Ask people what their idea of a spriritual experience is and each one will likely give you a different answer. For some, it's the mystery of a religious event such as Mass or Temple; for others, it's the strains of a beautiful violin in a concerto or a soprano singing an aria. Art, nature, family, friends, crafts can all be spiritual experiences--it's not the material thing, it's the DOING and the lasting impact that the activity has on one's heart and soul. An emotional experience is fleeting--it lasts for a period of time; a spiritual moment changes you for life...
I've had a few instances in my life that I can describe as having been spiritual experiences--a certain quiet guitar song played at a high school retreat in a darkened chapel; sitting on top of a silent mountain looking out over a wide valley; and nearly every time I've gone flying, particularly at night. Flying in general just fills me with a sense of inspiration, excitement, awe, and peace (usually). There's an additional magic that night flying adds that's hard to elucidate.
At night, the stars seem so much closer, making me feel a part of the heavens--literally closer to God. And contrary to what I had expected, that flying would make me feel disconnected from the world--"getting away from it all"--it makes me feel even more connected--but from a different perspective. Flying, and especially at night, makes me see that I'm just one small piece of this amazing creation that we all float around on in a bigger universe, day in and day out. Life doesn't revolve solely around work, home, family, friends, errands, sports, arts, etc. It revolves around this universe that surrounds and runs through us, the human spirit around the world and whatever other spirits.
The reason I wax philosophical is that Dan and I did some night flying Friday in a beautiful starry sky. After some initial headaches with the plane we were originally scheduled to take, we swapped airplanes and headed out west to Kutztown, PA, where a wicked short runway with an ugly big hump in the middle and a diner literally just off the end of the strip awaited. (I only seem to visit Kutztown at night!! Why is that?! That ugly big hump (and the deep black quarry at the end of the approach end of the runway) is even uglier at night!) Like the last time I flew into Kutztown at night, I had to make a missed approach on the first pass and then stuck the landing better on the second pass.
Securing the airplane some 75 feet from the diner, we had a quick dinner (among, it seemed, 50 high school kids (or were they college students--I feel so old!)) before preflighting and heading back east. We picked topped off our fuel at Central Jersey Regional Airport (cheap gas, especially these days, is always appreciated) and then got New York Approach's permission to enter the Class B airspace around NYC and fly up the Hudson River back towards Westchester Airport.
That was the magical part of the evening. Leveled off at 2,500 feet, turning north over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, working our way up the river with a beautifully lit Statue of Liberty on the left; ahead were Manhattan's avenues laid straight out with ribbons of red (taillights of northbound avenues) and white (headlights of southbound traffic)(except for Third Avenue where you could clearly delineate where the traffic changes from two-way to northbound at 24th/25th Street). Floating above the buildings, looking down on the cross streets and lights and energy of Manhattan--you could viscerally feel the City and its pulse.
All too quickly, we were over the George Washington Bridge and on up into Westchester--cutting east at the Tappan Zee to make a straight in approach to Westchester.
Can't wait to do it again soon!
