Circle: A scientific Law?

Humans have gathered in circles for millennia to share stories, resolve conflicts, and build community. This ancient practice, called Circle, is more than a tradition — it’s a structured, flexible process fostering connection, empathy, and belonging.

Participants sit in an egalitarian formation, creating a physically and socially inclusive space where every voice is heard without hierarchical dominance. Circle breaks down barriers through listening, trust, and open communication, cultivates emotional intelligence, and forges resilient social bonds.

But is Circle merely a feel-good trend, or does it represent something more profound — a scientific law (perhaps) as fundamental to human relationships as gravity is to the physical world? Here’s our evidence-based submission for discussion.

The Universe is Circular

From the cosmic to the microscopic, a circle is not just a shape but a fundamental blueprint of existence. Ancient thinkers saw it as divine; modern science confirms its essential role in physics and geometry. Circular patterns govern all things: the orbits of planets, the cyclical nature of time, and the structure of atoms.

Philosophers like Plato and Emerson saw the circle as a metaphor for the infinite evolution of the self, while mathematicians built entire fields upon its properties. Maynard James Keenan called the circle “a reflection of eternity,” and in many mystical traditions, it represents the unbroken cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Even structurally, the arc — a circle segment — is the strongest shape in nature, distributing stress evenly to withstand pressure and force.

So, when humans gather in Circle, they align with something much more significant than a practice; they are tapping into a universal principle that governs not only mathematics and design but also relationships and community. Just as the wheel revolutionized mobility and progress, Circle catalyzes human potential, reinforcing connection, trust, and shared understanding. It is not merely a tool but an embodiment of the fundamental forces that shape our world.

A Chemistry Class Case Study

Consider the story of Melanie, a first-year chemistry teacher who attended one of our Circle Trainings before stepping into her classroom.

Determined to integrate Circle into her teaching, Melanie sacrificed valuable instructional time nearly every week to facilitate this practice with her students. (It might have helped that Melanie was also under the impression, having just been hired, that Circle was mandated by her principal as a weekly practice…)

In a parallel classroom, James, a veteran chemistry teacher with over 20 years of experience, taught the same course but opted for traditional methods — no Circle, just chemistry as usual. The pairing created a natural experiment: Melanie’s class became the experimental group, while James’s served as the control.

The results were striking.

In Melanie’s Circle-infused class, 13 out of 32 students who took the New York State Chemistry Regents Exam achieved mastery, defined as a score of 85 or above.

Among them was Brett, a struggling learner with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), who faced challenges in reading, writing, and math computation (scoring in the bottom 50%). Though Brett didn’t take the Regents Exam, he earned an astonishing 96 in the class — a testament to his growth under Melanie’s guidance.

Meanwhile, none of the 28 students achieved mastery in James’s non-Circle class. Despite decades of experience, the students lagged far behind.

“Why?” you might wonder. Well, we believe Melanie’s success wasn’t a fluke. We believe it was her commitment to Circle.

Despite the skepticism of colleagues who argue that working on these skills steals precious instructional time, the results in Melanie’s class yielded measurable academic gains. Teachers often see data linking the skills to improved performance, yet hesitate to “sacrifice” content for connection for one reason or another.

Melanie’s story challenges that resistance, suggesting Circle isn’t just a soft skill booster — it’s a catalyst for academic excellence. And it’s not the only one.

Circle as a Scientific Constant

We believe that Circle’s impact isn’t an anomaly but a reproducible effect, as predictable as a chemical reaction. We propose that Circle is a foundational element of humanity, akin to elements like carbon, lithium, and hydrogen in the periodic table. We believe it is a social constant with defined properties and universal applications.

Just as carbon’s tetrahedral structure, with its fixed 109.5° bond angles, enables stable covalent bonding, Circle’s egalitarian circular formation establishes a non-hierarchical “social field” that promotes vulnerability and trust. This structure provides molecular-like stability for sharing perspectives and breaking down barriers like entropy disperses energy.

Within Circle, a facilitator — often called a Weaver — acts as a catalyst, like a noble gas sparking reactions between elements. The Weaver links participants, enabling authentic storytelling that activates neural empathy circuits akin to charges attracting one another.

Listening without judgment conducts these stories around the Circle, forging bonds as potent as carbon’s lattice. Over time, these dynamics yield consistent psychosocial outcomes: perspective-taking sharpens self-awareness, shared experiences foster emotional growth, and community resilience crystallizes like a diamond.

This isn’t poetic conjecture — it’s provable science.

A Scientific Law: The 119th Element

We believe Circle meets the criteria of a scientific law: an underlying order leading to predictable effects under defined conditions.

In Melanie’s classroom, the regular practice of Circle correlated with heightened student engagement, emotional well-being, and academic success. The data speaks for itself: 13 mastery scores, a 96 for a struggling learner, and a first-year teacher achieving better results. Circle’s effects are as tangible as gravity’s pull.

Circle manifests through soft human experiences, yet it exerts a force as real as electricity or energy. It’s no flash-in-the-pan trend — it’s a law woven into the fabric of human reality. If the periodic table catalogs the universe's fundamental building blocks, Circle deserves a place as the 119th element.

Circle builds self-awareness, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills. It strengthens peer and mentor networks, supporting resilience and well-being. Circle connects people profoundly by fostering a culture of open communication and shared humanity, creating compassionate, cohesive communities.

So, is Circle a scientific law? Like the elements that compose matter, we believe Circle is essential, predictable, and transformative. It’s time we recognize it not as an optional practice but as a cornerstone of human connection — one that belongs alongside the laws governing our physical world.