I have an unexplainable fascination with circular things.

Key rings, metal loops, circular drawings if I see one, I want to buy it. I hold it, rotate it slowly in my fingers. As if anything shaped like a ring carries its own kind of silence.

Later, I realized the world is already built this way.

Musical scales. The twenty-four solar terms. The twelve zodiac animals. The Western zodiac. The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. Layers upon layers, blooming repeatedly within the same circle, like petals unfolding inside a single form.

Sometimes, in a new field of study, I suddenly grasp its loop. That spark can light up an entire day. It feels as if understanding the cycle means understanding the whole system.

But when ordinary life returns, I sometimes feel a little foolish. Moving from one loop to another. Learning so much, yet never truly stepping outside.

Philosophy offers many responses to this.

Some see difference and prepare to enter the next level with potential in hand. Some choose to remain in the seam delaying, waiting, searching for resolution. Most simply continue turning, without finding an exit.

Recently, I even thought I had reached some clarity. My heart felt large enough to contain myself, us, you, them.

But soon I noticed something unsettling. The moment I say, “I can accept everything,” I am already standing somewhere still holding a position, still carrying bias.

What does it mean to accept? Why must acceptance be the goal? Once those questions surfaced, even my breathing became cautious.

So for now, I choose to put everything down. No explanations. No transcendence. No grand inclusiveness. I just sit and play with the new circular key ring in my hand.

It’s about the size of a bull’s nose ring. Thankfully, it doesn’t need to tether any bull.



—— XC Scribbles · 壹佰零捌 CVIII ⭕️