Circular Nature

by Veronica Kleinberg

Lately my mind has been replaying an old folk song which I remember from the 60's. “Happiness runs in a circular motion… Everything is a part of everything anyways… You can be happy if you let yourself be.” For some reason it returns annually to haunt me around the time preceding the High Holidays. The holidays serve to remind me of the circular nature of all things. All human experiences have a beginning, a middle and an end and then a new beginning since nature abhors a vacuum.

Particularly at this time of year the Torah reminds me of my own circular nature as we read the scroll to its ‘end’ and then immediately conclude by heralding its ‘beginning.’ The first time I witnessed the unscrolling and rescrolling of the Torah was an exhilarating experience. It is an ageless reminder that what goes around indeed does come around. And if what comes around makes us uncomfortable, then we get another chance to reshape our beliefs and actions. This shapeshifting with the hope of seeing with fresh and clear vision is why I look forward to the Days of Awe. When this is felt and shared in community, I begin to understand what Wayne Dyer meant when he said, “It's time we stop thinking of ourselves as human beings having a spiritual experience and begin thinking of ourselves as spiritual beings having a human experience.” L'Shana Tova

—from our September 1993 Newsletter

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