# 138: Circularity
Story behind the Passage
In a meeting on a new project today we talked about the circular economy. I feel, this is one of these “trendy” concepts in economics that has been around for quite a while but now I am actually seeing it in practice — how people are trying to implement it. And by “people” I mean business men and women who are trying to produce zero waste. No worries, this is not turning into a lecture on the circular economy because I am simply not qualified for it. But what the conversation made me think about again is how important this concept of circularity is becoming in other contexts as well — if you recognize the pattern.
This notion of circular patterns is not in the “Western” DNA. I know, people will punch me in the face again for bringing up this stereotypical East-West binary. For me, however, there is no evaluation involved. I am using the categories on purpose by means of simplification and because I am aiming at explaining why I think that exactly this dichotomy is falling apart now. The fact that people in Europe and the U.S. are increasingly talking about circularity in the world of business and other realms of life for me serves as an indication of this development.
The funny reason why this topic is so much on my mind these days is not only because I am thinking about research these days. It is also because I notice so many things around me that seem to reoccur again and again in circular patterns. I am not saying that I am feeling like my life is going in circles and there is no progress. No, but certain topics, even certain people, they come up at certain invervals. So, this also makes me aware of the fact that when I am saying “circular,” I also include the wave-like movement of ups and downs. These directions in my definition are not so much related to valuations as in the stock market, e.g., high/low, good/bad, expensive/cheap. I rather mean a convergence and divergence of forces. On a much higher level of abstraction, this does not oppose the idea of circularity. It is rather that you cannot see the micro-movements when only focusing on the very large-scale circular movement.
In any case, before losing track now, I think it is worthwhile to become aware of the importance that circularity plays in culture and what this might mean if the global cultures which used to be situated on opposite ends — e.g., U.S. and Asia — might be moving closer together based on or at least aided by digital technology. When I say “opposite ends,” I mean value patterns. This is also what my learnings will be about below. I am not going to focus on the notion of circular time so much. I want to share some thoughts about the last sentence of the passage that precedes the graph on linear versus circular time above. It does show how the notion of time relates to cultural value sets — how time is a value, the most important one.
My Learnings
“Even the Americans will not change such events, certainly not by rushing things.” Yes, you might laugh now because, among so many other countries that one could mention to state this point, the author uses the example of Americans. But I do not want to do any U.S. bashing. Europe, at least some countries in Europe including Germany, treat time in a similar way as the U.S. We are chronical optimizers, we plan, we structure, and we think we can change the course of events.
You cannot change the circle of life.
I feel that this is the only really big lesson people in the “West” can learn from the pandemic. Things will happen — no matter what. The only thing you can do to survive and maybe even have a happy life is by taking these things that come as they come. I know that this is an almost unbelievable or at least unacceptable idea for hyper-planners. And I know what I am talking about — I used to be one of them. But then things happen in life and you learn — or you do not.
You still have choices in circular life.
What I just want to say by talking about circularity with respect to crises but also the cultural shifts that I see happening on a global scale is that humanity is moving closer towards nature again. We are moving back towards deciphering, understanding, and maybe even accepting and embracing the laws of nature. This, again, confirms the logic and circularity of scientific revolutions, I think. I guess, people 200 years ago understood these laws at least as well as we do nowadays — they simply did not have internet to Twitter their findings every minute.
Communication also goes in circles on social media these days.
The only thing that I do not know but still hope for is that this big-picture perspective of looking at life will last for a while. But the problem is that circularity also goes along with forgetting. So, even people who are fighting to survive in intensive care these days, if they make it, they might still run the risk of forgetting what they have gone through and instead start worrying about money, prestige, and looking good again in the future.
Or will they not?
It’s the circle of life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
’Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle
The circle of life
Elton John/Tim Rice. “Circle of Life. ” Universal Music Publishing Group.
Reflection Questions
1) How do you think about the two different notions of time — the linear and the circular one?
2) Which people do you know who never rush but still seem to achieve everything anybody could hope for?
3) Are you observing cultural shifts on a national or global level? Which ones?