Minute 16

Minute 16 (by Davina Glaser)

 

What Is The Difference Between A Circle And A Straight Line?

What is the difference between a circle and a straight line? Philosophers agree that they’re both a triangle. They are not the same. But it cannot be proven that they are not both a triangle.

Geometrically speaking, a straight line is a straight line is an infinitely long object with no width, no depth, no curvature. Geometrically speaking, a circle is a circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point which is the centre of the circle. Geometrically speaking, a straight line is a straight line is not a circle and a circle is a circle is not a straight line. I am not here to speak of geometry.

What is the difference between spinning in a circle and walking in a straight line? Visually, they look different, sure, but I can’t always trust my eyes. Blurry vision equals blurry world. Sonically, they may sound different, but I wear headphones most of the time. Muted hearing equals muted world. Physically, do they feel different? I don’t concern myself with carnal knowledge. What I’m interested in is if emotionally, do they feel different? Feeling. It’s the one thing nobody dares to objectify. Object, abject. Is it possible to feel abjectified? Lately I’ve been stuck on the fact that objectivity is dead. I’m not sure it was ever alive in the first place. I’m so stuck in this realisation, in this mourning of objectivity, so heavy with grief and relief at the same time that I feel like I’m stuck spinning in a circle. Round and round I go, fast and faster until the world around me stops moving. Until there is nowhere else to go except straight ahead. A straight line. Either way I end up in the same place.

What is the difference between a circle and a timeline? If they’re the same and time really does pass in a circular motion then why have I never met myself before? One day, I’d like to meet myself and swap clothes. I think that’s something I should know. I think I’d prefer it if time progressed linearly because that would mean that I wouldn’t have to experience all of this again. It would mean that once I’ve shed my skin I get to leave it behind and that growing means forgetting and moving on. But growth isn’t linear, that much I know. Nothing grows steadily, no body, no knowledge, no person. Easy, steady. That’s how life should be. Maybe if I keep wishing for a quiet life I’ll find a place in time that isn’t overwhelmingly filled with noise. No matter where I go, no matter how I move - in a circle or straight ahead - the noise remains a constant. A constant ringing, a constant smashing of piano keys. Constant noise equals constant terror, at least for me, and in a world of constant terror, does it matter if there’s a difference between a circle and a straight line? Does anything matter?

What is the difference between a circle and a straight line? Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the names we give to things. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet and all that except I’m no romantic. Would a circle still be a circle and a straight line still be a straight line if we called them by any other name? The Shakespearean answer is yes. I’m not satisfied with the easy answer. I’m fairly certain that there’s a world that exists without me and that there are certain truths about that world. The most fundamental truth being that I have no true way of accessing that world. None of us do. As humans we have to accept that we cannot know it all. In fact, we can only know very little. And the little knowledge that we have is very unstable. Anything we can and anything we will know is not a forever truth. There are no forever truths. Nothing we will ever know and nothing we will ever do will be a forever truth. There is no forever, at least not for us. I am very glad about that. But even though I am glad about that and even though I know that my knowledge means nothing, I cannot help but wanting to know more. Like what is the difference between a circle and a straight line? Maybe this is all just a way of passing time. And it does not matter whether time passes in a circle or in a straight line. Maybe all that matters is that it’ll all end eventually. I cannot know many things, but I hope I know the end.

 

Explanatory Note Minute 16

Minute 16 shows a recurring motif from the film which is the motif of circular motion. In minute 16, it is contrasted with movement that proceeds in a straight line. I wanted to explore this contrast in a piece of writing that connects this contrast in movements with my own personal experience. My text, titled “What Is The Difference Between A Circle And A Straight Line?“ may seem quite nonsensical as most of us would agree there is a very obvious difference between a circle and a straight line. However, the text is a discussion of objectivity, of time, of infinity, of definitions. It is a very personal reflection on the absurdity of life considering there is an end to it all. It is a reflection on what it means to be at the beginning of something that you already know, with certainty, is going to end.