The passage of the ages

The simplest symbol for the passage of the ages, of works, wonders and watch, is this:

A more detailed account is given by the following symbol:

I have the feeling that I've seen this symbol already somewhere, but be that as it may.

Composition. The symbol consists of

• 3 sectors,
• 3 areas (broad rings),
• 3 lines (narrow rings).

Colours.

• white is the colour of perfection,
• yellow is the colour of connectedness,
• red is the colour of peace.

Sectors. The sequence of the sectors and the passage of time is clockwise.

• the white sector is the pouring out of holiness (zenith of time),
• the yellow sector is the pouring out of prayers (armageddon),
• the red sector is the pouring out of vows (judgment day).

The age of works lies between the white and the yellow sector, the age of wonders between the yellow and the red sector and the age of watch between the red and the white sector.

Areas.

• the outer area is heaven,
• the central area is earth,
• the core area is the foundation.

Heaven is the area of cultural aspirations, earth the area of individual improvement and the foundation is the foundation of social cohesion.

Lines.

• the outer line is the essential (what we hope to take part in),
• the central line is the beautiful (what we individually pursue),
• the inner line the powerful (the common effort that shapes culture).

Concretely the common effort is

• alliance for perfection,
• help for connectedness,
• readiness for peace.

It is only after our individual pursuit has passed through the phase of competitive participation that it becomes so common that it can shape our environment (our culture). But by then we pursue and expect something else.

Postscript from the following day. The changes that Armageddon requires of our endeavours in the name of perfection, connectedness and peace, I've described in a series of four posts on the restoration of the seven spirits of God:

• that perfection is not only the aim of our ambition, but is also properly honoured (moving outward to the line of the essential),
• that connectedness is freed from its institutional bonds and develops in its natural place* (moving outward to the line of the beautiful),
• that peace isn't hoped for, but that the establishing of the desired infrastructure is taken into our own hands (moving inward to the line of the powerful).

The fourth post deals with the restauration of gratitude, which will come about by itself, when the current system of our pursuit of perfection is abandoned.

* The use of the term readiness (Bereitschaft) in this post for what I've elsewhere called forthcomingness is owed to vagueness of understanding on my part. By now I've come up with a more precise understanding of that term and it's referring to endeavours for peace, i.e. establishing an infrastructure designed to make our lives more senseful, as opposed to help, that is an endeavour for connectedness, which is guided by urgency. The two can overlap, and they do in the case of braveness and charity, where the removal of urgency has an infrastructural function (i.e. safety). Structurally though I view the latter two as examples of readiness, whereas forthcomingness and loyalty are examples of help. By now I've begun to use the term friendliness instead of forthcomingness though, but the underlying notion isn't changed, it's described as Smyrna in Revelation 2 or by the feeling of appreciation (of connectedness) as opposed to love (of perfection) or shared feeling / sympathy (of peace).