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Circle within circles
I have encountered a system of belief that believes in circles as the only method of understanding. It involves the belief that everything is part of a circle, Time, matter, ideas etc. As an example of circular time would be where some act you preform changes the future and this change continues around until the future becomes the past and causes you to perform that act.
I would suggest that life is a struggle for growth and that the ability of people to develop new ideas and grow into new patterns based on free will and that we are responsible for our thoughts and action.
I believe that there are patterns woven into reality that we naturally follow and that we can use these as a guide and from there move off in our own direction.
I have heard that up is down, right is wrong, good is evil, love is hate. I have been told that it all is a circle yet by placing all of these on a single circle of everything, all you can conclude is that everything has an opposite.
I would ask for your opinion or ideas on this.
I would suggest that life is a struggle for growth and that the ability of people to develop new ideas and grow into new patterns based on free will and that we are responsible for our thoughts and action.
I believe that there are patterns woven into reality that we naturally follow and that we can use these as a guide and from there move off in our own direction.
I have heard that up is down, right is wrong, good is evil, love is hate. I have been told that it all is a circle yet by placing all of these on a single circle of everything, all you can conclude is that everything has an opposite.
I would ask for your opinion or ideas on this.
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4. "It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias toward a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, 'The monk is our teacher.' Kalamas, when you yourselves know: 'These things are bad; these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill,' abandon them.
16. "The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who in this way is devoid of coveting, devoid of ill will, undeluded, clearly comprehending and mindful, dwells, having pervaded, with the thought of amity, one quarter; likewise the second; likewise the third; likewise the fourth; so above, below, and across; he dwells, having pervaded because of the existence in it of all living beings, everywhere, the entire world, with the great, exalted, boundless thought of amity that is free of hate or malice.
"He lives, having pervaded, with the thought of compassion, one quarter; likewise the second; likewise the third; likewise the fourth; so above, below, and across; he dwells, having pervaded because of the existence in it of all living beings, everywhere, the entire world, with the great, exalted, boundless thought of compassion that is free of hate or malice.
"He lives, having pervaded, with the thought of gladness, one quarter; likewise the second; likewise the third; likewise the fourth; so above, below, and across; he dwells, having pervaded because of the existence in it of all living beings, everywhere, the entire world, with the great, exalted, boundless thought of gladness that is free of hate or malice.
"He lives, having pervaded, with the thought of equanimity, one quarter; likewise the second; likewise the third; likewise the fourth; so above, below, and across; he dwells, having pervaded because of the existence in it of all living beings, everywhere, the entire world, with the great, exalted, boundless thought of equanimity that is free of hate or malice.
Kalama Sutta: The Instruction to the Kalamas
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.065.soma.html
353. A victor am I over all, all have I known. Yet unattached am I to all that is conquered and known. Abandoning all, I am freed through the destruction of craving. Having thus directly comprehended all by myself, whom shall I call my teacher? 23
Dhp XXIV PTS: Dhp 334-359
Tanhavagga: Craving
Buddhism does not see time in a cyclical way, but rather in a linear way with no beginning or end.
That would be free-will
Up is still up, down is still down, and so on and so forth.