Circle consciousness: transdisciplinary inquiries into nature's wholeness

The study of religion addresses diverse ways in which people perceive and construct worlds of meaning. This thesis argues that perceptions of natural phenomena are often limited by natural philosophies that assert linear, static, and mechanical models of reality or grid consciousness. It introduces, instead, a model of Circle Consciousness, which calls attention to fractal and biomorphic energies-in-motion, spanning micro (sub-atomic) to macro (cosmic) scales, revealing geometric meta-patterns that invite corresponding extensions of consciousness. Hidden energies and dimensions of reality, and thus new possibilities for the future, emerge in a process of tracing a simple form – the circle – through spherical, toroidal, and knotting forms, each of which flows into the others like breath.

Tracing the growth of forms can reveal what David Bohm characterizes as an implicate order of wholeness. Recognizing that one is both an agent and an integral part of an intricate dance of nature may contribute to healing of trauma, much of which is rooted in perceptions of separateness and the possibility of non-belonging. A model of Circle Consciousness emerges in engaging with the thought of several scholars who have worked at the fluid edges of physics and metaphysics, most notably Theosophist Dr. Hans Jenny, physicist David Bohm, and physicist Edward Witten. Jenny invented the Cymascope, which shows how sand shape-shifts under the influence of resonant frequency vibrations to reveal patterns that one can also recognize as fruit, flower, and seed cycles. Bohm showed that scientific prediction limits inquiry by concealing a fundamental unity that is hidden beneath and animates observable reality. Witten proposed M-theory, which reveals a unity among multiple theories of the nature of nature, each representing elementary particles as loops of vibrating “strings.” Together these thinkers confirm what many artists and artisans have long intuited and expressed in patterns like sri yantri mandalas.