We circle-danced at our wedding. Love a good circle. And yet... this also reminds me of a contrarian Chesterton quote:
“As we have taken the circle as a symbol of reason and madness, we may very well take the cross as a symbol at once of mystery and health. Buddhism is centripetal, but Christianity is centrifugal: it breaks out. For the circle is perfect and infinite in its nature; but it is fixed for ever in its size; it can never be larger or smaller. But the cross, though it has at its head a collision and a contradiction, can extend its four arms for ever without altering its shape. Because is has a paradox in its center it can grow without changing. The circle returns upon itself and is bound. The cross opens its arms to the four winds; it is a signpost for free travelers.”
A better way to think about a “closed” circle, and an excellent image, IMO, for the centrifugal nature of Christianity is the spiral with a stationary center. It’s not a perfect circle, but it can expand infinitely, sublating more and more into itself.
Ah, I have resented the proliferation of round-a-bouts in my area recently - until now! The are circles where we at least drive our rectangular cars in a counter-clockwise direction!
I love it, and indeed we need more curves and circles in our lives. The community choir I work with (The Family Folk Machine) rehearses in a great big arc now, because so many people want to sing! and we do look like we're having a lot of fun. I'm intrigued by the idea of ring dances and circle dances as community building opportunities. We have a lot of community sings here, and the ones I have attended have all spontaneously ended up in big semi-circles. People may find straight lines reassuring, but when they are in a right-brain space, they gravitate into circles.
Interesting piece. I will add Greek dances to your collection here. They are all circular, all counter-clockwise, and still taught and practiced--especially at summer festivals.
Yup! addin' more--so I have a dear friend who is Orthodox (but UNOrthodox Orthodox with a full hedda hair an' she dresses "boho"...) an' one evenin' a few years ago (prior to "covidcon") she invited me & my youngest daughter (who is close friends with her own daughter) to an Orthodox RAVE on the UWS at her shul. Started mebbe 9pm? ALL CIRCLE DANCES! We did clockwise an' counter-clockwise an' "svitched directions" frequently--such a blast! Sometimes concentric circles were made! Sometimes we made a snake like pass thru one ta form a bigger one... Zo fun! I just followed our friends!
I grew up doin' the hora at every weddin'/bar/bas mitzvah but a RAVE? It was completely NOT on my chewish radar, this eggzisted?!
Littles (kids), mamas, papas, some gran'parents too! an' a LOT of young "ready ta court" 20-sumthin's or nearly so. It was hip even tho' the dressin' was modest-chic. I think some boys had flasks tho lol! The klezmer-like band just ROCKED--some riffs on old tunes I recognized a rockin' Tumbalilaika?!--but it was SO dang fun, us all schvitzin' but not wantin' ta stop. (Bottle water was freely distributed!)
So far far beyond the Hora there are all these other jooish circle dances! (who knew?) but the young'uns knew all the schteps, when to kick, when to grapevine, when ta clap, when ta go forward & back--an' everyone "raved" together. L'chaim! I was gobsmacked!
We left NYShitty when it all turned inta a burnin' dumpster an' now live in what I call the "land with no gefilte aisle in the grocery" but THAT rave was sumthin' I'd do again (an' again!) if I could--never thought I'd be glad ta see hundreds runnin' circles around me! (never thought I'd be so inspire ta keep up!)
Interesting. While my world is not linear (I live remotely), there are only two places where I have seen the curvature of the Earth. One place was in the Tigray region of Eritrea; the other is when I am standing in the middle of the Black Rock Desert (Nevada). Nice writing - loved your assessment of the Musk vehicle.
Lots of good ideas here. Only I can't grok your attempt to explain why counterclockwise (widdershins) circling is favored. Actually, dancing in a widdershins circle means starting with a step to the right.
I first encountered circle dances in a college folk dance class, mostly from the Balkans, and indeed they almost always circle widdershins. Many years later, I saw a 4000-year old sculpture in a museum in Crete, depicting dancers circling with the exact same hand-holding pattern we were taught. That's cultural continuity!
While we're at it, why are racetrack ovals always followed counterclockwise, as well?
While straight-line thinking may be emphazised to a fault in some portions I don't feel like that's pervasive throughout most of our society. The far bigger issue is that so many Americans have abandoned rationality.
Lines are all we build, lines and boxes. It hurts my brain to think in circles. But that's where the growth is. The magic is a day without the shortest line between points, but finding new patterns, new links between all the points.
Very interesting concept! However, I would suggest the "health" of a culture is largely subjective here. Those same societies that held these circle dances also were incredibly brutal and violent and constantly warred against their neighboring tribes and peoples. In fact, I would almost see this argument, this comparison of the old "circle dance" in contrast to the "linear" modern world as nothing more than another example of the "noble savage" argument. I think you like the idea of everything being "communal" without recognizing the downside (yes, I know "downside" isn't circular, but that's important here): "communal" requires not an "opposite" like the Tao suggests, but an "other", and that "other", regardless of the circle, is always your enemy and must be destroyed. History has played that out in every region of the world, among all ethnicities. It still plays out to this very day, outside of the Western "linear" world, in areas where circle dances would be and likely are still practiced widely. Would you likewise suggest that is "healthy"?
Interesting. Obviously the circle pit is a staple at punk and metal shows, but it never hit me until reading this article that it (almost?) always moves counter-clockwise (see e.g. https://youtu.be/ehIXgbxX6vk?si=T4XIDk_ocighEOlb)
Came here to say this. My son has a punk/thrash/metal band (shout out Red40 Santa Cruz!) and the circle pit that emerges at every one of their show's I've seen has been counterclockwise...
Ted, quite interesting! BTW, at Jewish weddings, the Hora is usually done as a circle dance. BTW, does reading right-to left activate one's left brain?
The "Christ Dance" which Jesus is described as dancing with his disciples in the upper room in the the apocryphal Acts of John is likewise a circle dance.
"That’s the closest thing to a coffin you can find on wheels."
Amazing . That is exactly what it is like. I will forever see one as that now ...
Even raccoons try to break into this vehicle thinking it is a dumpster. It is just an odd and ugly design.
In one 👌🏼and I don’t only find it ugly I find it threatening. It is monstrous.
We circle-danced at our wedding. Love a good circle. And yet... this also reminds me of a contrarian Chesterton quote:
“As we have taken the circle as a symbol of reason and madness, we may very well take the cross as a symbol at once of mystery and health. Buddhism is centripetal, but Christianity is centrifugal: it breaks out. For the circle is perfect and infinite in its nature; but it is fixed for ever in its size; it can never be larger or smaller. But the cross, though it has at its head a collision and a contradiction, can extend its four arms for ever without altering its shape. Because is has a paradox in its center it can grow without changing. The circle returns upon itself and is bound. The cross opens its arms to the four winds; it is a signpost for free travelers.”
A better way to think about a “closed” circle, and an excellent image, IMO, for the centrifugal nature of Christianity is the spiral with a stationary center. It’s not a perfect circle, but it can expand infinitely, sublating more and more into itself.
A good source for doing these kinds of dances: https://folkdancefootnotes.org/
Ah, I have resented the proliferation of round-a-bouts in my area recently - until now! The are circles where we at least drive our rectangular cars in a counter-clockwise direction!
I love it, and indeed we need more curves and circles in our lives. The community choir I work with (The Family Folk Machine) rehearses in a great big arc now, because so many people want to sing! and we do look like we're having a lot of fun. I'm intrigued by the idea of ring dances and circle dances as community building opportunities. We have a lot of community sings here, and the ones I have attended have all spontaneously ended up in big semi-circles. People may find straight lines reassuring, but when they are in a right-brain space, they gravitate into circles.
Interesting piece. I will add Greek dances to your collection here. They are all circular, all counter-clockwise, and still taught and practiced--especially at summer festivals.
At Jewish weddings the big dance is the Horah, a big circle sometimes of most of the guests holding hands and then smaller concentric circles inside.
Yup! addin' more--so I have a dear friend who is Orthodox (but UNOrthodox Orthodox with a full hedda hair an' she dresses "boho"...) an' one evenin' a few years ago (prior to "covidcon") she invited me & my youngest daughter (who is close friends with her own daughter) to an Orthodox RAVE on the UWS at her shul. Started mebbe 9pm? ALL CIRCLE DANCES! We did clockwise an' counter-clockwise an' "svitched directions" frequently--such a blast! Sometimes concentric circles were made! Sometimes we made a snake like pass thru one ta form a bigger one... Zo fun! I just followed our friends!
I grew up doin' the hora at every weddin'/bar/bas mitzvah but a RAVE? It was completely NOT on my chewish radar, this eggzisted?!
Littles (kids), mamas, papas, some gran'parents too! an' a LOT of young "ready ta court" 20-sumthin's or nearly so. It was hip even tho' the dressin' was modest-chic. I think some boys had flasks tho lol! The klezmer-like band just ROCKED--some riffs on old tunes I recognized a rockin' Tumbalilaika?!--but it was SO dang fun, us all schvitzin' but not wantin' ta stop. (Bottle water was freely distributed!)
So far far beyond the Hora there are all these other jooish circle dances! (who knew?) but the young'uns knew all the schteps, when to kick, when to grapevine, when ta clap, when ta go forward & back--an' everyone "raved" together. L'chaim! I was gobsmacked!
We left NYShitty when it all turned inta a burnin' dumpster an' now live in what I call the "land with no gefilte aisle in the grocery" but THAT rave was sumthin' I'd do again (an' again!) if I could--never thought I'd be glad ta see hundreds runnin' circles around me! (never thought I'd be so inspire ta keep up!)
Interesting. While my world is not linear (I live remotely), there are only two places where I have seen the curvature of the Earth. One place was in the Tigray region of Eritrea; the other is when I am standing in the middle of the Black Rock Desert (Nevada). Nice writing - loved your assessment of the Musk vehicle.
Lots of good ideas here. Only I can't grok your attempt to explain why counterclockwise (widdershins) circling is favored. Actually, dancing in a widdershins circle means starting with a step to the right.
I first encountered circle dances in a college folk dance class, mostly from the Balkans, and indeed they almost always circle widdershins. Many years later, I saw a 4000-year old sculpture in a museum in Crete, depicting dancers circling with the exact same hand-holding pattern we were taught. That's cultural continuity!
While we're at it, why are racetrack ovals always followed counterclockwise, as well?
While straight-line thinking may be emphazised to a fault in some portions I don't feel like that's pervasive throughout most of our society. The far bigger issue is that so many Americans have abandoned rationality.
Fantastic post as always. I know you didn’t say this, but it brings this thought to mind for me -
Circles bring us into our hearts.
This is an important--and unexpected--column. Thank you.
Lines are all we build, lines and boxes. It hurts my brain to think in circles. But that's where the growth is. The magic is a day without the shortest line between points, but finding new patterns, new links between all the points.
Very interesting concept! However, I would suggest the "health" of a culture is largely subjective here. Those same societies that held these circle dances also were incredibly brutal and violent and constantly warred against their neighboring tribes and peoples. In fact, I would almost see this argument, this comparison of the old "circle dance" in contrast to the "linear" modern world as nothing more than another example of the "noble savage" argument. I think you like the idea of everything being "communal" without recognizing the downside (yes, I know "downside" isn't circular, but that's important here): "communal" requires not an "opposite" like the Tao suggests, but an "other", and that "other", regardless of the circle, is always your enemy and must be destroyed. History has played that out in every region of the world, among all ethnicities. It still plays out to this very day, outside of the Western "linear" world, in areas where circle dances would be and likely are still practiced widely. Would you likewise suggest that is "healthy"?
Interesting. Obviously the circle pit is a staple at punk and metal shows, but it never hit me until reading this article that it (almost?) always moves counter-clockwise (see e.g. https://youtu.be/ehIXgbxX6vk?si=T4XIDk_ocighEOlb)
Came here to say this. My son has a punk/thrash/metal band (shout out Red40 Santa Cruz!) and the circle pit that emerges at every one of their show's I've seen has been counterclockwise...
Ted, quite interesting! BTW, at Jewish weddings, the Hora is usually done as a circle dance. BTW, does reading right-to left activate one's left brain?
The "Christ Dance" which Jesus is described as dancing with his disciples in the upper room in the the apocryphal Acts of John is likewise a circle dance.
Wow, I hope that actually happened!