The Two Sides of a Circle

“If you are too much concerned, if you are too much in your thoughts it is fine, I swear.”

“No, I wish to speak. I just don’t know how to express myself.”

“Then just try it. Draw me an image and I will interpret it according to my own voice.”

He grabbed a wand and drew a circle on sand. 

“This is where we stand.” And he pointed to the middle of the circle. “All around us is unknown and empty.” And he started to draw points inside the circle. “Those points are things we think we know and some of them we name, some of them we acknowledge but don’t understand. And some points are just laying there although we are not aware of.”

I was really confused.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… We certainly have some points in our life but we are still stuck on an area and we know nothing beyond that.”

“And how could we possibly know? If we are in that circle that circle is all we have.”

“The circle will be as big as we wish it to be.” “But to go beyond is what moves us.”

So he tried to argue that something encircles and restrains us. But I had no idea what about his own emotions he tried to symbolise by doing that.

“The circle should only be here if we want it to be. It doesn’t have to be like that. We don’t have to feel as we have boundaries.” I argued.

Although it kind of made sense. We do experience our own boundaries. And we give meaning to life in accordance to the points we already know. To know beyond is to expand the circle, but it would always be there somehow.

What kind of illusion must we have in our minds to believe that everything that exists is within that circle, aka, our minds. And even more ridiculous would be to think that something, and only that something, within that circle is meaningful. It is all meaningless, meaningless! It is the source of sorrow and turmoil but nothing else. Joy, pleasure, but also pain and sadness are lacking in meaning I must say. Dust in the wind. From waking up till laying down, it is all an illusion, a reverie. All that is only solid and profane have nothing but emptiness.

Good luck with that. Good luck with your life within that circle. 

It is dense. It is though. Only despair is there in the end if you stop to wonder.

The fool and the foolish might entertain themselves counting and naming their points within their circles, inventing new stories, but in the end only despair is there. There is no dimension of salvation.

“Please come with me and enter inside this circle I drew on the ground.” He said.

“How do you feel inside?” He asked.

“I feel big for the circle is small.” I answered. 

And so we are, big in our esteem, autonomous in our conception. 

This great lie we bite everyday: “We toil for being autonomous. No need for no one for I can provide for my own.” 

If you can navigate through life by your own means, if you need no one and nothing else but the toil from your own bare hands, congratulations. Nothing new under the sun. It is meaningless, meaningless! 

And we all know, there is something inside of us that screams to be heard, to be understood and even accepted. It has its means to show up, just look at you. How do you feel? How do you really feel? How do we all feel? Is it harmony and expansion of the circle? Or a mere lie of autonomy we are falling victim of? You know. You do know. 

I would like to talk more about these notions. 

But all I think to say, is already said too much. 

And everything I feel, I feel, so I cannot speak.

So I am left with silence, but silence is nothing left.

“Do you think it is wisdom that enlarges our view and our circle?” I asked him.

“It is love subduing pride. It is faith subduing arrogance.”

It is truth manifesting through light. But also error and shadow. It is attraction and repellence. For there is a time for everything. Also for expansion and retraction. Do not fear the mistake, but repent the wrong deeds, for this is also expansion in your world. “If hell is justice, it is good.” 

If you believe in absolute reason and if you desire more than anything else truth and justice, you need not fear anyone. Your natural light will instinctively repulse the wicked.

Eliphas Levi

With the world in his hands, the wise draws his circle with a sight and purpose. The seas, mountains and valleys are there to witness his greatness and honour. His mind is concentrated and his soul is full of grace and love. And remember: it is all about duality. The circle that enslaves us also frees us. The problem contains the solution, shadows require light, and we might encounter crossroads. Crossroads: and the right to choose. Two or more ways open before your eyes. You have the world in your hands, and the wands to draw your circle, your destiny. Fearless and immeasurable desire to love and understand, to expand and to embrace will inspire you.