Anti-clockwise: From cosmos to rituals, the motion that defines our existence

Runners in the Olympics began running anti-clockwise in 1913, following a decision by athletic authorities to address athlete complaints about discomfort and pain experienced when running in the clockwise direction, as was the practice during the first Modern Olympics in 1896. And the more I thought about it, both my curiosity and amazement grew. Resultantly, I decided to pen my thoughts about this extraordinary mystery for my esteemed readers.

It appears that anti-clockwise movement is the golden standard of our galaxy. In our school days, we were taught in Physics in Senior Cambridge that electrons move in anti-clockwise orbits. (Today, quantum mechanics shows that electrons have a property which is often referred to as "spin up" or "spin down," analogous to a compass needle pointing up or down, but it does not refer to clockwise or anti-clockwise motion around the nucleus.) Our beloved Earth, our home planet, rotates in a counterclockwise direction when viewed from above the North Pole. This eastward rotation is known as “prograde motion” and is the reason the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west.

Mercury, Mars, and the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune) all rotate in the same direction as their orbital motion, which is counterclockwise. However, Venus and Uranus rotate in a clockwise direction, which scientists believe is a result of catastrophic collisions with large objects or bodies early in the solar system's formation, significantly altering the spin of both Venus and Uranus. Most planets and bodies in our solar system orbit the Sun in an anti-clockwise direction when viewed from above the Sun's north pole. Similarly, our fountain of life, our star, the Sun, rotates in a generally counter-clockwise direction. The Moon, along with many other non-asteroid-sized moons present in the solar system, orbits in the counterclockwise direction when viewed from the north pole.

The Milky Way rotates in what astronomers define as a counterclockwise direction when viewed from above the galactic centre, in the direction of the constellation Coma Berenices. Although in many solar systems clockwise motion exists, predominantly in our galaxy, the anti-clockwise motion is the defining contour of our part of the cosmos.

It gets more fascinating. The heart provides the potion of life, our blood, and keeps it moving through the minuscule cells of our body, replenishing them as long as the body holds the soul captive. The direction of blood flow (clockwise or anti-clockwise) varies, with clockwise patterns more frequent in right-sided arteries and anti-clockwise in left-sided ones. However, the human blood flow follows a pattern that resembles counter-clockwise circulation. Moreover, because of the effect of Earth's rotation, anti-clockwise motion is more suitable for the human body, and an athlete running anti-clockwise will have a slight advantage, resulting in a faster time — a fact which led to the change of rules in athletics in the 1913 Olympic Games.

And this is not restricted to humans only. The discovery that counter-clockwise was faster than clockwise actually originated from horse racing. The majority of horses, like us, are right-side dominant, so they can run faster counter-clockwise than clockwise. Similarly, the Coriolis effect, which is a result of Earth's rotation, influences the spin of large storm systems. In the Northern Hemisphere, where the majority of tornadoes occur, the vast majority rotate counterclockwise.

During Hajj and Umrah, Muslims perform Tawaf (the circumambulation). And most interestingly, this is also in an anti-clockwise direction. Their movement dissolves individuality into the cosmic rhythm, reminding the faithful that life’s journey is not forward but inward. One reason is that the heart is on the left side, and Muslims perform this ritual to keep the heart closest to the Kaaba. But more importantly, this motion mirrors the movement of our planet, solar system, and our galaxy. And what was ordained by our most beloved Prophet (PBUH) in the 7th century was formally emulated in the 1913 Olympic Games.

It is also pertinent to mention that anti-clockwise motion is also a rebellion against the march of time and disproves the myth that time owns us. The clock, which is one of the most powerful inventions of all time, in essence enslaves us, with its hands moving clockwise, signifying forward motion. However, indigenous dances across different cultures, whirling dervishes’ ritual dances (known as the “Sema”), and mystical meditations occur in the counter-clockwise direction. This movement symbolises the connection between earth and heaven, embracing all of humanity with love and mirroring the Earth's rotation. It also exhibits the urge of the soul to break free from the tyranny of time, embodying within itself the belief that it is spiralling toward the eternal truth, in step not with the machine world but with the pulse of creation.

The more one thinks deeply, the more one is bewildered about the games the cosmos plays with us. But we need to remember that to move anti-clockwise, philosophically, means to walk back into the womb of existence, peeling away the layers of conditioning over time. The clockwise world says go, run, don’t look back. The opposite motion says, return, remember, back to the roots.

The conundrum created by the mosaic of existence, oscillating between the clockwise and the anti-clockwise, is the enigma called life. However, the only reality known to us, death, is the ultimate anti-clockwise motion. The breath unwinds, returning to the air, the spirit returns home from where it first started its journey, the body decomposes, returning to the soil, and existence recedes into nothingness. What started as a clockwise journey ends in the anti-clockwise abyss.