Last week, I got into a conversation with a friend about whether life is a straight line or a circle. Actually, it started as one of those how-in-the-world-did-I-wind-up-here conversations. In my view of the world, life always seemed to be a straight line--you set the course with a target in mind and you followed it. Life was about "doing what you had to do." It didn't always work out exactly as planned, but it generally followed a steady direction. I was lamenting the feeling that I had wound up in a space i really hadn't intended to go.
My friend suggested that was a distorted view of life. Life is a circle (or a series of concentric circles) and life is about "being," not "doing." By seeing life as a circle, we focus on being and growth takes place when we enlarge the circle or move to an ever larger circle.
As usual, I took this out onto a tangent, which is often where I prefer to be in a discussion like this. I remember in geometry that we were introduced to the process of making a curve by using a series of straight lines, adjusted only slightly by moving the ends of the line a tiny speck along two axes. We did it by drawing a right angle (two axes, at a 90 degree angle), then marking off a series of points along each axis a small uniform distance apart. Then, we would draw a line connecting the point farthest out on one axis (call it the X axis) to the point closest in on the other (Y-axis (i.e., the point closest to the intersection of the two axes). Next, we drew lines connecting the next pair of points, gradually reaching the point where the last line now connected the closest point on the first axis (the X) to the farthest point on the other (the Y). The result was a curve formed by the points where these lines came closest to touching each other. It was a curve, constructed entirely of straight lines. Now, there is a description of life, not as a purely straight line, but a curve formed by small adjustments in a whole series of straight lines. A metaphor for all the adjustments we make in revising our goals in life.
But, I still felt drawn to the notion of life as "being," not just "doing." Geometry also provides an idea for the way that lines become circles. Theoretically, a line with a starting point and no end point becomes a circle, doesn't it? It stretches around the earth and meets up with the beginning point and becomes one big circle. I can relate to winding up back where I started on any number of tasks or projects, believe me. But how is this "being?" And how do you expand the circle or move from one band between concentric circles to another? I can see adjusting the curvature of the circle by something you do or learn, but then it isn't a circle anymore.
I know life often seems as if we are going around in circles. We wind up back in the same place we started, or faced with the same choices over and over again. But sometimes when we face the same choices we break the cycle by making a choice that reflects a lesson learned, probably by reflection on past choices that were similar. I think a new geometric model we hadn't considered when we had our conversation last week might work. Life can be a spiral--one where we adjust the curvature of what seemed like a circle by something learned, or a choice modified. Thus it becomes a spiral, the spiral passes what appears to be the same place when similar situations recur in life, but they are slightly different. The 'you' facing this situation is different, certainly--the "you" this time around has the experience and learning acquired when you made this choice last time. The model even accommodates the ups and downs of life--spiraling upwards and downwards? I am starting to like this one. But it is football season, and I can't help but think about a nice tight spiral on a perfect pass or a wobbly spiral on an errant one. What can I make of that? I don't know, why don't you just go long, and I'll see if I can throw it that far?
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