Round Table

The Round Table is King Arthur’s famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur’s fabulous retinue. The [...]

Taijitu

Taijitu (a Chinese word that translates roughly as ‘diagram of ultimate power’) is a term which refers to any of the Chinese symbols for the concept of yin yang, and is sometimes extended to similar geometric patterns used historically by various cultures. The most recognized form is composed of two semi-circular teardrop-shaped curves of different colors, or [...]

Tree of life

The concept of a many-branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on earth is related has been used in science, religion, philosophy, mythology and other areas. A tree of life is variously, a) a mystical concept alluding to the interconnectedness of all life on our planet, b) a metaphor for common descent in the evolutionary sense, and c) a motif in various world theologies, mythologies and philosophies.Various trees of life are [...]

Vicious circle

A virtuous circle or a vicious circle is a complex of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop toward greater instability. A virtuous circle (or virtuous cycle) has favorable results, and a vicious circle (or vicious cycle) has deleterious results. A virtuous circle can transform into a vicious circle if eventual negative feedback is ignored.
Both circles are complexes of events [...]

Fu Lu Shou

Fu Lu Shou (traditional Chinese: 福祿壽; simplified Chinese: 福禄寿; pinyin: Fú Lù Shòu) refers to the concept of Good Fortune (Fu), Prosperity (Lu), and Longevity (Shou). This Taoist concept is thought to date back to the Ming Dynasty, when the Fu Star, Lu Star and Shou Star were considered deities of these attributes respectively. The term is commonly used in Chinese culture to [...]

Anarchy symbol

While anarchists have historically largely denied the importance of symbols to political movement, anarchists have embraced certain symbols for their cause, including most prominently the circle-A and the black flag. Since the revival of anarchism at the turn of the 21st-century concurrent with the rise of the anti-globalization movement, anarchist cultural symbols are widely present.
The Circle-A is almost certainly the best-known present-day symbol for [...]

Squaring the circle

 

Squaring the circle is a problem proposed by ancient geometers. It is the challenge to construct a square with the same area as a given circle by using only a finite number of steps with compass and straightedge. More abstractly and more precisely, it may be taken to ask whether specified axioms of Euclidean geometry concerning the existence of lines and circles entail the existence of such [...]

Mandala

 

Mandala (Sanskrit maṇḍala ”essence” + “having” or “containing”, also translates as “circle-circumference” or “completion”, both derived from the Tibetan term dkyil khor) is a concentric diagram having spiritual andritual significance in both Buddhism and Hinduism.[1][2] The term is of Hindu origin and appears in the Rig Veda,being the name of sections of the work, but is also used in other Indian religions, particularly Buddhism. In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. They [...]

Monad

Monad (from Greek μονάς monas, “unit”; monos, “alone”),which according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for God or the first being, or the totality of all beings. Monad being the source or the One meaning without division.
For the Pythagoreans, the generation of number series was related to objects of geometry as well as cosmogony. According to Diogenes Laertius, from the monad evolved the dyad; from it numbers; [...]