I was given this cartoon recently. I so often dream I can fly. I really want to be able to, it seems so ridiculous that I can’t. Like Peggy’s daughter I almost expect to just take off sometimes. Maybe it’s because I fly in planes at least every couple of weeks, it’s getting into my blood. Maybe it’s a metaphor for my stage of life, the way my career is really taking off and my work is so exciting and liberating.
Once I tried to fly too high too fast. The sun melted the wax holding the feathers on and I crashed to the ground. Hard. It really really hurt, and took me about two years to fully recover.
I’ve learned that Jungians think that we have a soul, which sits in between our spiritual self (which is our connection to the divine), and our instinctual self (which is our connection to the physical world). The soul is uniquely us, and has to walk the middle path between those two worlds, never getting too far from either. If we loose our connection to the spirit we have no life force, and we die. If we loose our connection to our bodies and the earthly world we float away (well, I have no idea what happens but that sounds about right).
During Meeting last week a six year old girl came and put this picture on my knee. The creatures are horses that can fly. The baby one can’t fly yet because its wings aren’t big enough. I love the lightness of their dragon fly wings along with the sturdy, muscular earthy sureness that horses invoke.
So I want to learn to land. To be firmly grounded in the world, present with things earthy, solid, and visceral. To be ‘in’ this body, this life, this land. Of course my motivation for wanting to do this so I can safely fly even higher, but hey, it’s a start.