In a linear system of time, the beginning and end are absolute. If the passage of time is viewed in interconnected yet distinct cycles, the time horizon expands: what was before the beginning, and what will be after the end?
This brings into view an intermediate period between two epochs of temporal development. The relationship between the temporal and the eternal also becomes more differentiated. They are no longer two separate systems, a cyclical image of time, which is in any case open to different developments of before and after, also makes the influence of supratemporal forces in temporal affairs plausible.
From Ulrich Meier, Das Credo. Bewegungen des Glaubens. Stuttgart 2018.
Image Sofia Lismont
Translation Christian von Arnim
The circle is an image of eternal recurrence – an ancient Eastern concept. Opposite to this is the straight line of progress that emerged in the West. The spiral is the synthesis of both – a moving forward but also a recapitulating and enhancing of earlier states