Soaring

In the past month, I have flown several times. This is quite unusual for me, unlike those who travel by air for business or pleasure on a frequent basis. I am usually quite earth bound.

When I find myself in the seat of an airplane, my first reaction is to wonder why no one else looks as happy to be there as I feel. Sometimes, I struggle to hold back my enthusiasm for finding a window seat. It helps me to feel less foolish if there is at least one child on board who is experiencing a similar excitement to my own.

As the plane begins to taxi on the runway, I look out the nearest window with wonder. How can this be? Here we sit, luggage stored, tons of cargo packed below us. We are about to lift off the ground to fly! Why does no one else look as amazed as I do? Aerodynamics has been explained to me; still I find it difficult to comprehend.

The engines begin to whine and the flight attendants give the standard instructions and make their routine safety inspections. Often they seem bored. I watch as the airline terminal gates whiz by the window more rapidly. Sometimes, I close my eyes just to feel more strongly the sensations of the gravity pulling, the power of the plane and the energy that comes as we lift off the ground. If we are rising through a thick bank of clouds, all that is outside the window is the uncertainty of white fluff. Suddenly, we are traveling above the clouds. The world opens up again. The experience prompts me to appreciate the belief, held by many, that when we die we ascend to a heaven above.

An Ojibwe Elder once explained that the eagle feather has two sides. If the feather had only one side then the eagle could not fly, this wise elder stated. Once these sides are balanced, all is balanced. When the two sides of the feather are balanced then we have proper behavior. This said, the Ojibwe Elder added, “Funny thing is…Eagle doesn’t care if its feathers have two sides…It just opens its wings and flies up to the Creator.”

One of the meditations that I have found most healing is a visualization based on the book by Eligio Stephen Gallegos, Animals of the Four Windows: Integrating Thinking, Sensing, Feeling and Imagery. Each one of the four animals in the meditation is asked to sit in a council circle and all work together on a question or a problem. One animal guides thinking or the intellect; one assists with feeling or emotions; one is called upon for sensing such as taste, touch, or hearing; and one brings the influence of imagery. When these ways of knowing are in balance, so is my spirit. My faith, like the soaring eagle, lifts up and flies.

Thanks to Paul who posted the question on his blog Original Faith, “How does evidence apply to holding religious beliefs?”