30 odd years I've always had a particular attraction to the poem by John Gillespie McGee - "High Flight." In the days before his death on December 11, 1941, he gave the world a gift that today vibrates an undeniable chord in both aviators and non-aviators alike. It stands as a testament that even to our last moments of life we have an obligation to humanity and ourselves to make a difference.

At one time or another in our lives, each of us hears the summons from the 'still small voice' within us to move, to grow, to be and to leave the world a better place for having participated in the journey. We may respond in different ways and most surely do, but reply we must because it's intrinsic. Some deem this is the material gratification or aspiring to position or power that so many seek in our nanosecond world. They believe because they devote their lives to those goals that there is purpose. Specifically, this voice is really asking us to 'be' much more than the 'doing-ness' we so frequently get caught up in. The voice asks us to serve, to create, to change, give and to evolve. If you stop and think for a few moments you can recall certain times in your life already where this voice has appealed to you. How did you answer it?

Many think its tough enough to hear and then respond to that voice given what we've wrapped ourselves up in attending to our daily routine of 'doing'. We have forgotten how to 'be' who it is that we are. We are co-creators with a force and energy that bestows life to all creation. Our responsibility is to understand how and find out our little part. It's not the big stuff like changing everything in an instant. It's the purposeful determination, our duty to 'be' a part of it.

Similar to flying, once you begin to answer your inner call you cannot help but be changed and over time will become different. Not in big or spectacular ways - it's almost always subtle. It unfolds and becomes what the 'mystical east' calls your 'dharma' or duty. Your life becomes more purposeful, more vibrant and complete. The daily grind is not so much a chore as an opportunity for growth. You spend more of each day it watching and observing what happens, working in, with and through the 'flow' or energy and forces that shape our lives and creation. You begin to live and work in the world of 'cause' instead of responding in the arena of its 'effects'.

Notice I didn't say life gets easier, I said more purposeful. Staying true to your purpose (like learning to fly) takes time and practice to hone the skills necessary to master it. We make our mistakes, fall down, scrape our knees and noses and then get up again and keep going. We may even give up in disgust once in a while thinking it's all too difficult. When we do, sooner or later we'll hear the voice again and again and will respond. Eventually it happens - believe me.

Personally, I've found that by looking to nature one can always finds sources of inspiration that re-kindle the contact with that 'inner guidance'. Taking the time to notice a beautiful setting in nature, a favorite season, a waterfall, the ocean, a thunderstorm, a sunrise or sunset or marveling at natures handiwork in a garden, regardless of the source of stimulation, its there waiting for us to notice and to inspire us.

Seek and strive to live each moment and your life so that it is full of purpose. No matter what has come your way in terms of disappointment, trial or tragedy. That was the past; today is now and is where we live every moment of every day. We can learn from the past but cannot live there. We can plan for the future but cannot live there either - we only have the magic of now. This is how we "touch the face of God" and contact that supreme guiding force that is within each of us ...

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 untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

- Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., RCAF

Cheers!

Jim GRANTJ@tc.gc.ca

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