Flying
Free
“All
of my natural liabilities as a flyer proved to be assets as a
catcher. My lanky frame, which makes symmetry and precision difficult
in turning and tucking, gave me the advantage of a long reach...My
dyslexia, which was a constant source of confusion when I tried to
visualize twists and turns of objects and bodies in space, did not
come into play when I only had to catch a flyer who was coming
straight at me...”
Sam
Keen (Learning to Fly)
Philosopher,
Sam Keen, is the author of a dozen or so books, and teacher of Upward
Bound workshops for the Omega Institute. He decided at age sixty-two,
to throw himself into his love of flying by entering a trapeze
training program at the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. He spent
five years learning how to leap from a platform thirty-one feet in
the air, swing from a trapeze until momentum and timing allowed him
to let go and fly into the waiting hands of a catcher. He documents
the internal battles fought in overcoming fear, learning to trust,
and the sheer joy he found in letting go and flying free in Learning
to Fly. One of the unexpected revelations turned out to be
discovering that sometimes liabilities in one area turn out to be
assets in another.
I
know more than I want to about liabilities. As a student, math eluded
me—especially higher math like algebra and geometry. In high
school, I flatly flunked the former, had to repeat it in summer
school, and graciously made a D in the latter, because the old woman
teaching it knew that some students, try as they might, are never
going to get it. I was one of those. It was a crippling disability
when it came to getting into nursing school or any other para-medical
program which, naturally, was what I wanted to do with my life. What
I have discovered however, is that this very liability is an asset
when it comes to art. Since I am never going to figure out the
geometry of a traditional quilt pattern, I am freed up to be
unstructured, inventive, even creative in the works that I do. I
allow myself the latitude to say 'no' to typical patterns, and 'yes'
to the organic process that builds a 'quilt of the imagination'. I
pay attention to color and balance rather than frustrating myself
with cutting and fitting pieces that never come out right for me.
I
know others who have turned a liability into an asset. Years ago, I
had friend who was deaf, who learned to dance by feeling the beat
through his feet. I worked with a legally blind man who rode a
bicycle to work everyday. The sounds of the traffic along his route
allowed him to safely navigate the streets of a busy city.
If
you think about it, you will no doubt come up with a limitation that
you turned into an asset. Liabilities tend to engender tenacity; we
stubborn humans dig our heels in. We want to overcome whatever stands
in the way of our own freedom to fly.
In
the spirit,
Jane
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