Morning Motivation: The Pain and Hope of Our Circular Reality

Have you ever had a close call? Maybe it was a medical scare. Or maybe someone cut you off in traffic and almost ran you off the road. Or maybe you narrowly avoided a layoff or other work-related crisis. This cycle from being safe, to being in danger, to being safe again is one of many cycles that we see all around us every day. It is a familiar pattern throughout the material world and is often celebrated in Pagan rituals. There is a cycle of planting and harvesting. There is a cycle of days and nights. There is a cycle of the tides, the seasons, and sleeping/waking cycles. There is a cycle of the moon and the menstrual cycle. From what we can observe, nature does not deal in linear thinking. The day does not begin and end, and that's it: no more day. Nature draws in circles, and the circle of life is constantly turning like a wheel. There are a number of spiritual references to the turning of a wheel in the universe. For example, the yin/yang symbol does not just sit there as it is often seen in printed form. It is constantly turning, like the medicine wheel or the wheel of the zodiac. The Tarot cards display 22 Major Arcana, representing a cycle from the Fool (0), to the World (22), and back around to the Fool. The Buddhist eight-fold path was not linear, but turned like an eight-fold wheel. The Muslim poet Rumi described "wheeling heavens," mirroring the "Wheel of Brahman" mentioned in The Upanishads and Ezekiel’s vision of a “wheel within a wheel.” I believe this can give us hope when the wheel in our own lives turns to a point of fear, loss, or despair. We can remember that we have not reached the end of a straight line; the wheel is still turning. As the earth turns to face the sun again, we will turn back toward the light. To read other motivational and inspirational thoughts throughout the day, follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/DrDebBrown