the cyclical revolvings of all things

There is a contemporary saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."  There is an ancient saying attributed to a Hebrew wise man, "There is nothing new under the sun."  What these two sayings have in common is the suggestion that even though we see what is collectively designated as new, it is really a permutation of something that has already been.  What is thought to be new is an adaptation of something that has been, and what has been is a bases from which adaptations are created.  It is analogous to the Egyptian and East Indian myths of the Phoenix and the Garuda respectively.  These two birds, consume themselves in fire, then are resurrected from their ashes.  The operational theme in the above representation is the cyclic movement, from a time current bases, (from their former bird form, to an ashes form, then to a renewed form), to modifications, without a brake in the causal chain.  If we were aware of the movements of our lives, we would be also aware of its cyclic nature, but for most of us, cyclic movement is only a background, of which we pay little attention.    

We live within the great circulations of the Universe.  The Hebrew prophet, Ezekiel, described this cosmic movement as, "wheels within wheels."  We live through the cycles of our lives, even before birth we must gestae for nine months, then the life cycle: birth, growth, death, decay.  Every manifest thing has duration, and moves in step with Universal Nature's cycles: beginning, middle, and end.  Within Universal Nature's Great Wheel are numerous major and minor wheels, Our Milky Way or galactic cycle-our imagination can scarcely grasp at the enormity of its cyclic movements or duration.  Then there is the cyclic movement of our solar system within the our galaxy.  Then are the lesser movements, our planet Earth's 365 day movement around our Sun, our Earth's 24 hour rotation, and how about our satellite, the Moon's 14 day cycle around our earth-"wheels within wheels." 

All these cycles, and many, many more we know and do not know, are webbed together, and are causally linked one to another.  Nature repeats herself everywhere, and it is on her repetitive action that the laws of cycles are founded. 

Our brothers and sisters, the American Indians, have embraced the rhythms of Universal Nature's cyclical movements, and have applied them to their worldview.  Here is an expression of that worldview through the poetical creation of Nakoma in his poem, "The Circle is My Path:"

                                          "From where I came I will return.  Born from the

                                          womb of  Mother Earth and weaned from 

                                          her-I grew as the grass grows upon her lap,

                                          receiving nourishment.  I am grateful.  

                                          My roots are strong, I was given wings. I 

                                          sprang into my life cycle-I travelled in a circle

                                          with no end, as the seasons and years run one 

                                          into another since time began.  I was carried

                                          by the wind.

                                         We are all on the rim of the world and at 

                                         the center at the same time. We are all attached at the 

                                         ripples that emanate from the center-life is so.

                                         We ride the waves-the wind turns us.  We flow

                                          as the prairie grass flows and we are bound to

                                          scared land, walking our path in a sacred manner.

                                         The smoke from my pipe carries my prayers

                                         And they are answered-our Creator hears

                                        and responds with his life-giving sunlight,

                                        rains and snow, warming and cold, mild and 

                                        harsh-it is all part of the cycles of things.

                                        From the four directions we receive and give 

                                        thanks.  From his hands we have evolved-

                                        time changes us...

               

The Great Wheel moves us within its boundlessness.  It has been explained as a "circle whose circumference is everywhere, and whose central point is everywhere" or as Nakoma puts it, "We are at the rim of the world and at its center at the same time," or another description, the movement is from the Source to the Source.  Whether we aware of its movement or not, whether we like it or not, 'the circle is our path.'  It is best not to resist the movement of the Great Wheel, but to surrender, and jump on now: learn from its movement, and just roll with it. 

                                                One truth many paths.    Be good, do good.

                                                                     Louis DiVirgilio