Tools and machines enlarge a man’s sense of the world. They can both isolate us from and bring us closer to our interests. Antoine de Saint-Exupery captures that notion here:
“The machine which at first blush seems a means of isolating man from the great problems of nature, actually plunges him more deeply into them. As for the peasant so for the pilot, dawn and twilight become the events of consequence. His essential problems are set him by the mountain, the sea, the wind. Alone before the vast tribunal of the tempestuous sky, the pilot defends his mails [sic] and debates on terms of equality with those three elemental activities.”
In the quote, the author also suggests that an airplane and pilot are working to achieve balance with the forces affecting them. A pilot is constantly at work negotiating the land and sea coming towards him, and the unseen currents of air. The more the pilot moves, the more the world opens up before him.
If everything is in motion, how do we find balance? By actively seeking out and connecting with what is around you, and learning about the forces that are affecting you. Understand your environment and become part of it rather than distancing yourself from it.
