Winged Victory
I’ve been in Paris for a week now. Visiting the same places that have left deep impressions over the years within me, as well as new ones.
When I return to a place, after months or years away, I always stand on the same spot I stood before and I check-in — what has changed with this place? what has changed with me? I have been doing this for as long as I have been traveling to revisit places that I have fallen in love with.
So a few days ago I stood, in newfound awe and humility, in front of Winged Victory of Samothrace. Standing 18ft tall, at the prow of her marble ship, Victory awakens the feeling of triumph even in the most reluctant of hearts. I won’t deny it, I cried.
There I was once again, feeling small by the realization that this female warrior — created around 200 BC — still stands, the wind blowing her robes and exposing a firm stance that is both movement and stillness all in the same piece of carved stone. Movement and stillness.
I reflected on that as I stood by her, realizing the need for internal stillness in order to engage in a world of constant movement. The need to be surefooted when the winds of change are blowing all around, but also realizing that it is the slight bent of the knees that makes us flexible enough to remain standing. As I write this, I become aware that flexibility is the bridge between flowing in the movement of day-to-day life while maintaining a still mind, a calm heart.
I go back to my pictures of Victory and smile as I see that not only she has a bent knee, but she also has one foot in front of the other, as if ready to take flight with her outstretched wings. Oh yes, let me not forget, this is a winged woman, coming to announce the victory of our endeavors :)
And so, I checked in and realized that while Winged Victory remains very much the same from the last time I saw her, and likely very much the same for the past two thousand plus years, I am a completely new human being. Every cell shed and re-created; thoughts and concepts challenged and either kept or tossed away to make more room; new people held in my heart as dear treasures and guiding me through.
I will, undoubtedly, return and once again stand by Victory…who will I be then is yet to come.
-jm