Just watched Felix Baumgartner's fall from the edge of outer space at the speed of sound into a perfect landing in New Mexico. felix baumgartnerI didn't get it. Until I listened to Dr. Michael Gervais, the psychologist specializing in extreme and high-performance sports that Red Bull had pulled in so this could happen.

Michael was there because Felix was freaking out--not from fear of jumping, but from claustrophobia. To jump from such a height and fall at such a speed, Felix needed a pressurized space suit. But stunt artists build their art on their ability to move freely, to retain control of their bodies. The suit wasn't allowing Felix to do that in any way he'd experienced before. For the first time he could remember, Felix was suffering multiple panic attacks.

Michael looked at Felix and figured he'd become too focused on the suit, not the goal he hoped to reach by wearing it. As Michael said later, in an interview with CBC:

The first thing is...that he had to have a vision. Once there's a vision in place, for all of us, whether we're jumping from space, or we want to be a great parent, or whatever it might be, we need to really become very clear with the vision. Once the vision is very clear, it's difficult to get knocked off balance.

Like the Baal Shem Tov would say, from everything you see or hear, there's got to be a take-away that helps you connect to your Creator. In this case, the take-away was sitting in the open to grab.

There's so much about "mind over body" in classic Jewish writings. But here's a guy talking about it in terms of falling from the sky at the speed of sound--and comparing that to being a great parent. Just hold tight to that one vision, he says, and you won't get knocked off balance by your spacesuit.

We all have an inner vision, called chochmah, an innate vision of the soul that can be awakened through focused learning and meditation. Once awakened, that inner vision can harmonize all your emotions, thoughts, words and behavior. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, wrote in his classic work called Tanya about holding firm to the vision, that "in the heavens above and on the earth below, there is nothing else but the Infinite Light." He tells us to go about life as though this vision is...

...the only mitzvah you have on your shoulders, and that this alone is the whole purpose of your creation, and the creation of all worlds. Then with the power of your soul in your tremendous joy in this belief, you will rise far above all obstacles, whether external and internal.

Imagine having enough faith in your vision that you could look down at planet earth before you and jump out of your capsule to embrace it. Just make sure you have a team of scientists monitoring your dive, and seven years of preparation beforehand. Have intelligent vision.

A while back, I wrote a KabbalaToon about sky diving. I used the term "staying calm." But the calm and the vision, they're really one thing. As I had Rabbi Infinity say there:

...with skydiving I am calm because there is a parachute. With life, there is a parachute because I stayed calm.

If I would rewrite that KToon today, I would say that the vision itself creates its own parachute. If you have a vision, and you can hold on to that vision, you have power. Because then, every moment of your day, every fibre of your body, every thought, speech and action is conducted in harmony by that vision.

Michael continued:

When he did get knocked off balance, well, we had trained very specifically to take control of his mind by becoming aware of his thoughts. Once we become aware of our thoughts, we can guide them to very powerful places.

That's what most of Rabbi Schneur Zalman's Tanya is about: controlling your mind, so that it lifts you up and guides you to powerful places.

Maybe it's time for some skydiving.

by Tzvi Freeman via chabad.org
photo credit: Jay Nemeth/Red Bull Content Pool