Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I Can Fly


I returned to the old place. They said I would find the landscape much altered, but nothing had really changed. Steep paths, though less visible, still descended to the ocean sand.

I recalled the plunge down those same paths. Paths so steeply vamped that it took such courage for a child to descend. But I did it. Rushing with monster steps and flying feet, in order not too plunge or tumble.

Faith was important as well. Believing I could run. Believing I could fly. Only one fleeting moment of doubt or hesitation and I would tumble end over end down steep cliffs, over sharp rocks, and into the briars.

I think about how enviable I could have become if gravity could be slightly skewed so that my feet could fly with the same rapidity on a flat track.

And perhaps if the gravity in the human mind could be skewed in a similar manner, we could likewise make unbelievable strides. Strides large enough to accomplish all we ever hope or dream. As long as we don’t hesitate and begin that self-perpetuating tumble – down, down, down. End over end over end.

It is surprising to me that this old haunt offers such philosophical and academic import. Study notes, as it were, promoting an understanding of how the character of the soul can find agility through a memory that cements the belief that ‘I can fly’.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking back always adds a grounding of sorts, the understanding of what we were that adds perspective to the world in which we currently reside.

So yes, you can fly!

Joy Des Jardins said...

What a beautiful piece Roberta. I think we truly must be soul sisters...for in every thought-out fantasy...every dream I've ever had....I CAN FLY. I can walk with the ease of an angel above the heads of everyone below and fly with the speed of an eagle. It's just what I do....and it feels very real. Maybe in another life I was a winged creature soaring through the air....maybe you were too dear friend. Maybe we soared together. Thank you for this wonderful piece....

Anonymous said...

Very occasionally I still dream that I can fly. And when those dreams slip in between the complex, gothic anxiety scenarios I am liberated for days afterwards. One might almost believe from such liberation that our evolution took us not, in fact, from the sea but from the air.

Roberta S said...

Thank you for that, susan. Helps to prevent any hesitation. I don't know you personally, but from reading your blog, I'm pretty certain that if I can fly, so can you.

Roberta S said...

Hi joy. The soul sister thing is right. I felt it earlier when I looked at the pictures you selected on your site. The pictures were so lovely, but at the same time there was something almost creepy about the absolute confidence (and connection)I felt while thinking..."she picked all the exact pictures I would have picked!"

P.S. Let's go flying tomorrow after lunch.

Roberta S said...

Dick, I'm not sure you have any business flying around. You could have a moment of doubt and then you would fall and hurt yourself. (spoken in jest, of course)

I like your concept -- rather startling, original, but still quite possible. Wish it would catch on. Creationists have such a time trying to incorporate the sea thing into their story, but if the whole world suddenly adopted the sky notion it would be much easier for creationists to explain things in a way that would correlate in a less slanted way with evolutionists. Life dropped from the sky -- by the hand of God, maybe...or for the Science community from a meteor shower.

Sometimes you provoke enough thoughts in my head to make my brains cave in.