Cyclical theory of history

A form of the organic theory of history in which the life processes are the paradigm. In the individual organism, the growth processes are linear and exhibit development in time. In the species there is an ebb and flow of birth and death. The cyclical theory of history is based on the macro pattern of the renewable life of the species, as well as on the metaphors of astral cycles, i.e. planetary orbits, star transits, the seasons, day and night, etc. Cyclical theories of social history may be of sinusoidal wave-form, elliptical, circular or of other complex natures (e.g. convoluted helices of other patterns which can combine linear, annular and wave motions, as, for example, to represent the motions of the earth).