For me personally I have always been somewhat awe struck during my times in airplanes. Each time, I have been on a plane it has been a fairly profoundly spiritual time for me – and this coming from a person who calls him self non mystical. The root of what I am saying is the knowledge that I am leaving one place – a place filed with experiences had – and heading to an unknown locale, hundred if not thousands of kilometres away, makes me head a buzz with activity.
I’m leaving experience behind…
Whether you are moving on to the next travel destination, or beginning one from your home, when you travel many things and many relationships are being left behind. For me being on a plane at first makes me aware of what I am losing. There are people and experiences I’ve had in the place I was that are unique and because of that irreplaceable. Knowing what those people and that place gave to me is gone, at least till I go back there (and even then it will never be the same) , fills my chest with a sadness to what is lost. This is only the beginning of the airplane experience though the next component is optimistic.
I`m heading into something new…
At a certain time during the flight longing for what is gone changes into a fascination for what hasn’t been. The realization comes that in a certain amount of time I will be getting off this plane into a totally different environment complete with situations, people, and things I have no knowledge of. In the first place this buzz of not knowing is what led me to travel and it begins to take hold inside of my chest, the traveler’s excitement and fantasy for what could be now dances through my mind. There is buoyancy mixed with just a twang of fear.
Getting off the Plane
The dialectic of the plane infused mysticism is actually getting off and collecting your things. This is when the flights of memory and fantasy of the plane must necessarily change back to the reality principle. Now there are “real” things that must be done to secure your comfort in terms finding a place to stay, things to eat. The safety blanket of the plane, your home for a short time, is pulled out like a table cloth under plates and now you have to make sure the plates don’t drop. Thinking is done, and the growth and reflection it brought, now you are back into the realm of action.