Life is Like a Wheel

A wise man was speaking with his followers. "Life," he told them, "life is like a wheel."

"How? How can this be so? How is it like a wheel?" they asked.

"Well," replied the wise man, "It has a hub and a circumference."

"But a wheel turns," his followers pointed out. "When does life turn?"

"Life turns with the passing of time," he told them, "with the minutes and the hours and the days. The turning of time is like the turning of a wheel."

"So what's the hub then?" asked one of them. "What is the hub of life?"

"The hub is the interior of the self," the wise man told him. "The self is at the centre of the wheel, the circumference is the other bit – the exterior of the self – which interfaces with the road of experience."

His followers considered this. "Does it have spokes?" asked one.

"Of course it has spokes," the wise man told him. "Life has spokes of moral strength! If the spokes are bent or missing then the wheel turns less easily and the journey is far from comfortable."

"And tyres?" asked another.

"For some of us, life is hard," explained the wise man. "The great wheelwright has finished our wheels in beaten iron – but for others, life's impact is softened by the pneumatic tyres of material wealth."

"And what of brakes?" asked another. "And what of suspension?" asked a second. "Are we attached to a vehicle?" enquired a third.

"The vehicle of purpose," the wise man replied, "is for some heavily loaded, and slow to start, and slower to reach its destination. For others, the vehicle of purpose is lighter, and life is a fast and dangerous business.

"To others, the journey itself is the purpose; to others, the destination. To the more spiritual the wheel is all – I, for example, am a unicycle.

"The headlights of foresight, the tail lights of hindsight, brakes of faith, the suspension of disbelief – all are but incidental to the turning of the wheel of life."

"This road of experience," asked the last of his followers. "Are there any signposts on it?"

"I don't know," sighed the wise man. "And I don't know who rolled that last spliff – but it was definitely too strong!"