"Spherical and circular objects are privileged foreigners in our midst. A ball, touching the ground at only one point, is less subject to friction than a cube, a product of the Cartesian grid. The wheel revolutionized transportation because it could roll freely. Since all diameters are equal, no one of them can be singled out. Knowing neither vertical nor horizontal, the sphere or wheel is unrelated to the Cartesian system and exempt from its constraints. It does not belong, and it does not have to obey. Having no angles and no edges, it points nowhere and has no weak spots. It is impregnable and unconcerned. Roundness is the suitable shape for objects that belong nowhere and everywhere. Coins, shields, mirrors, bowls, and plates are round because that makes them move smoothly through space. A round table has o corners to impede traffic. Look at the French miniature showing the Creator as he measures the world. The world is a closed universe, not attached to any particular place in its surroundings. It floats, and the Creator can move it around as he pleases. It has a center of its own, from which the measurement is made. It can turn or be turned without undergoing any change." (115)
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