The Course of
History: Rectilinear or Circular.
The views of philosophers and
Historians about the course of history vary widely. While some
have said that the course of history is rectilinear,
others have said that it is cyclical and still
others have given other theories. But if we keep in mind that the
events of history have a dialectical movement and that each event
is a turning points and follows the cause-effect-cause-effect
sequence, then we will come to the conclusion that the
course of history cannot be anything but circular and cyclical.
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Let us suppose that the events of
history move in a straight line as shown above. Let us further
suppose that in this line, the first event is represented by the
point 'A' while each one of the succeeding
points upto point 'P' represent the succeeding
events. Now, according to the generally accepted principle,
namely that "every effect has a cause",
the event 'A' must not have been without a
cause. It must have been caused by another event, which, by the
very fact of its having been the cause, must have preceded it.
So, ‘A’ must not have been the
‘first’ event; it could not have been the
‘original’ event, for ‘A’
itself was originated by another event. So, let us suppose that
the event 'A' was caused by another event A1--but
applying the same principal of cause and effect, the event A1,
also must have been caused by yet another event that must have
preceded it. And that one also, in its own turn, must have been
caused by another preceding event. This will go on and
on….ad infinitum.
Now let us consider the event ‘P’.
it cannot be the last event, for the event ‘P’
will cause another event. Newton’s First Law of Motion says
that every particle of Matter continues in its state of rest or
motion unless it is compelled by a force to change that state.
So, not only the event ‘A’ must have
been set into motion by the event A1, but the
event ‘P’, also will continue unless
there is another event P1 to stop it. And, then
the resultant of the events 'P' and P1
will again cause another event so that the events will go on in
the cause-effect-cause effect sequence. Thus, in the direction of
point ‘P’ also events will go on ad infinitum.
In the light of this we arrive at the following conclusions :-
- There is no
‘Original’ or First event in this world or in
the human history which may be called the ‘First
cause’ -- nor there ever is (or there will
ever be) any ‘Last Effect’
and, so the course of history has neither been nor can it
be in a straight line having two open ends.
- Secondly, even if the events of
history appear to us to be taking place in the form of
linear progression, when we take a short-time view of
them, yet we should keep in mind that the line of events
of history is not as the line of geometry, for every
event in its path is a turning point; it is the
antecedent of the next point and the consequent of the
foregone point like any point is on a circumference of a
circle : it is not like a line drawn on a plane but like
a line drawn on a sphere whose every point is a turning
point. However, even if, for the sake of an argument, we
consider that every event in history is straight
conjunction with the foregone and the forthcoming event,
the ends of a straight line would, according to geometry,
meet at infinity, to give it the form of a cycle
and, thus, there would be a repetition of
history.
- Let us consider it in another way. The
line of history would either have an end or it would be
endless. If a person says that it would be endless, then
it would be either oval or circular in form and would,
thus, make the history repeat, for elipses and circle are
the only two kinds of a line having no ends because the
two ends meet. If a person says that the line of history
would have an end, then it would be like a parabola or a
hyperbola, a spiral, an irregular, zig-zag sort of thing
or straight line. Whichever of these it be, the question,
would arise: "What will happen after the end?"
Will the world be created again; then it would certainly
repeat because God, in his perfect wisdom, would create
the same world, as before. Then the question that remains
is whether the repetition would be as before. Then the
question that remains is whether the repetition would be
of a straight line or a spiral like line or a parabola or
an irregular, zig-zag line? Since the last cause in the
old world order would give rise to an effect in the new
world order which would work as cause to another
subsequent effect, we must take notice of this fact that
the end of the old and the beginning of the new world
must meet; they cannot be the loose ends as the ends of a
straight line, a parabola, spiral etc. Therefore, only
a circle can properly represent the events of
history.
Following are some additional
reasons that support this:
- Every point of a circle
has not only a preceding and a succeeding point
but it is also a turning point. In a
straight line, every point is in straight alignment
while, in actual life, we find that an event not only
becomes the cause of other event(s), but also it gives a
turn to the events. If the First Age of
the world be considered as the Golden Age---
the events have not been marching on a straight line to
Iron Age but they have been running like horse on a race
course, changing their direction every second. In fact,
there is no absolutely straight line in this
four-dimensional world and historical events too in this
four-dimensional world have a cyclical course. As in a
Drama, every event even though linked with the preceding
event, is a turning point so that it has an element of
surprise and sets in motion new trends and events, so
also in the world history every event is a turning point
or a dramatic point.
- The world history, as
explained earlier, can be divided into four ages---Golden,
Silver, Copper and Iron, and after the
Iron Age, Golden Age starts again. So, a circle,
which can be divided into four parts by two intersecting
diametrical lines is the only geometrical form that can
represent this aspect of history. One diametrical line
divides the circle into two halves which may be called
‘diametrical opposite halves so that if one is
called the ‘Day’ and the other being opposite,
can be called the ‘Night’ or if one, being
constituted of Golden and Silver Ages, is considered as
the period of happiness, the other one, being constituted
of copper and Iron Age, is considered as the period of
sufferings.
- Another diametrical line
which intersects the first diameter will divide the
circle into the four epochs so that if the first
represents the Golden Age, the other, showing the downward
trend, as shown in the above fig. will represent lesser
happiness and the third which now is in the opposite
direction to the previous two, will show the Copper
Age, and the fourth, which shows upward but
opposite trend, will show the rise or the upward trend in
sufferings.
- The cycle also shows which
are the points of man’s extreme fall and extreme
rise and thus it gives clear understanding of that point
of time in the world history when God Himself should intervene into the affairs
of mankind so as to liberate him from its stage of utmost
moral and spiritual degradation and change the course of
history to utmost moral purity. (see Fig.) Thus the
circle also explains the true meanings of the traditional
belief that God created the world out of nothing.
For, at the end of Iron Age, human souls have
almost nothing – they do not have physical
health and mental happiness because they have no moral
purity. From this stage of moral nothingness
or spiritual poverty God creates man in His own image. This stage of moral deprivation of
man can truly be called as "mere dust, mud
or clay". When man is in this stage, God
gives divine knowledge to mankind ; this
knowledge is like breathing life into the nostrils of a
man of clay, for it gives new spiritual re-birth to
mankind. This explains why God is called the
Creator of the world (actually Re-creator).
- According to Augustine, and the
Judaic-Christian religion in which Augustine believed,
God creates the world, and since God is all wise, perfect
and omnipotent, God must have created a perfect world in
his own Image. So when He creates the world again,
whenever it may be, He could create the same world, for
then also He would create according to that perfect
model; He wouldn’t create the second best instead of
creating the best. He would repeat his process of
creation and take it to the end to redemption and there
would be the same cause-effect sequence in-between and,
so, there would be identical repetition.
