Ground School-Learning To Fly
Afghanistan / Reflection / The Power of Myth
Learning to Fly
The right wish draws us toward the right places. Sometimes the destination is less important than the experience of becoming fully alive.
“People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I do not think this is what we are really seeking. I think what we are seeking is an experience of being alive.”
Joseph Campbell / The Power of Myth
Deployment Note
This recent deployment to Afghanistan has been one of the most rewarding forms of introspection.
Field Note 01
The Right Wish
Nothing important in a life feels accidental once you can see the path backward.
Surely it is the right wish that draws us to the right places. Nothing of importance happens accidentally in our lives.
If I do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens. Yet I am not simply seeking interesting surroundings. I am continually interested in whatever surrounds me.
Field Note 02
Learning to Fly Without Wings
Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly” became the soundtrack for attempting what preparation alone could not guarantee.
The opening track on Into the Great Wide Open, the eighth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, begins with a solitary road and a horizon that does not explain itself.
The line that stayed with me was: “I’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wings.”
The song is about achieving a huge goal. Learning to fly without wings means learning to do something you have never done before, while never being certain you are prepared to do it.
Life can beat you down, break your heart and steal your crown. Still, you start toward God knows where and trust that you will recognize the place when you arrive.
Companion Post
Happy Last Year
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Continue into the earlier reflection on looking backward, seeing what endured and recognizing the unexpected route that brought you here.
Open Happy Last Year