Who has not experienced the dream of flight? We drift, soar or flap our arms wildly. We strap into rockets or grasp the necks of great beasts. Falls from great heights end in a gentle floating to the ground. Our desire to fly is deep and strong. No wonder people from around the world have always loved stories that satisfy this need.

Our generation grew up with several favorite tales of flight. We were thrilled when Peter Pan showed that we can fly if we have enough trust (and a sprinkle of pixie dust). A significant part of the message is about having faith in one's own abilities and imagination, but what child didn't simply dream of soaring on wings. Mary Poppins reinforced these same themes, with the minor technological aid of her umbrella. Who didn't regard the area rug in the living room differently after a magic carpet ride through "1001 Arabian Nights?" And anyone raised with comic books or 1950's television remembers Superman, "Faster than a speeding bullet... able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." Flight was only one physical talent he used to counteract the wrongs of evil people, but it's the one we emulated when we tied the towel cape around us.

From childhood through old age, from the lilting cadence of nursery rhymes to the text of the world's great religions, everywhere can be found the imagery of flight. This fascination extends from our earliest known history into the present day, and as the past is recovered and the future unfolds, no doubt the symbols of flight will continue to appear. And they will rise before us, as always, in the forms of myth, legend and fantasy.

Logical reasoning, demonstrable facts, systematic application of objective methodology; these are the hallmarks of science. This branch of knowledge has unlocked treasures hidden for thousands of years, enriching our daily life in ways beyond the imagination of our ancestors, startling our parents and even ourselves. But science is a very recent development - the blink of an eye - in the long history of humankind. Before the revolutionary discoveries and inventions that inform our lives today, myths provided the answers. Fables told us our truths.

People need to perceive and understand the order of the world we live in, to attempt some control over these profound forces. We have always sought meaning in the patterns of nature that could be applied to our own existence. Why does the sun rise and set? Why does the moon change its shape? Why is the ocean tide high and low? Why are there seasons? Why do birds fly?

These questions and so many more have been asked throughout our long journey as a species. Myths attempt to provide the answers. The relations of animals to each other, people to each other, the heavens to the earth, the gods to humankind, are told in a poetic language of symbols that express our deepest yearnings. They may embody the deepest religious beliefs of a people or they may be in miniature: a local legend, fable or fairy tale told by an elder at bedtime.

Myths are the carriers of knowledge that cannot be conveyed more precisely because there are not yet words to describe it more exactly. As we observe and unlock the mysteries of nature the old stories - the old knowledge - must be modified, abandoned or replaced. The end of one myth is the start of a new one, because humankind keeps asking and never stops asking: Why? And the answer - the latest answer - becomes the story.

The stories that follow are a mere handful of the hundreds of tales of flight from around the world and throughout history. They illustrate the essential desire to fly as well as its symbolic use to explain our relationship with the world around us.

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Last modified: Tue Jul 1 15:40:01 PDT 1997

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