I wonder what went behind the invention of the wheel?
Was it created after many months of trials of objects of varying shapes and sizes by our Stone Age ancestors until they got it right? Or perhaps the wheel had been invented many eons earlier than the Stone Age, and kept a closely guarded secret, passed on by generations of the same family like some secret heirloom until the time was right for it to be revealed to the eagerly awaiting and utterly desperate world. Or maybe, someone by the name of Offa Rockstone, fast asleep in his cave dwelling under his comfortable sheepskin blanket dreamt of one of the inventions that would revolutionise humanity.
Maybe it was all three. Offa’s ancestors had tried for decades to come up with a simple solution to help them to carry their wears to wherever they needed to go. They were close to inventing the wheel… but not close enough. Their devices were too heavy, too bulky or too square. Their challenge was for someone in the family to create this marvellous contraption that would help not only them, but all mankind. For generations this challenge was passed on… from father to son, mother to daughter… and eventually it arrived on Offa’s lap.
He had his eureka! moment one cold, dark winter’s night, as he slept after carting all of his worldly goods into a cave for the night. In his sleep, he had a vision… and the very next day the wheel was born. It had a bit of a wonky start, of course things always have teething troubles, but eventually Offa’s wheel took the world by storm.
Well, it may have happened that way. I don’t think there are any recorded cases of the invention of the wheel. And dreams have started many a successful enterprise all throughout history, and hopefully included in this count will be my dream (see yesterday’s post for more details!)
This week’s Illustration Friday theme is Wheel, and I’ve been desperately trying to come up with some kind of way to illustrate the wheel without using a vehicle. The Sanskrit word for wheel is Chakra, and the Chakras are the centres of life-force energy that are dotted around the body. I could have gone down that route, but, thanks to my blogging friend Shree Jacob, I’m still learning about the relevant Chakras, so decided to go with something I know absolutely nothing about – the invention of the wheel!
The picture above is my interpretation of Offa trying to sleep, but finding his thoughts controlled by a certain circular object that was mere hours away from creation. Would you be able to sleep if you were so close to the dawning of something so simple, yet so monumental?
Also, Sideview’s weekend theme for the weekend just gone (yes, I know I’m a little late!) is Family Heirloom, so I thought I’d have a little fun and tie in both themes with this post. Shree, incidentally, also participates in Illustration Friday, and has come up with a fabulous mandala design for a wheel, which reminds me of a Chakra image if ever I saw one… click here if you’d like to have a look!
It’s more than likely that more thought went into the creation of the wheel than I give credit for in this post, but if something so great has lasted for so long, since those days in the Neolithic Period, imagine what great things we can create today, with our technological advances, if we put our minds to it.
Or, put another way, followed our dreams…
The Mansionic Perspective 
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