The Middle Ages—linearity, "change in time, but not closure in a circle." There is a sense of forward movement in time, but without a full understanding of recurring patterns.
Cycle → awareness → knowledge → choice → action → new level → new cycle
of the Activity of Consciousness and Collective Development
Today, development proceeds in a spiral; the line and the circle unite the same stages, but at a new level. Humanity is once again confronting the same fundamental questions, but is given the opportunity to address them at a new level of understanding.
Antiquity and cyclicality, “going in circles and no change in level.”
Human history can be viewed as a movement from cyclicality to conscious development. "The victory of knowledge is the ability to transform the repetition of history into conscious development."
Transformation of cyclicality
A circle is a repetition of the same thing. A spiral is a form of development. Awareness transforms repetition into spiral development. It is a mechanism that allows us to move on to a new cycle without repeating previous endless mistakes. Thus, cyclicality becomes material for development, transforming a circle into a spiral.
We believe that the historical cycle itself does not lead to development. Development begins when a person recognizes a pattern (a problem), gains knowledge (its cause and solution), and makes a new choice (action). Thus, a cycle turns into a spiral.
Awareness → a person notices a pattern and understands what is happening. Breaks the chain of repetition.
Knowledge → they understand the causes and possible consequences and see a solution. Opens the possibility of choice.
Choice → accepts a new decision.
Action → implements it.
Historical development as a spiral movement, where humanity returns to familiar contradictions, but at each cycle, it gains the opportunity to reach a new level, not through the elimination of opposites, but through conscious management. War and conscious peace, passivity and conscious activity, negativity and conscious positivity, collective and conscious individuality, freedom and responsibility, stability and rational change.
Order is born from structure, and development from the dynamic interaction of opposites striving for balance. The goal is not to eliminate differences, but to learn to transform their energy into development.
The victory of knowledge is not the victory of one person over another. It is the victory of awareness over automatism, understanding over fear, cooperation over destructive confrontation, and development (a conscious future) over the endless repetition of the past.
Breaking out of the vicious circle
Exit from the cycle: a new social contract, reforms, education, entrepreneurship, spiritual development, and technological advancement are becoming tools for overcoming recurring crises, not just a collection of different ideas.
Awareness as a criterion for development
A spiral, as a constant progression, can also descend—an individual or society can repeat mistakes at a new level or even degrade.
The quality of consciousness (the level of awareness or, more practically, the level of understanding, responsibility, and ability to act) is the determining criterion for whether a new cycle constitutes development.