Linear vs Cyclic thinking

Scientists debate the origin and life cycle of the universe.  Some think it is expanding, others think it is contracting, but overall most of them think that it had a beginning, and therefore will have an end.  Probably the only reason they think that it had a beginning is because they are so used to thinking in a linear fashion that they can't think about the universe in any other way.  Western thought is very linear.  We think along straight lines.  Everything has a birth, progresses along a line, and then has a death.  That includes people, plants, buildings, planets, solar systems and even, it seems, universes.  But hey, isn't there only ONE universe?  If the universe had a beginning what was there before?  Another universe?  But surely all universes can be considered part of the same universe, because a universe is infinite in space and time.  Common sense would indicate that the universe cannot have a beginning because something would have to come before, and that is most likely another universe, which is ultimately the same universe as this one.  Confused?  Maybe science has reached the limits of linear thought in this area of understanding.

Eastern ways of thinking, such as can be found in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism are all largely cyclic, which means that thinking goes round in circles and tends to return to where it was in the beginning.  Death follows birth and is followed by death again, and so on.  All creatures, including people come back again reincarnated in different forms.  Cyclic thinking can be applied to anything.  Every day is the same day being recycled over and over again; father is like son is like grandson.  There is no expectation of anything new.  Cyclic thinking has a tendency to be non-progressive, however it does have its uses, for instance in providing an effective means of coming to terms with fate and destiny.  Whatever is meant to be is meant to be.  Everything goes in spins and cycles, days, months, seasons, years and lifetimes, all continuously revolving.

Western linear thinking is progressive.  Assumptions are made from which conclusions are drawn, and which are held to be absolute.  By using this method we have been able to build kingdoms on a logical and humane legal system, explore and colonise the world with an ardent, single minded religious belief, understand nature with a methodical reductionist science and strive for new things and a better society with a progressive positivist attitude.  It is assumed that our civilisation will continue to progress.  The engine of change is firmly embedded in it through linear scientific methodology.   However, in the 1960's this single-minded culture encountered major setbacks when people realised that the earth's resources were finite: its minerals, its atmosphere, its seas and its continents.  In order to ensure continued supply of material goods and space, old assumptions were no longer appropriate, and new ways of thinking were required.  Major consequences, such as pollution, overpopulation, not to mention total self-destruction, faced the human race if a purely linear exploitation of nature was allowed to continue.  So, in a music and drug induced revolt a new generation of westerners looked towards the East to absorb cyclic ways of thinking.  The drugs freed up linear configurations in the brain and enabled people to think differently.  The music enabled them to block themselves off from the previous culture and provided a vehicle for the new.  The result of this revolution is that many of us now practice Eastern philosophies and disciplines, and generally live less orderly linear lives than our ancestors, combining the cyclic with the linear.

Cyclic ways of thinking fit in very well with linear ones.  They balance them out, and are especially useful in areas where things don't immediately correspond to our expectations, and where tolerance and flexibility are essential. These might include areas such as child rearing, stress management, creativity, and self-development.  Whereas linear thinking tends to impose upon the world expectations of results, cyclic thinking stands back with intelligent acceptance.  Mastery of both methods results in a balance between action and inaction, between thinking and not thinking.

When applied to understanding of the universe, a little of this circumspect might be required.  It is possible that scientists will discover eventually that the universe is constantly renewing itself through a continuous cycle of bangs both big and small, each bang setting off a linear chain of events leading to the development of a new galaxy and lots of solar systems, like ours.