Vertigo

Paul Auster in his book Mr Vertigo (1997) tells us something about ourselves which we could comprehend if we could let go of what we already think we understand about ourselves:

"Deep down, I don’t believe it takes any special talent for a person to lift himself off the ground and hover in the air. We all have it in us—every man, woman, and child—and with enough hard work and concentration, every human being is capable of…the feat….You must learn to stop being yourself. That’s where it begins, and everything else follows from that. You must let yourself evaporate. Let your muscles go limp, breathe until you feel your soul pouring out of you, and then shut your eyes. That’s how it’s done. The emptiness inside your body grows lighter than the air around you. Little by little, you begin to weigh less than nothing. You shut your eyes; you spread your arms; you let yourself evaporate. And then, little by little, you lift yourself off the ground. Like so."

Mr Vertigo could be called a modern fairytale, fable or parable. It has something in it which makes you aware of your limitations - not to be bound by them but to overcome them. It makes you want to reach new heights...to soar...to leave the weight of the world behind and not be anchored by your pride, greed, laziness or prejudices, to know that with hard work, perseverance and belief you can achieve the extraordinary, the seemingly impossible, the yet unknown. To strive for existence on a higher plain and believe the unbelievable, imagine the unimaginable, that we are all only restricted by our own selves, that nothing else stops us, the sky is the limit and we can all fly.