This living geometry can be seen everywhere, in nature and in ourselves.: straight and curved lines, polygons, spheres… Shapes and figures that are repeated at different sizes and at different levels.

But if we wanted to synthesize all that multiplicity into a primordial image that contained everything so to speak, we would have to stick with the circle, well indeed It summarizes in its simplicity the dynamism of reality.

Let’s go back for a moment to our childhood, because we have all had the experience of throw a stone into the still water of a pond. We were fascinated without a doubt the curious and inexplicable phenomenon of the concentric circles that formed the waves from the place where the stone made the impact. Without knowing it, the mystery of creation was reproduced before our childish eyes.

That is why simply contemplating the drawing of a circle, a nothing that seems like a whole, leaves us silent and thoughtful. It is the magic of the symbol.

In the words of R. W. Emerson: «The eye is the first circle, the horizon it forms is the second, and this first figure is repeated incessantly throughout all of Nature.»

For there to be life, it must be precisely circular. If it stagnates or paralyzes, death results. Blood circulates through the body, nourishing and cleaning each of the cells that make up our body. And circular comes from «circle.»

The universal meaning of the circle

The circle is the area contained in a circlethis being its perimeter. But to draw a circle (visible) we need a center (invisible). This brings us to symbolism of the center and the circumference.

• The center represents the originthe primordial unit from which everything arises through irradiation. It is the immobile axis of the rotation of the cycle of becoming. symbolizes the spirit and eternity.
• For its part, the circumference represents the manifestation, plurality, matter, temporality.
• From another point of view, center-circle-circumference form a triadsince the number three means the manifestation and in turn the return of duality to unity. Thus, the center corresponds to the transcendent spirit, the circle itself would be the soul, and the circumference would be the bodily materiality.

Discover the meaning of the colors of a mandala in the following video:

This symbolism marked by the three It is repeated at the most varied levels of existence.

• For example the eggemblem of life in many cultures, consists of yolk, white and shelljust like cells They are composed of nucleus, protoplasm and membrane.
• There are three necessary gestures to draw a circle with a compass: first nail one of your arms to have a center (spirit), then mark a distance with the other arm (soul) and finally rotate it until it forms the circumference (body).
• And in grammar, There are three elements that make up a sentence: subject (spirit), verb (soul) and predicate (body).

We must not forget that the center is the most important thing, what gives balancesince it is at an equal distance from all points on the circle. Without it there would be no manifestation, no circle or circumference. Furthermore, the center It is the origin and at the same time the final destination, the alpha and the omega.

The three-dimensional expression of the perfection of the circle is the spherea figure that symbolizes the harmony of the whole. Since the circumference of the circle appears to have no beginning or end and suggests mobility, another way of expressing change within that circular movement is the spiral.

in it passes through the same place or moment again but in a different way. In the same way that each year brings us the same anniversary date, but the years completed change.

Circle: the wheel of life

Everything is cyclical (from the Greek kikloscircle) in nature: the movement of the celestial bodies, the water that evaporates forming clouds that become rain, the plants and animals that return to the bosom of the earth when they die.

The course of time and seasons continues a cyclical movement through which everything is repeated and at the same time renewed. Because, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus noted: «In the circle the beginning and the end are confused.»

For him buddhismexistence is symbolized with the image of «The wheel of samsa«ra»which is usually represented at the entrance to temples. It is an image of the different kingdoms and their inhabitants, with their particular limitations and sufferings, in the form of a wheel that It rotates due to the actions of those beings and their karmic consequences.

another wheel, that of Dharma, expresses the path of liberation from that suffering through the practice of the Buddha’s teachings. For this reason, the Tibetans gave up using the wheel, a sacred image for them, in mundane tasks such as a chariot.

This may seem exaggerated to us, but it is a fact that our material development is based on the circular movement of the wheel. Not only because we move from one place to another in wheeled vehicles but because since the abandonment of animal traction at the beginning of the industrial revolution Energy has been obtained through circular movement: hydraulic turbines, electric dynamos…

And not by chance, when technological excesses and environmental pollution are suffocating usit is essential to use renewable energies and recycle waste. The circle again.

Circle and square: Heaven and Earth

From another perspective, the circle represents Heaven or spirit. The Latin word caelum It means sky, firmament and circular shape. The Earth, the material or static, is represented by the square.

In our own body, the head It is considered the noblest part and it is not by chance that it is round. In turn, the eyes –which make possible the most refined sense, vision– are also circular. Yoimagining both things in a square shape would distance us from spirituality inherent to the human being, giving us the appearance of mechanical robots.

Therefore, Many temples are composed of a square or rectangular plan crowned by a dome which symbolizes the celestial vault, often decorated with birds or angelic creatures as in Christianity. Likewise, in most religions the figures of saints or divinities are represented with a luminous and round halo around the head.

Megalithic circles are a way of marking the celestial order on earth through the concentric alignment of large stones stuck into the ground. The housing of many nomadic peoples has a circular shape, like the tipis of the North American Indians or the yurts of the Mongolians.

sacred architecture, especially the Egyptian pyramids, Hindu temples and medieval cathedrals, It represents the union of the celestial and the terrestrial. Also an expression of the invisible center. That is why when we visit them we appreciate their ability to capture and transmit, due to their shape and location, certain subtle energies.

Popular dances usually form circles. Often with the performers holding hands and looking at the center. On other occasions, they rotate around themselves alone or surround themselves as a couple (union of the masculine and the feminine).

He flamenco Not only does it present these turns or rotations around the body axis, but at the same time the raised hands draw small circles, while the feet hit the ground, we do not know if to pick up the energy of the earth.

Rumithe great Sufi master, established as a spiritual practice Sama dancein which the dervishes rotate around the center symbolized by the immobile master and at the same time ecstatically about themselves.

Return to origin

Saint Augustine, collecting an older wisdom, he has left us perhaps the best definition of the universal Spirit in a geometric key: «God is a sphere whose center is everywhere and its circumference nowhere.«. The religious phenomenon basically consists of orient towards that center spiritual that is the origin of everything and at the same time its maintainer and ultimate destiny.

Likewise, it is worth considering that In ourselves, in our consciousness, there is a center and a periphery. And just as it happens when a disk rotates, which does so at a greater linear speed as we move away from the center, If we stay too long on our periphery mood (mental and emotional) everything seems more chaotic and unpredictable.

Another image of the center in its vertical projection is that of the summit of a mountain. As we ascend, the air becomes cleaner and when we reach the top the vision expands – sometimes it covers up to 360 degrees – while we have greater sense of peace and freedom. In the same way, if we approach our own center we find calm and joy, moving away from the outside turmoil.

All spiritual practices It represents a recollection, a move from the outer circumference to the inner center. Periodically, without the need to give up material things, but without abandoning that necessary connection.

Each human being has his own path towards himself. But the center is transpersonal (it is beyond the ego) and universal (it is the same for everyone).

Just like in a circle they are innumerable possible radii that join the center with the circumferenceeach person has their own path towards themselves. Keeping this invisible but real center in mind makes us more human. It helps us glimpse flashes of light in the apparent darkness of certain moments in life, to find a little eternity in the midst of the evanescence of time.

Mandalas and other figures and objects to meditate

For its part, Zen painting is sometimes limited to drawing a simple circlewhich evokes the enigmatic words of Buddha: «Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.»

Approach the center

Mandala It is a Sanskrit word that means «circle.»

Mandalas are geometric diagrams which are used in Hinduism and Buddhism as a meditation support. They are the visual expression (the mantras would be their sound version) of certain qualities or spiritual influences.

It has been proven that draw or color mandalas –figures with a center that expands and in turn returns to the origin, delimited by a protective circle– favors the integration of consciousness and mental relaxation.

That is why the practice of mandalas is being recommended in certain psychiatric patients and in a playful way in children and the elderly.

Seek guidance

Since ancient times the circle has served to understand and measure time.

So they did it the Babylonians who divided it into 360º. Your name, Shardesignated the universe or cosmos.

The watches They present a sphere through which the hands rotate so that we know the cyclical time of day what we are in. To orient yourself in space, another circular tool is used, the compass. Both objects have a practical utility and in turn contain a deep symbolism.

Decorate yourself with circles

Human beings have used jewelry since time immemorial, not only for decoration, but also as a form of protection and with symbolic meaning. Many are circular in shape: necklaces, bracelets, rings.

Even today, getting high A ring on the finger implies certain qualities: rank, power, commitment, loyalty. For its part,…