You may have wondered why some of my backgrounds contain a spiral. In some societies it is the symbol for the cycle of life, of our soul. Looked at it can represent many things: the food chain, the path we take throughout all of our incarnations in this plane of existence (in that it starts at one point and ends at exactly the same endpoint for each soul), and other things as well. If thought of in terms of a path it shows that the path we must follow is not a straight path, that it turns, and is not a short path. It is a very simple way to demonstrate this concept. Some people relate it to the pyramid in terms of it's mystical powers and significance.
Some people believe it was simply used by Native Americans to indicate a path that was travelled during migrations but I do not believe this was so. I truly believe the symbol is of a spiritual nature.
Other people prefer to use a tree as a life symbol. The tree can be viewed in different ways:
Life complete: We see only what is above ground and thus the tree can be used as a symbol to show the choices we encounter in life. You must imagine a tree, shrub or bush that has not been pruned by man. Our lives are littered with a constant array of choices. The trunk is the beginning and every branching off from there is a possible choice presented. There are less branches off on the lowest parts of the tree because the younger you are the less choices available. The largest branches could even be thought of as major life choices.
The path taken: Again we see only what is above ground. Here a tree pruned by man is more appropriate as it has a trunk bare of branches until you get into the tree's crown. However, in this version the trunk represents a person's life up to the present. The trunk, instead of showing every possible choice in the past, present and future, shows everything in the past as a singular line that represents ONLY the choices that were actually selected. Since man prunes all the branches up to the crown this juncture is the present and is, appropriately, a very small area. The crown then represents the choices that will be presented in the future and their resultant paths. As each choice is made that part of the tree will also become part of the trunk.
All that was and could have been, is now, or will be: Here we view the entire tree including the roots. Again we revert to the unpruned tree, shrub or bush that has a tap root. The focal point here is the small length of trunk in the middle. This is the present. Looking towards the roots you see all the choices you made (represented by the tap root) and all the other choices you could've made and their resultant paths. Looking towards the crown you see all the choices that will be available to you in the future and their resultant paths.