Today, I’m thankful for the circle of life, even when that circle starts with an ellipse.
When we think about the factors that shape our lives, it’s hard not to acknowledge that most things really do come full circle. We live on a planet where we transgress through 4 distinct seasons that recapitulate the circle of rebirth on an annual basis. Each spring, flowers and trees give birth to new blooms and leaves, which mature as the summer passes by. As we enter the autumn season, the leaves fall from the branches and eventually enter the quiescent period of winter, before life ultimately comes around the following spring. Similarly, each human generation circles through being an infant, child, teenager, a mid-adult, and eventually an elderly person before we are ultimately replaced by a new generation. Perhaps this ‘circle of life’ explains why we are so transfixed by the one shape that has no edges.
Think about for just a minute. Is there a shape more deserving of our praise than the circle?
Everything around us remind us why this shape is so extraordinary. The celestial body upon which we live, as well as the life source that permits its sustainability, are both circular in shape. Even though early humans believed the Earth was flat, it’s hard to see why this would be the case, when all the other objects in the sky, including the sun and moon, were distinctly round. Once humans realized that gravity keeps us grounded and we cannot fall off the edge of Earth’s cliff, it became even more apparent how wonderful the circle truly was.
But, why stop there?
Without the circular shape of the wheel, our ability to travel would have been stymied. Without the circular shape of our eyes, we would not be able to lay sight to all the magnificent objects that surround us. Without the circular shape of clocks, we’d have no clear appreciation of the time in the day – which incidentally also circles through its routine pattern. And, finally, without the circular shape of coins, we’d find ourselves in a perpetual financial crisis.
Yes, we love the soft curves of the circle. Perhaps this is why we go to such lengths to cherish it in our daily lives. Our favorite foods – cookies, cake, pies, pizza, onion rings, and doughnuts – all assume this shape. Nearly every sport humans have created have turned to a rounded ball as their source for entertainment. We build domes at the top of our most revered buildings as a symbol to this wonderful shape. And, even when pandemics hit, we immediately rush out to purchase every circular toilet paper roll we can find.
Humans have been fascinated by the circle since the beginning of time. Perhaps it’s the fact that circles are naturally consistent, courtesy of the mathematical constant we call pi (π). It’s amazing that no matter what the size of the circle, the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the distance around the perimeter of a circle) divided by the diameter (the distance across the middle of the circle) always comes back to π. Humans have been fascinated by π throughout history. The ancient civilizations in China, Babylon, and Egypt used measures that approximated the π constant. In fact, the pyramids at Giza approximate π, with the vertical height of each pyramid having the same relationship to the perimeter of its base; in other words, the pyramid’s height approximates the radius of the circle’s circumference around the base of the pyramid. In ancient Greece, one of the foremost mathematicians, Archimedes of Syracuse, was the first to formally approximate the value of π in the 3rd Century BC. Of course, this was when Archimedes was not too distracted by running through the streets naked, proclaiming “Eureka (I found it)”, after a discovery regarding the physics of buoyancy while taking a bath. In fact, π is often referred to as ‘the Archimedes constant’ in tribute to that famous scientist’s advancement of mathematics (not self-exhibition). Even folks like Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton spent time pondering the meaning of π; Leonardo worked desperately to “square the circle”, while Newton approximated its value out to 15 decimal points. In fact, I was astounded (and saddened) to learn that there are folks out there who make a living trying to memorize π. This practice even has a name (Piphilogy), and the Guinness World Record for memorizing digits of π now stands at 70,000 digits. Amazingly, a 21-year old student (Rajveer Meena) at VIT University in Vellore, India, successfully recited these digits over a 10-hour period in 2015, while blindfolded. Some would argue that one really needs to love math if he/she is willing to dedicate one’s life to memorizing all the decimal points for this constant. Personally, I think Rajveer needs to get a life. The only thing more boring might be watching grass grow (or a congressional session on C-Span).
All that said, not everything in life comes down to a circle. In fact, today we are reminded of Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician and astronomer of the 16th Century, who taught us that the path we travel around the sun is really not circular, as many before him had theorized. Most celestial bodies travel in an elliptical path, rather than a true circular path, around a planet or even the sun. Even the spaceships and satellites we rocket into space take this more oblong shape. Sadly, Kepler was often criticized for his ‘laws’, even up until he died on this day (Nov 15) in 1630.
But, he was correct in his beliefs. So, I guess one can conclude that those things that help round out our lives are not always circular. Frankly, humans should have figured this out long before Kepler proved his laws. All we really had to do was look to how life begins, for every egg I’ve ever encountered might be rounded, but it sure isn’t circular.
Comments