Spinning the Big Wheel—Taking a Chance at Life

 

When listening to Rush albums (which I frequently do), one can often detect a general theme loosely connecting all or many of the songs. On Roll the Bones, the theme one finds throughout is the idea of the randomness of life. This is obviously present in the title track: “why does it happen? Because it happens. Roll the bones.” Some things are what certain philosophers refer to as “without why.” In other words, you just can’t explain everything all the time. As humans, we have a deep need to have explanations. The world is less scary when we think we understand it. It tends to be those things that we can’t understand or explain that bother us most. Accepting that some things don’t have reasons—it is not the universe or the grand plan of some higher being—is a big deal for many of us.

 One aspect of this randomness is that sometimes in life, you just have to roll the dice (or roll the bones, as it were) and go for it. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. But doing nothing is simply not an option. You and I just have to spin that Big Wheel called life. This is the message of the song The Big Wheel from side two of Roll the Bones. You can read the full lyrics here. 

“Well I was only a kid—didn’t know enough to be afraid.” Ah, that youthful naivete, optimism, and drive! “Nothing to lose—maybe I have something to trade.” You get out there in life with all the wonder and excitement, and you just know that the big wheel is going to spin in your favor. You aren’t going to wait for anyone or anything, you have to make your own way: 

“Well, I was only a kid, on a holy crusade
I put no trust in a faith that was ready-made
Take no chances on paradise delayed
So I do a slow fade” 

No, paradise is not for some other future time, it is to be had and enjoyed now. And life is not “ready-made,” you have to make it yourself. For those who knew Neil Peart’s attitude toward life and his own experience as a young lad going for broke, this was him. As the song goes on, he didn’t want to wait for heaven or an angel to forgive his sins. However, he was “playing with fire.” Sometimes you get burned:
 
“Well, I was only a kid, cruising around in a trance,
Prisoner of fate, victim of circumstance
I was lined up for glory, but the tickets sold out in advance
The way the big wheel spins”

That youthful optimism finally gives way to harsh realities. This verse, hailing back to the song Circumstances from the 1978 Hemispheres album, rehearses the fact that once you go for it, you find that you get punched in the gut. Things don’t always go as planned. So rather than being wide-eyed and ready for glory, you cruise around in a trance as that prisoner of fate and a victim of circumstance. Despite your “can-do” attitude, you wind up prisoner and victim to forces beyond your control—the forces of fate and circumstance. That is just the way the big wheel spins. So what do you do? You get up and do it again. No looking back!

 

“Well, I was only a kid, gone without a backward glance
Going for broke, going for another chance
Hoping for heaven—hoping for a fine romance
If I do the right dance” 

Life is a dance. The idea for some that life is random and a game of chance is paralyzing. If there is no guarantee of victory (no heaven to place your bets on), then there is nothing to believe in. (And, frankly, whether you believe in a future or heaven or not, you have to live life as if there isn’t one). To the contrary, existentialist philosophers would say that this absurdity we call existence is not cause for despair, but great hope. I know most folk think existentialists were all about despair and angst, but that is not the end of the story. The lack of ready-made meaning in life might provoke the initial reactions of despair and hopelessness, but that isn’t where you want to stay. Life may be random chance the way the big wheel spins, but that means the world is a place of seemingly endless possibilities. You just have to go for another chance, that is just the way the big wheel spins! 

My Rush interpretation for today is that life is a constant, unending process of interpretation. Whatever “it all means,” you have to get out there every single day and find out. You start out naively joyful. You will inevitably get knocked down at some point. That’s just the way the big wheel spins. But don’t stay down! Go for broke. Go for another chance. You might even be a little wiser for the wear. So don’t lose that youthful optimism, even it is tempered somewhat from fate and circumstance. This is what philosophy professor, Brian Treanor, means by a “second naivete” in his book Melancholic Joy: On Life Worth Living. 

Keep the youthful drive “as if” the world was all sunshine and glory, even if you know it isn’t always that way. 

So get out there and see how that big wheel spins!

 “Wheel goes round, landing on a twist of faith

Taking your chances you’ll have the right answers
When the final judgment begins
 
“Wheel goes round, landing on a leap of fate
Life redirected in ways unexpected
Sometimes the odd number wins
The way the big wheel spins” 

Notice the play on words. No leap of faith, or twist of fate. Sometimes its a leap of fate that becomes a twist of faith. 

(Today’s post for my friend, George)