Pilots, The Ego, and Paying It Forward

[Firebird2XC]

Here's an example of the pilot-ego relationship I just recalled.

It's an old favorite and I've seen it more than once in places where pilots gather.

(If any of you are down at FPR at Ari Ben or whatnot- this is on the wall at the Tiki.)

Note the relationship between pilot and plane and the joy conveyed- and then how it's used to compare the author to others. Relationships based on subjective comparison and the resulting derived value are the domain of the ego.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941

 

[Firebird2XC]

Also- can't believe I never noticed this until now!

1 Corinthians 13, verse 12:

[FONT=&quot] 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]

This is an actual direct reference to ego as we've been discussing it here.

Some translations write this phrase as 'a mirror darkly'. What this verse is saying is that our ego clouds our vision. In failing to deal with our ego driven misconceptions, we are doomed only to see fault in others- which is a 'reflection' of fault in ourselves.

When we DO deal with our ego, we see 'face to face'. Only then can we see others- and ourselves- clearly.


[/FONT]

 

[DeuceOfAces]

Woah! I haven't been on here in ages but Firebird's thread drew me back.

Just wanna add and say that, at least in my own experience, nothing outside of you and nothing outside this present moment is gonna really give you the peace of mind you're looking for. If you look carefully, you'll see that the mind always looks to some future moment (which is ultimately imaginary) for fulfillment. How many times have you thought that when this, that, or the other happens, then everything will finally be OK? And yeah, I too sensed that the reason I wanted to become an airline pilot was because I was seeking some sort of fulfillment, life meaning, emotional release, self-satisfaction or whatever. I thought that when I eventually reached the left seat of an airliner with a heavy designation, I'd finally "make it". That Eckhart Tolle guy changed my whole freaking perspective. READ HIM!!! And BTW, 'A New Earth' & 'Power of Now' are not religious or spiritual or self-help books in the traditional sense. There's absolutely nothing that you to believe in or think about. Actually quite the opposite. But I digress. Flying is supremely fun and having an office thousands of feet in the sky is beyond awesome. BUT, realize that none of that is where your internal source of peace really comes from... Whatever you experience, happy or sad, good or bad: this too shall pass. Remember that. You are already a happy person. It's just the many thoughts and feelings that are constantly rushing through your mind that obsure that essential fact.

See if you can quiet your mind for just this moment...

 

[Firebird2XC]

:yeahthat:


"All you need is love." - John Lennon

"Every little thing gonna be alright." - Bob Marley