Circles or spirals? — life's curious repetitions

© 2019 Peter Free

 

17 August 2019

 

 

Are life's bookend repetitions circles or spirals?

 

The first implies no progress.

 

The second, perhaps, some.

 

 

An example

 

When I was 16, we lived in single floor Maryland house with a high entryway window. It looked out onto the branches of a Japanese maple tree. When I was home, I continually noticed the light and leaves change. Throughout days and seasons.

 

Fifty-seven years later, I am in a California house. It, too, has a ceiling high entry room window that looks out onto a Japanese maple. Facing geographically oppositely to the one of my youth, its light patterns reverse slant. Other than that, sensations generated are the same.

 

The former home was pained by a rough youth. That emotional tinge repeats now, evidently prompted by identicality of the window scenes. And probably similarly generated by the urban closeness, which I have always detested, of both environments.

 

 

The moral? — Sometimes self-aware attention is not enough to soar

 

Circles, not spirals, tend to trap us.

 

Bitter-sweet.

 

As most of aging is.