point was so linear that we thought the world flat with a hard edge to fall from into an unknown abyss. We have discovered of course, from common sense if not from science, that the world is round and gravity holds us on it. Further exploration of the microcosm has revealed that our cells and atoms also exist as spheres. More observation of our natural world reveals circles everywhere; our seasons, the sun and moon, our moods, trends, history, the wheels of time. The most transformative invention was the wheel and off we went into a malay of trade and urban development. We somehow took a liking to building straight lines, squares, and hard edges that contrasted if not contradicted the natural/original environment. No coincidence that we live above and outside of nature like an abnormal growth ….. but to the point.
There’s a philosophy here. Allow your vision to be 360 degrees. That straight line tunnel vision is keeping you stuck when it comes to understanding the big picture. The big picture of course is a circle, like our world or a universe. So picture this circle and place yourself smack dab in the middle of it. This is the center point. It has gravity, stability, and it’s movement is slow and minimal if at all. The circumference of the circle, or the fringe, moves very fast representing the raging storms of our life; the swirling of past and future, the collisions of so many lives, the allure and illusion of possession and identity. Our life exploded from this center point like a big bang, and will soon return to it. We are travelers, much of the time disconnected or suffering from spiritual amnesia, and spend so much of our lives drifting in the electron clouds of our cell. When we cross over the center whether by luck or magnetic draw we experience a moment or a memory of enlightenment. In yoga, we would call this samahdi or absorption.
Put this idea to work in your life. All it takes in an awareness of it. You don’t have to stop traveling, you just need to be in touch with your center. This would establish the radius of your circle. You would no longer be a random over-cooked carrot floating in the vast soup of your universe. You would be the head chef tasting your creation for flavor.
Hang in there a little longer and picture this: when outside our center we are vulnerable to the afore mentioned collisions of so many lives ripe with opinion and sway; someone else’s gravity pulling us like a black hole into oblivion. The world looks so different from out here and many angles of observation are cut off. From the center, our vantage point is 360, whole and complete. From anywhere else, it will be limited and therefore personal truth will be skewed. The further out you go, the tougher it becomes to get back. The centrifugal force begins to overwhelm the gravity of the center.
Moral of the story: Know where you come from and stay close to the home in your mind. Travel with a lifeline and an awareness of the edges of your universe. Take your straight lines and the polar opposites these lines create, and bend them with your raw strength into a circle. Connect the two ends and watch the sparks fly as the positive and negative energy unify to reveal the ultimate oneness of all things. These apparent contradictions live side by side when you see yourself as a circle.
Within the circle at least,
Stephen