THE WONDER-WHEEL OF CONTRADICTION C1R3
THE WONDER-WHEEL OF CONTRADICTION:
THE WONDER-WHEEL OF CONTRADICTION,
Perhaps the most curious ride of Everything-World, the Wonder-Wheel of Contradiction and her operator Rio ask many questions about us as a whole, the entire living-being-creature-race I suppose? Herself and Rio appear to think we are a masterpiece, occupying so many, many opposite spaces in the universe so flamboyantly and self-confidently. The Wonder-Wheel is constantly in awe, celebrating the idea that we so often shed any knowledge of our own paradox, our own contradictions, our own hypocriticalness – in favour of simply being ‘right’. Not wrong. Right. All the time.
RIDE OPERATOR RIO:
THE WONDER-WHEEL OF CONTRADICTION: RIO: Rio used to be in the book, THE ONE THING AND ANOTHERS but she got sick and tired of being so bored for so long in the first few pages before her husband and her are saved by the UFO. She was one of the original supporters for ‘The Great Escape’. My allegedly boring storybooks still grow from the various trees throughout the gardens of Everything-World, and Rio is one of the presidents of the “Get Rid Of The Book-Growing-Trees Club” club (GROTBGTC), who have been experimenting (*unsuccessfully) with ways to stop the trees growing the books again and again, using various potions from Raphaella & Ziapha. The questions of Contradiction hang from the orange clouds at the end of the Wonder-Wheels many arms.
- What is a contradiction, and why is it important to understand in philosophy?
- Can two opposite statements both be true at the same time?
- Is it possible for something to be both true and false simultaneously?
- How do contradictions relate to the concept of “truth”?
- What are some everyday examples of contradictions in our lives?
- Are contradictions a result of language limitations or inherent in the world?
- Can you think of a scenario where a contradiction might be useful or necessary?
- How do people’s different perspectives and experiences affect their perception of contradictions?
- Can contradictions lead to new discoveries or insights in science or art?
- What’s the difference between a contradiction and a paradox?
- Do all contradictions have to be resolved, or can some contradictions coexist without a problem?
- How do contradictions challenge our understanding of reality and logic?
- Can contradictions ever be harmonized or reconciled?
- Are there any contradictions in religious beliefs, and if so, how are they explained or justified?
- What’s the role of contradictions in literature and storytelling?
- Can people have contradictory feelings or emotions about the same thing? How do they handle that?
- Is it possible for a contradiction to be a matter of perspective rather than objective reality?
- Do contradictions in our beliefs or actions indicate inconsistency, or can they be a sign of growth and development?
- How do people deal with contradictions in their personal values and ethics?
- Is there a connection between embracing contradictions and fostering creativity?
You walk towards the voice you hear, whispering as though it were a breeze, leading you toward the soft glow of the slowly whirling lights.
A crooked older woman with a laugh as hearty as a boombox greets you, “Call me Tara”, she reaches out a paint stained hand and shakes yours, then turns to press a red button on the clanky machinery. She gruffly asks me when her next pay check is coming. “Soon” I answer.
The Wonder-Wheel stops, and you walk up a fluorescent orange staircase and settle into a carriage marked on the outside with the phrase “WE CREATE & WE DESTROY”. ON the seat next to you are two books, the first is the story book “THE ONE THING AND ANOTHERS” and beneath that, are these exact pages of this blankish journal.
As you begin to float upward into the endless sky above, once more, your mind drops into your soul and is hypnotised by the voice of the Wonder-Wheel, as she almost sings her questions to you.
Who knows if you have read the story book or not by now, or even just glanced at the pages, or then them up, re-written them or even created your own ending, it seemingly doesn’t matter, but it’s always there, so that if you get stuck in the labyrinth of your own thoughts, you may reach for the story, to pull you through to another world, where minds of the writer and readers collide, where anything can happen.
And who knows who is with you on this ride? Who else has copy of this blackish journal, who is sitting in the next carriage or indeed your carriage. Who do you chose to share this ride of thinking with?
The wonder wheel stretches her eye’s toward you on their stalks as she talks to you…
“Imagine the world we live in. What makes humans and everything humans have made so different to the cycles, the texture and the rhythm of nature?”
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And speaking of cycles and circles, lets see what goes in circles… Wonder-Wheels, seasons, atoms, planets, clocks, the sun, entire solar systems, maybe even life and death and then life and then death and then life…. What else do you see in your world that goes in circles?
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And so what of the word “progress”? Myself being a Wonder-Wheel, I haven ever understood the meaning. I can only visualise it as a straight line, something I’m extremely unfamiliar with.
What do you think progress is?
And what is it for you personally?
And for the world?
And do we have a destination?
Is there something beyond progress?
Is there ever a point where we will stop this “progressing”?
Where are we going?
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“The reason I have given you the storybook “The One Thing and Anothers” is because I like this book. Let me share a page with you I love very much indeed :
Although the storybook seems to suggest that human beings are both one thing and another because of some kind of alien intervention, what rings true for you when it comes to human nature? By this, I mean, what IS contradiction?
In your own words?”
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“And do you have any contradictions?
For instance, are you kind but also sometimes mean?
Do you tell the truth and also lie?”
“Here’s a space for you to make your own wonder wheel of your own contradictions, if you cannot think of any, ask people around you, contradictions can be funny, and if you ask someone about your own, perhaps you could ask them about theirs’ too.”
“Is there anyone you know that doesn’t have any contradictions?”
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“I certainly haven’t met anyone yet without at least one contradiction. And that leads me to a whole new world of ideas. If we all think differently, as the bumper cars have suggested, and if we are also full of contradictions in our character, in what ways do we need each other?”
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“And if we need each other, is it merely to compensate for our contradictions? Is it to bring more ideas to a conversation instead of being ruled by one? Or is it simple just to be…together?
In what ways do humans need other humans?
In what way do humans need nature?
Does nature need humans?
Do you need me?
Taken together, does the universe need everything in it, including itself as a whole?
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What distinguishes dialogue from arguments?
Is it possible to solve disagreements harmoniously? How?
And if you can THINK for yourself, what does it matter what other people think about what you think? Are there certain situations where that matters more than others? Howso?
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And now my favourite investigation of them all. My ‘strengths vs flaws’ investigation. One day, I was spinning around and there was no one here, the theme park was empty, and I said to Tara, my operator, “What if there was no such thing as strengths and flaws? What if they were just the two sides of the one coin?”. She didn’t understand me at first as she was in an argument with Dr Soup about him being late all the time while she was always punctual. And she also doesn’t think she has any flaws at all.” The Wonder-Wheel rolls her eyes.
“I heard THAT!” Tara yells from way down below. The Wonder-Wheel ignores her.
“And so I suggested:
If he is late, it might mean he’s paying attention to what is happening around him, as well as staying focused on the task of getting to work?”
Tara snapped back ‘He’s always away with the faeries, always dilly-dallying…’ and so then I said,
‘But that is what makes Dr Soup be Dr Soup, if he was punctual all the time and we got rid completely of him ever being late ever again, surely, we would also sadly never see him dilly-dally with the faeries, not stop to help someone in need, he in essence, would suddenly cease to be himself.’
After a while Tara agreed with me and so we wrote out a list of our ‘flaws’ that equated to their corresponding ‘strengths’. By way in which of saying, without one, you can’t have the other?
Here is our list:
Here is some space for you and your loved ones to make your own.
STRENGTHS. Vs FLAWS
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Another thing that got me wondering as I read the storybook “THE ONE THING AND ANOTHERS” was the questions that surround ‘being alone or ‘being together’?
And so I ask you, what do you like doing alone?
What do you like doing with others?
What does it feel like to belong?
To not belong?
Are we alone or are we together?
There’s are saying that goes, “you live alone, you die alone” – do you believe that to be true?
If ‘aliens’ exist, either in the skies close to our home or within the endlessness of the universe itself, does this make you feel connected, or does this make you feel frightened?
Are we scared of what we don’t know?
I’m lucky to live in this themepark of Everythingworld, as it is so similar to the universe, which I believe IS everything…
Can ‘nothing’ exist?
And back to the world in which you live your day to day life…
In what ways do people do and don’t belong across our world?
On big levels, like refugees, like migrants, like anyone who has left a home they once knew, either physically or emotionally, how do we find places to belong?
And also on smaller levels, like within families, like within friendship groups, how do we find places to belong?
And how do we find our own way to stand out?
Sometimes, after dark, when the themepark has closed and the operators have fallen asleep, I wonder if I am alone. I listen to the glistening leaves, hushingly remind each other that they are there, near each other and near me. The faraway birds sing the songs of the twighlight, and I find a peace in the solace that exists within the company of others, also in solace, but right there beside me.”
“If indeed we both belong and do not belong, what will become of us and how much does it matter?” The wheel closes her eyes. “Because when something matters, it can matter so much…”
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The Wonder-Wheel has delivered you back to the staircase and Tara winks at you and reminds you of the empty pages at the end of this journal to fill as your life goes on.
“Keep special things in special places” is the last thing you hear her say, as she points you toward the direction of tornado of silk-moths. They sparkle in colours you have never seen before, you find yourself within their dance, spinning with me beside you, the moths swiftly and lovingly carry us toward the LAKE OF MEANING.
You make out a pirate in the distance at the door of a boathouse. She had short black flying hair.
You can only just make out what she is saying:
“What do you think life is for? Why in The world are we here?…”
You notice me walking the other direction.
“Go to her,” I say. “I’ll be waiting for you.”