The image of the circle has been very real and present with me today. The circle was referenced in divine imagery during a lunchtime lecture and has lingered with me throughout my day. Circles appeared in my work life, took the form of full-circle memories and challenged me to consider the ways complex concepts overlapped in my research. Unlike fixed lines and angles, circles are rounded, soft, and expansive. They resonate with my feminine core, find their way into my classroom, and are my preferred arrangement for meetings. In statistics, circles represent the latent, abstract constructs we approximate through linear measurement and structural models. Circles minimize power differentials, invite open sharing, and infer continuity.

In the circle, there is no beginning or end.

Blessing of Circles

If you have ever followed the curve
That extends beyond where you can see,
And then comes lovingly back around to greet you again,
Then you know the blessing of the circle.

If you have reached as far as you can possibly reach
And touch one, who in turn touches another
This motion you began will continue to unfold
And the blessing of this circle will return to find you.

When you feel you are walking in circles,
Returning again to places you have already travelled,
Perhaps the story in the circle may become clear
Because you now can listen at the heart of its origin.

The blessing of the circle is that as it grows,
we do not move further away from our neighbors.
No one is lost at the far extremes.
Instead, our horizon expands to greet each arrival.

May the endings and beginnings in our lives
Reach out to greet each other in welcome.
And may we come to rest in the eternal changelessness
Of the ever expanding shape that unites us.