Heroes Not Zombies

There’s something deeply pleasing about a circle as a symbol and maybe that partly explains why this wheel looks so beautiful. After all it’s a pretty old, and probably no longer very useful wheel. I mean, what would you fit it to? Originally someone made this wheel for a purpose, but that purpose has long since gone.

When I look at it now I think two lines of thought. One is the circular nature of time. We’re ruled by a very linear concept of time these days, with deadlines, targets, an idea that the past is gone and lies behind us while the future lies waiting somewhere down the road ahead. But Nature is better understood by seasons and cycles, phases of birth, new life, growth, maturity, decay and death, giving rise to new life again. Cycles of atoms and energy through rocks, plants, animals, the atmosphere. And the present moment is not an isolated point on a line but a lived experience emerging from all that’s gone before within the multiplicity of possible futures.

The other thought is how much we are stuck in a system dedicated to utility and “efficiency” when beauty, wonder, awe, love, joy and creativity are much deeper, much more satisfying, values. I wonder if we’ll be able to break free from the cycle of utility and control, and create a more satisfying way of life which gives precedence to relationships, uniqueness, diversity, beauty and awe?

I think I’d like that.