The notion of things-circular as the ideal has been known in European cultures since at least Plato. In the Americas, some traditions believed that the whole of the universe could be known by understanding the circularity of the world.
Like most of us, I first became aware of the circularity of days, then of the seasons. Later in peoples' moods, then in the broad sweep of history, and, naturally, in endless cycles of rebirth of life from death. The forest and savanna are classrooms.
I.
The lopsided continually balances;
the balanced continually skews.
The universe moves in chaotic cycles.
When we consider the seasons spanning
solstice to solstice; defeats and victories,
good and evil, darkness and delivery,
the whirl of moods---
we witness the circularity,
and life's rebirth from Its source.
II.
Duality's myths are seen
within the shifting contrasts wrought
by complex cyclings of chaos:
life's dynamic beauty breathes these realities,
events understood
within their reference-frames.
When we appreciate
this sunlight and shadow,
insights become their own beacons.
