"Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight.
For the greatest tragedy of them all,
Is never to feel the burning light"
- Oscar Wilde
For the greatest tragedy of them all,
Is never to feel the burning light"
- Oscar Wilde
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Flight: an elemental affair.
A few years ago I took up the sport of paragliding. Learning to fly has meant embracing a deep relationship with nature and with overcoming the fear of jumping off a cliff. It’s not natural for humans to take our feet off the ground and place our faith and life in the hands of a plastic sheet, some nylon and clever engineering - to fly hundreds or thousands of feet in the air. Having a good dose of ego is the golden thread through all extreme sports - it’s what makes you fight that fear and believe that you can master the sport - and survive. In paragliding: the sun is both your friend and foe: a conductor of nature and the conditions that make flight possible - the sun provides thermals and wind. To survive in paragliding you have to work with, and not against those conditions. Overcoming your ego and accepting you’re a tiny part of something bigger, more majestic and powerful than just you - you become humble to the power of mother nature. And - like Icarus, you have to be careful not to get too close to the sun. |
