jungle

What to think of on a long flight? Well, it can be difficult to fill the time for some once you have attended to the mundane chores of keeping the aircraft pointed in the right direction and making sure the fuel and weather are adequate.

It has been said that a sure cure for civilization is to travel far into open water on a boat. An aircraft is much like a small boat, the crew must rely on cooperation and skill to keep things going and have an attitude of teamwork and mutual respect for things to run smoothly. Beyond that, most lean toward introspective or philosophical meanderings. Some crewmembers are chock full of entertaining tales of experiences from past lives, wives or girlfriends. Some are prone to dwell on the bad and some on the good.

Some leave the impression that they would rather be almost anyplace than in that aircraft and some seem to thrive in the air and their distance from the doings of mankind.

I guess that most of us visit our earthly concerns, but eventually are also considering the sky and ground flowing past looking at places and things that few get to see. Looking at them in a way that was done before TV or even writing. Just the way they were so long ago, so far removed from the present time.

For that six or twelve hour span you are given the gift of retreating from the struggles of society and just involved in a more elemental effort. The common bond of aviators is this engagement with the elements and the irrefutable laws of physics. The night sky is much more full and stretches to broader horizons, planets and stars give us a taste of what infinite really means. Good, bad-these words really don't have any meaning when the cosmos is stretched out before you. It just is, and you can't say why, but know that you enjoy it.

The flight is a reflection of life's journey. Whether you embrace it for it's infinite worth or try to escape it in some way is a symbol of the meaning you see in life or really the joy you see in life.

jungle

DYNASTY HVY

That was a nice post is what I think .



Ally

CaptainCarl

Try not to think about breathing... It starts to get tricky once your conscious mind takes over

Cubdriver

When I was 20 I had a girlfriend that would listen to my crazy ramblings passively for hours at a time without much response although she would always listen quite intently to the very end. I would finally fix my gaze on her after a long, impassioned soliloquy and ask, do you agree with any of this and do you have any counterpoints to make? She would always say "I try not to think very much". Early on I felt maybe she was mocking me with this short way of replying. I was never quite sure so I would let it pass. Occasionally I would defend myself, "a person ought to think about things and come to a reasoned and thoughtful conclusion." Years later I realized she was a more profound person than I knew at the time, and her ability to listen said much more than all of my ramblings put together. Since then I do not explain myself quite as much and I listen a lot more.

ImTumbleweed

Jungle,

You are a true poet.

You have the ability to capture thoughts and put them to print.

Thanks for posting.

Cheers,
ImTumbleweed
"Afterburner is a great substitute for poor headwork"

tomgoodman

---Voltaire

I know what he meant, but don't want to think about it.

FlyJSH

Jungle, I think I would enjoy getting drunk with you by a campfire.





Decades ago on a fishing trip in Canada, I saw the Aurora Boreales for the first time. Not being a religious type, I pondered the waves of dancing lights; however, after some time I began to contemplate why something I would see as beautiful would be a random act.

Most of my flying has been between sunset and sunrise. Often my mind has wondered and contemplated many issues: the solitude of man, the origin of species, does the creator have a sense of art, and the meaning of life.

In the end, I decided not to ask too many questions, but to accept what I saw. Beauty is. Enjoy it. And seek the beauty that exists in all things.

N9373M

Nice post.

I'm 100% hand flying - so there's no time to think. If you think, you're dead.

alarkyokie

Quieting that voice in the head, the 'monitor' circuits of your surroundings,is a difficult task. To just observe, and not file, evaluate, process,judge,or even comment (internally)
on what's going on is an attribute of a Zen master. If something is, that's enough.

HSLD

Pure poetry, thanks for sharing