cyclicism

…with it at all, is cyclical. The world and what happens in it are devalued, except as they show forth the eternal pattern of the original creation.

The day-and-night cycle and the annual cycle of the seasons dominated the conduct of human life until the recent harnessing of inanimate physical forces in the Industrial Revolution made it possible for work to be carried on for 24 hours a day throughout the year—under cover,…

…and humanity in terms of cyclic time. According to Australian Aboriginal myth, human beings are reincarnated into profane life at the moment of birth. At their initiation they reenter sacred time, and through their burial ceremonies they return to their original “spirit” state. Similar beliefs are held by many peoples,…

…natural order refers to the continuous reversion of everything to its starting point. Anything that develops extreme qualities will invariably revert to the opposite qualities: “Reversion is the movement of the Dao” (Laozi). Everything issues from the Dao and ineluctably returns to it; Undifferentiated Unity becomes multiplicity in the movement…

Dialectical dualism ordinarily implies a cyclical, or eternally repetitive, view of history. Eschatological dualism—i.e., a dualism concerned with the ultimate destiny of humanity and the world, how things will be in the “last” times—on the other hand, conceives of a final resolution of the present dualistic state of things, in…

…vitality is seen in the cyclical effects of causing things to grow and wither. Moreover, because of its dominance of the world, the sun is often seen as all-knowing, and thus sky gods of various cultures tend to be highly powerful and knowledgeable, if also sometimes rather remote. The sky…