Now, please allow me to muse about "The Wheel" for a minute, with regard to relationships between people. First, I just have to say that a good many songs make reference to "the wheel." Let's begin with the Grateful Dead:
The wheel is turning and you can't slow down,And a new Ratdog song:
you can't let go and you can't hold on,
you can't go back and you can't stand still,
if the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will.
Frankie and JohnnyAnd, just to show that I'm not only talking about jambands. . . feel free to Google "the wheel" and "lyrics" and see that this is a pervasive musical theme. . .
They were lovers you know
The story's so weird
Well it just goes to show
The song it gets sung
Wherever you go
The wheel's a-turning
Yes and it's hot down below
So, point being that the theme of "the wheel" pervades our society -- the calendar, the color wheel, our transportation, hydro-electric power, the Wheel of Fortune -- I could go on but. . .
I would like to couple this concept of "the wheel" with the notion of "cogs." A friend of mine has a very interesting relationship theory which I will attempt to explain here. Anyone who has been around children has probably seen toys where the child can put a variety of gears on a board and watch them work together. The wheels spin, not even at the same rate, but they all spin in synchronisity. That is to say, at the same time. Sometimes the cogs meet and touch, if the pieces fit. But this only happens at a certain point in the revolution of said wheels.
Sometimes there are people in your life that only come into it for a brief moment, but in that moment, everything meshes -- for a short time. Then, the wheel continues to turn on its own. . . until the right revolution brings the two wheels' cogs into contact and everything meshes perfectly again.
In considering the larger idea of "oneness" (with which I am obsessed), we're all wheels turning in sync. We all believe in the notion that we touch each others lives, whether for brief moments when our eyes meet on the street or for years in a marriage. What happens when the movement of one cog shifts the relationship between two other harmonious cogs?
Can we stop time? Can we truly change the course of our personal histories? In plain terms, can we avoid being affected by another person? Sure, we can duck out of the boss' way when we see her coming down the hall. But, just by seeing the "boss lady" and changing directions, you were affected by her presence. What I'm more curious about is the notion that we should avoid those people who mesh in our lives. If you saw your soulmate on the street, would you duck in fear? Or would you go to him/her? Either way, your life has been changed, just by your seeing that other person.
Perhaps, for the sake of argument, one could put Person A in a room so as not to see Person B. However, the thoughts of "A" (sequestered in the room) continue to be affected by ever having met "B". The only way to prevent being affected by another person, is to never have met or even seen them -- and, of course, that doesn't hold true in all situations. Daily, our lives are affected by persons we've never met, seen, heard, or even heard about.
Every move we make changes our earthly lives in some way. We change the lives of others, too. And, while we can change our behavior, we cannot change who we actually are. Just being the wheels that we are, we change the wheels around us... And there's only one way I can think of to stop being the wheel that you are right now.
