Contemplation on cycles

Posted on zo 12 januari 2025 in contemplation

My overview of the cycles as I have encountered them or studied as part of Systems Thinking and Permaculture.

  • observations
    • a cycle is observing an aspect of reality and noting
      • the aspect seems to change
      • the aspect seems to regularly return to a similar previous configuration
    • our notion of time is an abstraction from observing cycles
    • cycles can only be construed due to the memory aspect of our mind
      • without memory there are no cycles, there is no time
    • can be nested: cycles within cycles within cycles
    • can seem independent of other cycles
    • at any time there are multiple (independent) cycles active
    • cycles only arise because of a relationship to another entity (i.e. yourself or some (in)dependent other entity)
    • graphical representations of cycles
      • a circle, ellipse, wheel
      • a line oscillating around an axis
      • a spiral
      • a gradient
      • animations
  • names for divisions
    • 1/2: 1st half, 2nd half
    • 1/3: trimester
    • 1/4: quarter
    • 1/12: month of a year, hour of half a day
    • 1/24: hour of a day
    • 1/60: second of a minute, minute of an hour
  • some cycles in nature
    • solar cycle (~ 11 years)
    • solar year (~ 365 days)
      • seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn
      • day length: winter solstice, spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox
      • daily cycle (~ 24 hours): night, dawn, day, dusk
    • moon phases (~ 28 days): new moon, 1st quarter, full moon, last quarter
      • tides: nipe tide, ebb tide, low tide, high tide, flood tide, spring tide
    • materials
      • evaporate, vapour, condensate, fluid
      • visual spectrum
        • additive color mixing
    • human body
      • stages of the body: fertilization, embryo, newborn, toddler, child, pubescent, adult, elderly, death
      • heart cycle - diastole: early and late - systole: early and late
      • menstrual cycle
    • earth temperature: glacial periods, hothouse earth
    • ecosystems
      • woodland as climax: exposed rock, lichen and mosses, annual weeds, shrubs, pioneer trees, climax forest
      • grassland as climax: exposed rock, lichen and mosses, annual weeds, shrubs and grasses
    • agriculture: soil preparing, sowing, weeding and tending, harvesting
    • Wheel of Life
      • Exploitation
      • Reconnection and Growth
      • Conservation (or Consolidation)
      • Release
      • Break-up
      • Reorganization
  • personal development
    • 9 stages of ego development (Cook-Greuter)
      • Impulsive (2)
      • Self-defensive (2/3)
      • Conformist (3)
      • Self-conscious (3/4)
      • Conscientious (4)
      • Individualist (4/5)
      • Autonomous (5)
      • Construct/Ego-aware (5/6)
      • Unitive (6)
    • archetypal transformations (Simon Sheridan)
      • child
      • orphan
      • adult
      • elder
    • alchemical stages
    • spiral dynamics (Wilbur)
    • Eight Soulcentric / Egocentric Stages of Human Development (Bill Plotkin)
  • project management
    • dragon dreaming: dreaming, planning, doing, celebrating (https://dragondreaming.org/)
    • design web: growth phase, exploratory phase, productive phase, reflective phase (Looby Macnamara)
  • spiritual
    • Lonerwolf: Spiritual Calling, Resisting the path, Finding Guidance, Starting the Journey, Turning Inwards, Facing the Darkness, Illumination, Traps & Pitfalls, Rebirth, Integration
    • Wilber: Wake up, Clean up, Grow up, Show up, (Screw up)
  • storytelling
    • Hero's Journey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey)
      • Departure
        • Ordinary world
        • Call to adventure
        • Refusal of the call
        • Meeting with the mentor
        • Crossing the first threshold
      • Initiation
        • Tests, allies, and enemies
        • Approach to the inmost cave
        • The ordeal
        • Reward
      • Return
        • The road back
        • The resurrection
        • Return with the elixir
  • history
    • empire (Sir John Bagot Glubb)
      • The Age of Pioneers (Outburst)
      • The Age of Conquests
      • The Age of Commerce
      • The Age of Affluence
      • The Age of Intellect
      • The Age of Decadence
      • The Age of Decline & Collapse

For more examples and inspiration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cycles