Writings: Tangents

Everything with a beginning must have an end. And since we live in a reality bound by the dimension of time, all that we know of this world must decay and die including ourselves. This might seem terribly depressing if all the world was made of things we cherish and wish to keep for eternity, but thankfully there are probably many things in life that each of us wouldn't mind putting to rest indefinitely. So in this way, the universe is fair.

But if all things must end, then there can be no absolutes because nothing can exist absolutely if it ends. Therefore, if we are big-picture people and the big picture is that everything perishes this again begins to seem terribly depressing. All your work, all your love...what is the point if the end goal is literally The End. How does this jive with the zeitgeist of the modern world and its exaltation of scientific progress, capitalistic gain, true love stories, spiritual salvation, and countless other happily-ever-afters?

To avoid existential crisis, I propose this linear view of reality cannot be true. If everything with a beginning must have an end, then perhaps it follows that things with no beginning have no end. There are only two things that I know of that lack a beginning: 1) God and 2) Circles. I will focus on circles, although both things may turn out to be one in the same.

Circles are absolute, infinite, immortal. And if you think about it, Nature is comprised of many circles: think the shape of planetary bodies, and, more abstractly, the cycles of Nature, such as the seasons, the phases of the moon, the circle of life, etc. Each segment of a cycle may seem to be progressing linearly, for example, summer progresses to fall progresses to winter and so on, but overall the cycle never ends and repeats its segments over and over again.

So if the big-picture view of reality is a circle, then perhaps we are just tangents on this circle. Our reality seems linear because we are just one tiny segment on geometry too profound to fathom with human minds. All things are interconnected in a circle, and, unlike its geometric counterpart the line, it does not strive towards mathematical infinity. Rather its mystery is contained entirely within the circumference of its soul, and all the circle strives to do is to exist as a circle and that seems like a beautiful thing indeed.