i noticed the book was dissing cycles like they were bad or something, examples like this

It is a breakthrough in a naturalistic worldview that rejected the pantheistic doctrine of eternal cycles and approached the investigation of nature guided by the light of Christian faith

but i was doing some looking into the cosmological constant after reading ant's post and came across this funnily enough...

Cyclic model

More recent work has suggested the problem may be indirect evidence of a cyclic universe possibly as allowed by string theory. With every cycle of the universe (Big Bang then eventually a Big Crunch) taking about a trillion (1012) years, "the amount of matter and radiation in the universe is reset, but the cosmological constant is not. Instead, the cosmological constant gradually diminishes over many cycles to the small value observed today."[18] Critics respond that, as the authors acknowledge in their paper, the model "entails ... the same degree of tuning required in any cosmological model".[19]

of course i like cycles, not that i have anything against linear progression, in and of itself, but i feel that cycles are a better fit to a lot of things i experience and think about.

ebb and flow, day and night, precession etc etc

linear in the modern corporate mind often has that ugly "never ending progress" thing.

"10% higher tide every year or no end of year bonus" kind of vibe to it.

in short i fail to see what is so bad about cycles, they are a much neglected scource of divine wisdom in my book

and i see DaddyG agrees with me

for in his book he declares

My judgment will strike you as surely as day follows night.

i knew it Yahweh is a "cycle man"

and of course context is everything

5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces. I have slaughtered you with my words, threatening you with death. My judgment will strike you as surely as day follows night. 6 I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings. 7 "But like Adam, you broke my covenant and rebelled against me. 8 Gilead is a city of sinners, tracked with footprints of blood. 9 Its citizens are bands of robbers, lying in ambush for their victims. Gangs of priests murder travelers along the road to Shechem and practice every kind of sin.

don't get me wrong, i am enjoying the book immensely.

loved the Plato quote

Thus arose day and night, which are the periods of the most intelligent nature; a month is created by the revolution of the moon, a year by that of the sun. Other periods of wonderful length and complexity are not observed by men in general; there is moreover a cycle or perfect year at the completion of which they all meet and coincide . . . To this end the stars came into being, that the created heaven might imitate the eternal nature.

ohhhh, i am siding with the enemy, their writing is far more winning to me.

The gods, according to Plato and the Greeks, were themselves made in the form of a circle, the “ most perfect figure and the figure of the universe.” According to Aristotle, time itself was, therefore , a circle. [198] If time is a circle and the cosmos eternal within this circle, emanating from the pantheistic God, the nature of the gods, un-aging, un-alterable, and un-modified, then all change, including human knowledge, is cyclical too. For the most brilliant scholar or the least accomplished servant, the Greeks believed the same thoughts are recurring over and over again, and Aristotle held that this was, in fact, what man experienced. The mere evidence of the senses is enough to convince us of this, at least with human certainty . For in the whole range of time past, so far as our inherited records reach, no change appears to have taken place either in the whole scheme

all my life's a circle

c'mon children, let's sing

All my life's a circle;

Sunrise and sundown;

Moon rolls thru the nighttime;

Till the daybreak comes around.


All my life's a circle;

But I can't tell you why;

Season's spinning round again;

The years keep rollin' by.


It seems like I've been here before;

I can't remember when;

But I have this funny feeling;

That we'll all be together again.

No straight lines make up my life;

And all my roads have bends;

There's no clear-cut beginnings;

And so far no dead-ends.


Chorus:


I found you a thousand times;

I guess you done the same;

But then we lose each other;

It's like a children's game;


As I find you here again;

A thought runs through my mind;

Our love is like a circle;

Let's go 'round one more time.


Chorus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yjxWfyxpqY

I explained this in another thread.
Read IV?

Stahrwe, which thread? Could you link to it?

When I have time I will try to locate my previous comment.