"One of the most thrilling trailers for a ‘Superman‘ movie featured no blue tights or red cape. It was just the blue sky. Clouds skimming past. Like you were flying.“ This classic image straight out of sleep dreams is conjured up in a recent Denver Post article entitled "Dreams of Flying Solo … On a wing and a Prayer.“ The article explores human flight without sitting in a machine, which is a common and powerful Sleep Dream experience. The article informs us that there is "intense worldwide competition to develop and refine 'wing suits' and other technology that would allow a person to fly and – the real trick – land without a parachute.“ A sleep dream has gone beyond the realm of Daydreams and Art, to that of Goals & Aspirations.
Borrowing from sleep dreams, waking life presents dream-like scenarios of solo flight. "There are several amazing YouTube videos of real-life daredevils outfitted in … wing suits, which are webbed between the arms and legs, and fashioned from material that doesn’t allow air to pass through. These fliers look like flying squirrels, buzzing snow-clad mountains or cruising breathtaking ravines at breakneck speeds of up to 100 mph.“ Humans as flying squirrels! The dream-like humor of life!
The article informs us that there are are interesting logistical issues involved with the dream of flying. "Those on this quest to fly and land without a parachute say that flying is hard. But the landing is a lot harder. Some previous suggestions for newfangled landing pads included a giant air bag and a huge swing that could catch a flier.“ These solutions sound like something out of, well, a dream.
The article’s author voices the common human longing to fly. "Who wouldn’t want to emulate the gravity-defying exploits of Superman or the Human Torch? To float and soar like Neo in 'The Matrix‘ trilogy?“ The dream of flight has been made manifest in Art. But, again, waking reality intrudes upon the dream. "A few decades ago, a jet-propelled backpack raised hopes that someday we’d all be flying to work or to the mall. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened. The belt proved balky and you couldn’t fly too far or fast.“
The archetypal longing for the freedom of self-propelled flight will not be extinguished by the seeming limitations of waking reality. Making this dream real is a process of constant reality-checking, bumping up against the logistics of waking-life physics. All dreams need to be ongoingly calibrated against waking reality.
Meanwhile, "most of us earth-bound mortals are still waiting for our Jetsons moment. And we’re rooting for those wing nuts, hoping they don’t end up like Icarus. Meanwhile, we’ll be soaring over shimmering wheat fields or magnificent mountain ranges – in our dreams at night.“