Or, these "rings" have been imposed on history by the human race's psychological compulsion to impose an understandable narrative structure onto the chaotic, se

Or, these "rings" have been imposed on history by the human race's psychological compulsion to impose an understandable narrative structure onto the chaotic, senseless, meaningless mess that is life. If we can't make sense of the past, how can we reasonably believe we have a chance of making sense of our own lives? Of course in actuality, we can do neither of these things. The problem is if everyone sincerely believed this, we wouldn't get anything done. This is a big part of why religion continues to be so popular.