The Micro of the Macro
I don’t exactly remember when I started doing this but for awhile now I have been able to see skydiving and all it’s different components as a smaller version of our bigger society and all of it’s components.
What I call the Micro of the Macro.
There are many different sub-cultures in the Macro society. As well, there seems to be a matching number of sub-cultures in the Micro skydiving society. These sub-cultures are very common things such as, Education, Politic’s, Technology etc….
So when I see a situation in the world, to help me understand it better, I will compare it to what I see in skydiving and visa versa.
Not only to see if there is a similarity [and there almost always is] but to put it in another context that might help me relate.
The one comparison I have been pondering the most lately is Religion. Religion in Skydiving? Really!?!.
Now I’m not talking about Skydiving for Jesus or stuff like that
[not that there is anything wrong with that].
No, I’m talking about different Freefall belief systems inside the whole that is skydiving.
Relativework absolutely would be considered a skydiving religion with it’s many sub religions.
Freestyle would be considered a skydiving religion.
Freeflying would be considered a skydiving religion.
With new one’s appearing all the time.
All these different avenues of pursuit in Freefall, have common
mind-sets or belief systems that the practitioners develop and utilize together to practice their particular Religion.
Labeling the comparisons of Micro Religions in Skydiving to the Macro Religions of the World I will leave up to you.
But I would like to reserve Buddhism for the Freestylists.
They are a peaceful group.
There are many similarities to be found in these Micro Religions of skydiving that mirror the Macro Religions of the World.
For instance, there are mass Religious gatherings in the Micro Religions where people of a common belief gather from around the world to hear their Religious leaders speak and have themselves organized into large mass Meditations in the sky.
But not until all the separate minds have achieved oneness does the whole formation come to pass.
Then there are great celebrations in which animals are sacrificed
[mostly chickens] and much wine is consumed.
These celebrations often go on until the sun rises the next day.
Then all the pilgrims return back to lands from which they have journeyed to share that which they have learned and to tell great stories that they have heard.
With this, the myths are perpetuated and the Religions grow.
As it was with Macro Religions, Micro Religions have also emerged from desert wastelands. Where seekers from all walks of life gathered together to blend their thoughts and beliefs together to create a foundation on which a new Religion could be born.
Many of these Religions were breakaway or sub-religions from already well established religions.
Many of these Wanderers of the desert left their worldly possessions behind to live more solitary lives in tents and caravans with their fellow seekers. They came from all walks of life but shared in the same simple truth of Freefall.
After a period of time practicing and refining these new Religious beliefs over a Sacred Triangle in the desert, a new religion they called Sequential Relitivework was born.
So when the desert became deathly hot these sages wandered off separately across the land to share what they had learned with others who might accept this new idea in Freefall.
One Temple was founded in the Valley of Pope.
In my personal sojourn on this path to greater enlightenment I too have been a wanderer. Seeking out these sages where ever that they happen to dwell.
I too found myself drawn to the Valley of Pope.
Some of the sages I found there came from an original Relitivework brotherhood.
They had names like BJ, Captain, Hod, Skratch and many more.
Their true names were never revealed to me.
Having the vision of what was possible I too sought out the Priesthood in this new Religion and after many years of practice and prayer I finally achieved it.
But my desire for a greater understanding of the environment we call Freefall was greater than this one Micro Religion could offer, so I left the Valley of Pope and Wandered across the land.
My wandering brought me not unto the desert but to the jungle.
To the land of Zephyr-hills.
I began to put some of my learned knowledge into a more solitary practice and from that the beginnings of a new Religion emerged. We called it Freestyle.
The people who were most receptive of this new path were people who were tired of all the same old religious dogma of the currant religions and wished to shun the old traditions of the past and create a path that was more of their making.
The Micro of the Macro
I have always found it curious that folks can find it so easy to condemn a new Religion as just a fleeting ideal or passing fad.
But what I have come to understand is that whether it be Micro or Macro,
human nature is just that way.
What a different belief system brings to light is a possibility that the path one has chosen to commit themselves to may be wrong. So to make themselves feel right about their chosen path they ridicule another as being wrong .
It isn’t so much about the new being wrong as it is about wanting the old to be right.
The parallels of the Micro to the Macro seem clear.
Because I have sampled the sacred wines of many of the religions of our Micro Society it has given me a greater appreciation of other souls who seek to perfect a path of Religious beliefs and skills. [VRW rocks!]
This understanding merges all the religions together and allows me to see a much broader picture of how everything relates back to itself..
With this, there is a greater acceptance of the oneness of who we all are together.
And though I have not immersed myself deeply in all the new Religions that are emerging at this time, I can truly appreciate each practitioner as a skilled Brother\Sister of the air.
I once wrote a story to a friend of mine to illustrate this recognition and commonality that we share in the sky. It went like this:
“One time on my way to a boogie flying commercial, I found myself looking out through the window at the vast amount of space we were traveling thru. As my mind wandered I put together a daydream about what it would be like if this plane suddenly exploded in mid flight and I found myself in freeflall.
The instant chaos of Falling thru the frigid air with all the debris and screaming passengers tumbling wildly out of control. The feeling of deceleration as I decelerated to freefall speed. Grabbing pretty stewardesses and giving them a quick kiss pass as they flailed by.
Then all of a sudden across all this chaos I see one other person falling stable.
At that very moment she see’s me as well. In an instant, even though we have never met each other before, there is a recognition we both share. We recognize each other as creatures of the air.
We fly toward each other through all the pieces of luggage and flailing passengers. As we come together ,shrugging our shoulders in recognition of the situation, we both know that this will be our last time in freefall.
I point toward an area that has the least amount of debris and push into a track. Instinctively she slips into formation with me and we fly off together threading our way out into the open air. Finally clear we find ourselves barrel-rolling around each other playing in the air as we head off into history as the two passengers who landed a mile away from everybody else in formation with each other. The end.”
For me it is easy to pass between each of the Religions in our micro society because I see the balance. But in each separate Religion I hear similar comments about superiority over the other Religions.
It seems funny, to me, how even in that respect there are similarities.
In the end, we do put our rigs on one leg-strap at a time. Time and altitude a common reality. Although one of our new religions does have it’s practitioners appearing a bit more angelic with their sporting of wings.
But in the end we, all in our own way, are advancing the idea of human flight.
In that common idea, we are all one.