THE UNFINISHED CIRCLE

Openness to the Other and Transcendence

Ever Approachable, Never Attainable

My personal emblem represents my lifelong search for meaning, wholeness and transcendence. It is a circle in the making: open, imperfect, relational and unfinished.

1. The Unfinished Circle: Becoming, Not Arriving

The circle symbolises unity, harmony, completeness and perfection. Yet my emblem is deliberately not a perfect circle.

• Almost circular: I seek wholeness without claiming to possess it.

• Rough and uneven: Life includes suffering, contradictions, failures and unexpected possibilities.

• Open and unfinished: Growth remains possible. There is always something more to discover, learn and become.

• Moving towards perfection: The ideal attracts and inspires us, even when it remains beyond our grasp.

My conviction: Perfection is approachable, but never fully attainable. The beauty of life lies in the journey of becoming.

2. Three Meeting Points: Openness to the Other

The three prominent coloured points suggest encounters, relationships and the possibility of communion.

They remind me that:

• I am incomplete: I cannot understand or fulfil myself entirely on my own.

• I am interdependent: My existence is inseparable from other persons, communities, nature and the larger cosmos.

• I am open to the Other: Every encounter can challenge my certainties, enlarge my understanding and deepen my humanity.

The circle is not sealed. Its openness is intentional. There is always room for another person, another perspective and another possibility.

My conviction: I become more fully human not by closing myself within my own world, but by opening myself to others.

3. Cosmos | Consciousness | Compassion

This triad expresses three interconnected dimensions of my intellectual and spiritual journey.

• Cosmos: Wonder at the universe, its patterns, complexity, beauty and mystery.

• Consciousness: Awareness of myself, others and the questions that make human existence meaningful.

• Compassion: The ethical response that moves us beyond understanding towards care, solidarity and service.

The journey begins with wonder, develops through awareness and finds its human expression in compassion.

From knowing the world to caring for the world.

4. Patterns | Persons | Presence

This second triad gives the emblem a more immediate human meaning.

• Patterns: Science and reason help me recognise connections, relationships and structures within reality.

• Persons: Behind every concept, system, statistic and institution stands a human being whose dignity cannot be reduced to numbers.

• Presence: Understanding becomes meaningful when I am genuinely available to others, especially in their vulnerability.

From discovering patterns to encountering persons and becoming a compassionate presence.

For me, knowledge should make us more human, not merely more informed.

5. Rational | Responsible | Relational

These three qualities express my ethical orientation.

• Rational: To question, reflect, examine assumptions and seek truth with intellectual humility.

• Responsible: To recognise the consequences of my choices and respond to the needs of others.

• Relational: To understand that freedom and fulfilment emerge through meaningful relationships.

Reason without responsibility can become domination. Responsibility without relationships can become mere duty. Relationships without reflection can become superficial.

My aspiration: To think clearly, act responsibly and relate compassionately.

6. Roughness and Rhythm: Between Chaos and Order

The uneven brushstrokes are important. They resist mechanical precision.

Life is not a perfectly organised sequence of events. It is a movement between:

• Order and chaos: Stability gives us direction; uncertainty creates possibilities.

• Joy and suffering: Both contribute to human maturity.

• Freedom and limitation: We aspire beyond the boundaries we experience.

• Harmony and conflict: Genuine peace does not require the absence of differences.

• Being and becoming: I am someone today, yet I remain open to who I may become tomorrow.

The roughness of the circle is not a defect to be corrected. It is a reminder that life is real, fragile, unfinished and beautiful.

7. The Open Centre: Mystery and Transcendence

The open centre is perhaps the most significant feature of my emblem.

It represents:

• Interior freedom: Space for silence, reflection and self-examination.

• Hospitality: Room for strangers, friends, differences and new possibilities.

• Mystery: An acknowledgement that reality is always greater than my knowledge of it.

• Transcendence: Openness to what lies beyond myself, my achievements, my concepts and even my understanding of God.

Transcendence, for me, is not an escape from ordinary life. It is the discovery that ordinary life always points beyond itself.

The centre remains open because neither truth nor God nor the other person can ever become my possession.

8. The Colours: Diversity Within Unity

The four colours offer another way of understanding my journey.

• 🔵 Blue – Wonder and Wisdom: The search for truth, depth and understanding.

• 🟠 Orange – Courage and Creativity: The energy to act, experiment, change and begin again.

• 🟢 Green – Life and Hope: Growth, ecological responsibility, renewal and flourishing.

• ⚪ White – Openness and Transcendence: Silence, spaciousness, hospitality and the mystery beyond.

These meanings are suggestive rather than fixed. The colours remain distinct while participating in a larger movement.

Unity does not demand uniformity.

9. Living the Circle: From Self to Others

Ultimately, my emblem is not simply a philosophical statement. It is a personal invitation to live differently.

It calls me:

• To remain curious, rather than become certain of everything.

• To listen before judging, especially when I encounter differences.

• To accept imperfections, without abandoning the search for excellence.

• To welcome others, rather than protect my own comfort.

• To transform knowledge into wisdom, and wisdom into compassionate action.

• To seek transcendence, while remaining deeply rooted in everyday human life.

10. My Lifelong Search: Ever Approachable, Never Attainable

My emblem brings together several movements that shape my life:

Cosmos → Consciousness → Compassion

Patterns → Persons → Presence

Rational → Responsible → Relational

Connection → Compassion → Communion

Being → Becoming → Beyond

These are not separate destinations. They are interconnected movements within an unfinished life.

I do not aspire to possess the whole truth, achieve flawless perfection or arrive at a final state of completeness.

I aspire to remain open: to reality, to people, to suffering, to beauty, to mystery and to the Transcendent.

The circle is unfinished because I am unfinished.

It remains open because I need the Other.

It tends towards wholeness because life is a continuous search for meaning.

And perhaps its deepest message is this:

I need not be perfect to become more human. I need only remain open to love, learn, grow and give.

Towards Wholeness, Never Perfection.
We are INCOMPLETE, individually and collectively!
Still we can search together, make sense of ourselve and the other, partially!