![]() ![]() The first is the innate need we all have to escape the surface of the earth. The myth of Daedalus and Icarus is woven closely with the history of the human need for verticality, and there’s three distinct themes worth pondering. ![]() There are various tales about the rest of Daedalus’s life, but the fate of Icarus has stuck much deeper in the minds of those who know the tale, and today he is much more well-known than his father. The distraught Daedalus completed his flight and successfully escaped, however. Just as his father had warned him, the wax of his wings melted from the heat of the sun and he fell to the sea and drowned. After some time, the joy of flight proved too much for young Icarus, who flew upwards toward the sky, ignoring his father’s instructions. If he flew too low, the moisture from the sea would weigh him down.Īfter lifting off and escaping from their prison, the two began flying over the sea toward Sicily. If he flew too high, the sun would melt the wax of his wings. After testing out the wings, Daedalus taught Icarus how to fly, and instructed him not to fly too high or too low. He built two pairs of wings from wax and feathers, organizing the feathers by size across each wing in order to mimic the wings of a bird. In order to escape, Daedalus devised a plan to fly off the island and make their way to Sicily. Either way, Daedalus found himself and his son imprisoned by the king. The second is, the king imprisoned Daedalus and Icarus inside the labyrinth after Daedalus attempted to help Minos’s enemy Theseus navigate the labyrinth in order to kill the Minotaur. The first is, the king imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in a high tower to prevent Daedalus from sharing knowledge of the labyrinth with anyone else. After he completed the labyrinth, there’s a couple different versions of the story. Over the centuries, the name Icarus has become synonymous with over-ambition, and has inspired countless other stories relating to human flight.Īs the story goes, Daedalus was an Athenian master craftsman who was tasked by King Minos to design a labyrinth, or maze, on the island of Crete in order to hold a Minotaur. Any history of flight, if tracked back far enough, will find it’s inception rooted in this timeless tale of youthful hubris. ![]() Icarus teaches you have power over what you do with your gifts, and to what heights and destinations they take you.The oldest and most storied myth of human flight is the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus. To make the most of your gifts, you don’t need to make yourself into more than you are, you don’t need to fly higher than you can and burn yourself, but you also don’t need to stay down on earth, denying your own wings to fly. If you don’t fly-or you try to fly too high like Icarus, the myth teaches you’ll find yourself falling into the depths of emotional despair, drowning in your egoic feelings (as represented by the sea Icarus drowned in). Do we not use them and never take flight? Do we accept them as they are and fly proudly on them to new destinations? Or do we misuse them, flying too high, too close to the Sun, destroying our gift and ourselves in the process? We all have, and are given, wings to fly on and it is our choice what we do with them. Instead, he chose to push it further, to a place where his gift was destroyed, and he destroyed himself in the process. ![]() It was Icarus’ choice not accept his gift as it was and to see it as enough. The feathers came loose and Icarus plunged to his death in the sea.Īs I see it, this myth is a lesson about balance, about finding balance with your ego and with your gifts. But Icarus became enthralled with his ability to fly and forgot his father’s warning. His father cautioned him that flying too near the Sun would cause the wax to melt. Do you know the Greek myth of Icarus? Icarus is the son of Daedalus who dared to fly too near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. ![]()
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