Deconstructing the circle

The Circle

The mystical theologian Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa regarded mathematics as the best symbol for things divine. He says in De Docta Ignorantia:

Since there is no other approach to a knowledge of things divine than that of symbols, we cannot do better than use mathematical signs on account of their indestructible certitude (Cusa, 1997).

For example, Cusa used geometry to illustrate the identity of the circle and the line. As a circle becomes very large, it appears less curved, much like how the surface of the Earth appears flat to us because it is so large. In the limit where the circle becomes infinite, then the curvature vanishes and the circle coincides with the straight line (Cusa, 1997, p.103).

It is an interesting site to look at- 

http://www.integralscience.org/sphere.html