Aviation, Economy, Globalism and Localism

Aviation, more than anything else, emphasized the relationship between national aspirations and technological advancement. Because It promised military advantage along with controlling the forces of nature, aviation became obvious criterion, best and most effective sign of success, personal, social and national. Aviation systems are heavily dependent on other services, chaining the whole defense and civil system. Financial cost of air weapons is enormous.

Aviation is equally inextricably involved with personal existential dimension. There is relationship between the development of aviation and human development. This is due to the importance of the experience of flying in the reality of creative imagination. ‘Flight of ideas’ is not a worn phrase. Flight is the engine of our thoughts and aviation is a tangible expression of it, much like the flight of birds in the past. Aviation images were very popular during the first half of the 20th century because they expressed ability and opportunity. World of Aviation was perceived as being rich in resources, so everyone could find his own world in it. The airplane expressed desire to control the physical world and thinkers of the Golden Age of Aviation treated it as a superb political machine. Working class can breathe a sigh of relief, said Bertolt Brecht because aviation heralded a better future for him. Russia made the airplane almost religious icon. It represented G-d and the salvation of man. Aviation was designed to release the Russian nation from the shackles of the past, when most Russians were slaves and serfs of the emperor and nobility. Underdeveloped society expected a quick transition to the level of most advanced and powerful nation in the world.

Nowadays the dramatic impact of airplanes as technological innovation largely faded, but in the second half of the 20th century airplanes, and even more the missile, had decisive impact on the international political system. It is very difficult to estimate the economic return resulting from investments in aviation development. Means of modern aviation usually finish their use after several years as junk and give way to a new generation. Preliminary decisions may turn out to be mistaken, and changing them costs a fortune. Every decision in this area is a strategic military, economic and political decision that affects deeply the nerves of any state.

Here are two examples:

‘Lavi’ fighter project of Israel was canceled in advanced stage, because it was considered too expensive. Critics argued that Israel will turn into 'airplane that has a state’. This economic decision weakened the political status of Israel as an independent state. Corruption scandal uncovered at the time led to increased prices of fighter planes from U.S.A. Savings achieved eventually by cancelling the project were minimal. Cancellation of the Lavi was thought by enemies of Israel as expression of mind weakness. Some time later a wave of suicide terrorism started.

Sweden faced similar dilemma. Despite financial burdens, it decided to develop its own fighter plane. Following this decision Sweden is considered now days more independent politically and economically. All technologically related industries, such as electronics and automobiles, continued keeping competitive advantage.

High costs of developing modern means of aviation, along with the ability to move with airplanes high above physical obstacles, contributed much to utopian vision of united world. Aviation did so probably a lot more than any other idea or technological innovation in history. First pilots expressed utopian ideas and intentions, but failed to prevent two world wars in 20th century.

Space flight too caused a shift in public perception of the world. Earth from space looks as magical oasis, green and blue, small and fragile against black space that surround it. Astronauts impressions gradually filtered into international public consciousness, particularly after constructing of International Space Station .

Today, economy of the world is greatly global. Economic benefits win national aspirations. But globalization does not guarantee economic rationality. It may create a sense of economic dizziness, similar to that prior the Great Depression of the 1930th. Chronological proximity of the Great Depression with Golden Age of Aviation is indicative of the relations between them. Spiritual vision is the dream of every individual, and aviation is vital for securing the skies.

Greatest ordeal of a any state is whether it is capable of holding aviation strategy, using the appropriate resources, including personnel, media etc., by understanding the nature and vulnerability of itself. Successes and failures of air forces throughout history were resulted not on account of date but due to circumstances. Not technology, but foresight and understanding of aviation management equation correctly, recognition of the importance of supporting factors, played a major role. It created great opportunity for personal interpretation.

Swinging 1920th were age of euphoria, a result of eliminating physical limits thanks to airplane and radio. Economic behaviour became greedy. Financial pyramid schemes were popular and so were baseless acquisitions of real estates. The law of prohibition in U.S.A was ignored and the number of bars had more than doubled over the period. Sports stars salaries became imaginary. But the real sport was buying and selling of stocks. Stock market surge in the 1920th was psychological. Public followed it eagerly. It was popular as popular sports. Speculations were amazing. It was unbelievable. Everybody engaged in speculation and speculation only. People hovered in the air, losing ground underfoot. No one cared. Market created a fake, made ​​fake prosperity, finding its expert commentators. High-tech stocks took an important part in the stock market soaring. They prompted speculators to raise the stocks to extreme level.

It is possible to link between the financial crisis of 2008 to the existence of the International Space Station, expansion of cheap air travel and rapid development of personal aviation. They all create a sense of global utopia, but do not guarantee robust economy and society.

Aviation does not guarantee real rational behavior as normal trade does. Regular trade is an equation where two sides benefits equally and it is a Win-Win game. Aviation as a trade give unique advantages to its operators.

Nobody is interested in a global vision in which he does not have full equality. Globalization is controlled by giant corporations, based in developed countries. These corporations control the civil life in their countries. Developed countries span technological and economic umbrella over developing countries.

Any individual in modern society suffers from stresses: personal, professional, economic, political and more. When pressures are local, the individual finds easy ways to relax. When pressures arise from a remote source, the result is often alienation, helplessness and exhaustion. Today, communication satellites network circle planet earth. The most common broadcasting channels are small local stations.

Economy has not yet found the mechanism for fair competition in globalization. Competition is sacred value of human society. It highlights the best over the worst. After World War I few stagnated European empires disintegrated into dozens of small vivid nation states.

There are unique problems in aviation itself:

Pilot training is a dangerous activity. During World War I most pilot casualties were a result of accidents. To be suspended between heaven and earth is not trivial. Particularly dangerous is landing, which is the transition from transparent and divine sky to the tough ground. What appear initially as a calm activity is actually totally engaging, with multi challenges, of many options and many risks. Pilots are required to adjust to a new 3D aerial orientation perception which vary greatly from that of normal human 2D on earth.

Airlines passengers often experience a sense of loss in flight. Fast distance leaps stress and epidemic dangers, fear of heights, jet lags resulting from disruption of biological clock, boredom of being for long hours in air desert and more, cause significant increase of weakness and depression. Depression and fatigue are common nowadays more than any time.

There is no better cure for depression than coming home to supportive environment. There is an African proverb: 'It take a village to raise a child’. This wise proverb describe the strong forces pushing people towards Localism.

There is therefore uncertainty and rotation between global and local visions. This cycle which individuals are passing influence also countries with great powers. Each country debate on the subject.

Good examples of the conflict between Globalism and Localism are:

Continuing debate about Colonialism in the 19th century.

Political divide between left and right in modern countries. Wiemar Republic failed because its leaders failed to express German Localism compared to the Nazis who emphasized and highlighted it by violating the Treaty of Versailles and investing of large part of the national budget in aviation.

Wars in Iraq and other developed countries. Major players in the international arena fails to impose order in developed countries, because there is a persistent minority who still prefer local interests, which are usually that of familial and ethnic groups.

The result of this conflict is that we live in partial Globalism. The international system is a conflict between few partners competing for hegemony in world markets.

This competition is best reflected in the aerospace industry:

Space industry of the Soviet Union didn’t allocate enough resources to develop the Soviet space shuttle when it was slightly behind the American space program. The result of stopping the project was a huge deterioration in international prestige of the Soviet Union, which led ultimately to its collapse. Russia, which emerged out of the collapse; was in deep economic recession and found international markets almost blocked to the many products of its aerospace industry. Russians are now working hard to return to international markets.

Americans collaborate in building the international space station 'Freedom' with many other countries and especially Russia. This step is essentially economic, but has far-reaching political implications. It maintain world peace, but at the same time open a doorway for Russia's return to the status of the Soviet Union together with the Cold War.

Europe is currently a political and economic union. European Union invest in some aerospace programs, knowing that this is the key to continued stability development. Airbus company, which manufactures advanced passenger airplanes all over Europe, is one of the flagships of the Union. EU has serious economic and social problems, particularly in light of the technological and economic gap between North to South states. Having a brilliant showcase space program of its own may change the situation.

China's economy depends on export of its goods worldwide. Yet the Chinese are developing independent space industry targeted for man made missions, in purpose of creating a much needed sense of identity, authenticity, originality and national prestige, prestige that each successful space mission brings.

India sends probes to Moon and Mars, in order to create the image of technologically advanced superpower. Competition with China is a major consideration in investing many resources in this race.

Japan was defeated in the technology intensive competition on world markets against cheap China. Economic strategy chosen by Japan is printing money to the markets in order to rescue its economy from ongoing recession. This policy mimics the economic rescue measures of the United States. Japan's space policy too favors more international cooperation, through the International Space Station partnership where it has a separate unit.

Clumsiness of the crystallization of Globalism nowadays shows that it can become huge conflict, in light of the individual's dependence on his family, community and ethnic group in which he grew up and was developed. Globalism failed again and again throughout history because it had always a central control mechanism, liberal but authoritative.

Many empires rose and declined while representing the world’s best of their time.

Huns defeated the Romans, Mongols defeated the Chinese, Indians defeated the British. The fate of the Jewish people in the diaspora is proof of that. They always paid the highest price for the faith in united world. German Jews are the best example.

Aviation development highlighted excessively, in a demagogic style, any social gap. For many radical groups aviation was a symbolic primary weapon, legitimate in their eyes, vital and destructive.

It was used for radical change by unsatisfied political movements, such as Nazism or Islamic terrorism. Its high profile made any aviation operation successful eventually, even if it failed. Governments attention for it only fueled the conflicts.

Spiritual flying experience is the secret dream of every individual. It involves natural and organic connection with many life aspects and systems. During maturation of the Aviation Age, when airplanes became the primary means of war and flight became, in parallel, mass experience, there was dramatic shift in the expectations of many people. They experienced frustration, loss of control, lack of social balance, euphoria and crash out of hopes. Disappointment was much stronger than the hope at the beginning of the era.

1960s are perhaps the best example of the gap that the global aviation program for personal flying experience. Although this period mankind has reached its peak in flight, through launching man to the moon, on earth drug culture was developed and youth were on recreational drugs, looking this way for personal flying experience with mind expansion. It may be concluded that Western countries reached maturity in aviation development with the understanding that there is no link between the psychological flying experience and the fascinating experience of flying in airplanes which became more boring than bus travelling, but it was rather that the youth felt frustrated as a result the aviation experience in space, with all the advantage economic and technological that it gave to narrow elite only.

Use of passenger planes by terrorists in September 2001 attack and the decisive response of the United States indicates that aviation remain, locally and globally alike, in the forefront of the human soul and that the relationship between spiritual flight experience mechanical flying experience will stay forever.

Description of the intense conflict between globalization and Localism produced by aviation development was brought by famous science fiction writer HG Wells. In 1907 Wells published a book: "War in the Air". The book describe the destruction of the world as a result of global air war between the superpowers. War begins as personal war mongering by a German airship captain. The result is the rapid spread of war throughout the world, a global destruction of civilian population centers, after which the economy get back to a primordial status, as well as non ending of the war, which continues somewhere else after the hero returns to his destroyed native village.

Few more books of Wells are: "Shape of Things to Come" from 1936. This book describe the collapse of the international political system after World War I, ending in devastating global air war. After the world is destroyed, somewhere few pilots survived, with airplanes that the use fore trade transport connection from place to place. Their transportation monopoly encourage them to establish the 'Dictatorship of Aviation'. This is global association of airlines which

manage wisely the world as a whole. The organization's first conference is held in the city of Basra. The book became a movie in 1938. UK viewers view on screen swarms of bombers bombing London. The public reaction was that this is pure science fiction that there is no chance that it will materialize.

Wells described in his the book "world Set Free" the atomic holocaust , and in "Island of Dr. Moreau" the abominations of genetic modifications on the basis of race theory. He won the honor of kings after World War II, as his most visions realized.

Wells was a believer in global government, composed of the educated elite. Yet full realization of the vision seems very difficult today, because of the question 'who will be the boss' and ongoing struggle between globalization and Localism in many places around the world, particularly Arab and Muslim world where the extended family institution is dominant. 

Historical experience shows that during the thousands of years of human culture adolescence experience remained similar. Each generation strive to re-invent the world. Humanity has evolved through leaps of thought, derived largely as a result of enlightenment experience of individuals. Enlightenment is momentary flash of inspiration and insight in which a solution pops up for existing problem. Enlightenment may be derived or developed, in many cases, in connection to the experience of spiritual flight, which is momentary disengagement from the shackles of gravity and hovering over reality. So Aviation, which is the realistic expression of spiritual flight, is appropriate activity to stimulate enlightenments. It is the arena were enlightrnment can be found, developed and approved. In absence of appropriate cultural heritage for aviation transportation revolution, polarity between Globalism and Localism may continue for the foreseeable future, especially as means of aviation will increase. The more there will be there will be more people who will be interested in personal spiritual flight. The wish of flight is in the base of mankind's consciousness.

Source:

Holocaust and Aviation

Nazi Germany Aviation as Major Cause for the Holocaust

Poetic and Healing Research

Part A – Chapter 2

Aviation importance to humanity

Author: Avinoam Amizan

Aviation in modern history

Impact of aviation on modern history is huge. One proof for it is the direct chronological connection between developments in aviation and important historical events in modern times. Airplane is a means of transportation that allows physical movement of people and goods from place to place, overcoming physical obstacles. This means a complete change of the balance of power between nations. Therefore the 20th century was characterized by the worst wars in human history. Aviation is not the only factor that brought the historic changes. But the dream of flight is a symbol of human spirit freedom and so it is at the center of interest of human endeavor. Aviation is naturally associated with this central symbol of the soul. It has therefore the ability to serve as a touchstone, litmus paper, a clear explanation for many phenomena and events, allowing daring short and clear historical commentary.

The first sign of the unstable political climate that innovations in aviation created can be found at the end of the 18th century, in the French Revolution which took place in 1789, just few years after the invention of the balloon in 1783, the first successful aerial transport in history. First impression of the giant silk balloon, which took off from Paris by hot air by the Montgolfier brothers was most intense. Anyone could now rise up and fly to watch the world down as he wishes. Sublime and supreme were no longer a thing of the aristocracy. The result was that the people revolt against a corrupt monarchy. But in the absence of proper cultural background social chaos took place, in the form of the bloody French Revolution. Napoleon, ambitious artillery officer who was the first to use balloons for army observation purposes, tried to stabilize the nation but instead went to wars and his defeats against other monarchies created prolong political reaction which lasted the entire 19th century.

World War I broke out in 1914, 11 years after the first airplane flight, which was invented by the Wright brothers in 1903. Before the rapid development of military aircraft industry during the war came many flying event such as the first crossing of the English Channel and demonstration of airplane qualities to the public and for military purposes throughout Europe. Together with the airplane, airships at that time became threatening weapons and completed the picture of the dawn of aerial age.

People under emperors sought, in the spirit of 'Spring of Nations' of the mid 19th century, liberty and equality. European empires wanted to keep the old order, but failed and went to war under stupid political pressure.

During World War I airplanes gradually became an important weapon which increasingly attracted much attention. The air war was colorful and dynamic, compared to the battle on the ground, with frozen trenches lines after enormous bloodletting of the parties. Each new aircraft model which entered combat changed slightly the balance of power and created expectation for miracles among the masses. Myth of the 'Air Ace' was created, although flight in those days was very dangerous and many inexperienced pilots died after only few hours of flight.

Air raids on civilian population during the war defined the Total War. Zeppelin attacks on London during World War I marked the beginning of this new era. For the first time in history capitals of large countries were exposed to massive enemy attacks. Natural boundaries become valueless.

It created the modern Total State, where all citizens are mobilized for the war effort. States had to restructure their society. Each citizen was recruited for the war machine. Women were significant workforce and replaced enlisted men in many jobs in factories and public services.

World War I had totally changed the world. Fermentation of various nationalities led eventually to the collapse of empires. German, Habsburg, Russian and Ottoman empires collapsed at its end and modern states replaced them.

Formation of Total States, established on the ruins of empires, occurred out of the collapse of old order that lasted thousands of years. For this reason and because of the mechanical nature of the era, many citizens pushed for total new beliefs which had nationalistic aspects. Citizens wanted to escape from belonging to the mob and wanted to enjoy the fruits of the aerial age. They tried to redefine their identity out of superficial ideas in the social vacuum. Political integration between the personal psychological need of flight and the requirements of the state was self-evident. It resulted in movements of extreme nationalism and Fascism that flourished in every state in Europe and in Italy and Germany in particular. This is how the dictatorships in the new aerial age were so prominent.

Golden Age of Aviation was the period in the history of aviation between 1919 and the beginning of World War II in1939, in which civil aviation, fueled by many daring and dramatic record-breaking feats, became popularized. It was made possible in part by inexpensive surplus military aircraft made available after World War I, and the craze was fueled by lucrative prize-money offered in competitive air racing and for "firsts" such as trans-atlantic and round-the-world flights. This period coincided with the prime development of airshows which had existed before World War I and air races of that earlier era. Their maturation in the Golden Age of Aviation produced a number of the most skilled pilots who would be instrumental in the success of military air forces during World War II on all sides of the conflict. The adoption of aluminium aircraft construction which started in Germany during World War I, became internationalized during this time. In the 1930s development of the jet engine began in Germany and in England.

Most famous from this period is Charles Lindbergh story of first crossing of the Atlantic, but there are many more examples. Here are two of them:

First flight around the world - First flight around the world, in 1924, has been described in the media as an opportunity for great social and scientific progress. Flight lasted six months. In total pilots landed in 29 countries. Hundreds of thousands of people were waiting for the airplanes at the high points of the path. This flight aroused more interest than the Lindbergh flight, three years later.

Italian airship ’Norge’ journey to the North Pole - This airship took off from Rome on April 1926. Large and enthusiastic crowd accompanied the opening section of Norge journey above Europe. Norge was a ship filled with hydrogen and length of 107 meters. She crossed Europe and cruised comfortably at 80 km per hour with 21 expedition members on board. On 11 May 1926 the ship passed over the North Pole, then turned south, over the frozen ocean not known at the time and after flying more than 4830 miles in 71 hours it landed in Alaska. It was the first time of flying across the world from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean via the North Pole. This drew great satisfaction to the Italian leader, Benito Mussolini, who ordered for a second similar expedition few years later with the airship ‘Italy’, a flight which ended tragically, as many other daring flights in that era.

Germany in the Golden Age of Aviation led the world in aviation development. There was enormous attention in the German media for aviation. Nazis came to power in Germany with the desire to cancel the Treaty of Versailles, in which one of the main clauses prevented Germany's ability to develop its air force and aviation industry, on which it was so proud. Mobilization of Nazi Germany society was mainly through accelerated development of aviation, which created millions of job, was the backbone of re-arment and focus of international politic.

Hitler started World War II based on Nazi air superiority, which dictated its development until the end. The Nazis were convinced, until the last moment, that they will tip the scales using miraculous air weapons, such as ballistic missile and jet airplanes.

In all regional wars after World War II  air superiority was a key factor. Air Superiority played a major role in world politics as a whole.

Vietnam War of the 1960th, for example, went on and on because the Americans tried to win it through the use of combat helicopters.

Yom Kippur War in 1973 began after the Egyptians believed that accumulated enough air defense against the Israeli airforce.

1960th and 1970th were characterized by the space race which United States won, after it launched the first man to the moon. About 10 years later it started the space shuttle missions and widened the the gap between its rival the Soviet Union, which eventually collapsed.

United States became the only superpower in the world also thanks to its advantages in military aircraft and cruise missiles. It won with them regional wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Using ‘Shuttle Diplomacy’, characterised by frequent trips of its secretaries of states, United States remained No. 1 super power, enforcing World Peace with a fleet of aircraft carriers.

In recent years, with the downturn of the U.S.A space program, the ongoing global peace is crumbling, specially as a result of rising fundamentalist terrorism. Islamic terrorists attack on U.S.A using passengers airplanes on 9/11/2001 and continuous occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq as a result, are a clear expression of a new global order that is developing. There are complex reasons for the slowness in aerospace technology and industry development in U.S.A. One of the reasons is, apparently, the failure to understand the full social meaning of aviation for society in the global era.

Source:

Holocaust and Aviation

Nazi Germany Aviation as Major Cause for the Holocaust

Poetic and Healing Research

Part A – Chapter 2

Aviation importance to humanity

Author: Avinoam Amizan

Aviation in human cultures

Impact of transport on human existence is immense. Development and success of any country in peace and war is directly dependent on the means of transport at its disposal. Throughout history the unity and strength of each country changed upon its success in developing the means and routes of transportation.

In early civilizations large rivers shaped empires. Nile and Yangtze, for example, were routes of transportation along which common people, merchants and armies moved and established themselves. They created rivers cultures which were present in any aspect of life.

In this pattern, thousands of years later, the Romans control of overland transport using engineering skills to build roads, led to the flourishing of the Roman Empire.

In the same All Inclusive pattern the British Empire had emerged thanks to British shipyards, which created for military and commercial fleet the finest vessels in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Development of transport by rail in these centuries brought about the expansion of the United States from coast to coast. Railroads were a major component in the Industrial Revolution, spread of urbanization around the world, and the development of international trade.

Today all civilized countries are investing their means developing innovative transportation systems and routes and keeping them. Government investment, subsidies, supervision of the ownership and use, make transportation very identified with nationalism.

Today it is very difficult to imagine how revolutionary was the invention of the airplane. Cradle of human life is the sea and all activity by it is natural. For thousands of years the marine transportation flourished along the coasts and rivers and shaped the ancient world.

Overland transport innovations like the wheel, which was invented more than five thousand years ago, created social, political and military revolutions whose influence exist to this day .

Aviation transportation revolution is only about two hundred years old and it lacks any cultural background. The invention of the airplane and its accelerated development was a big surprise to mankind. In Early 20th century most people still thought that heavier then air flying machines would be impossible in their lives.

All psychological thoughts were about flight’s religious sources, mythology and folklore. The thoughts of human flying were originated from selected texts that describe supernatural vision of gods and demigods, or animals. These texts are most important because of their impact on the human mind, ever attracted to them as a primary spiritual source.

Judaism described God's image as an eagle hovering over the chicks. Angels are always winged and the high ceilings of the Christian cathedrals are decorated with their figures. In Greek mythology the legend of Icarus and Daedalus is very famous, and as well known is the winged horse Pegasus. In Far East cultures dragons are flying. One of the heroes of the Koran is the angel Gabriel, appearing before Muhammad wherever he wants.

This exotic picture emerge in the mind when talking about flying in the classic context.

Compared to aviation, the stories about life on land and sea are documented very well in ancient civilizations. Kings recorded their military voyages and poets combined land and sea transportation stories in all ancient tales. The Iliad and the Odyssey, for example, which tell the story of the Trojan War and Odysseus's maritime journey, is a showcase of the competition between sea and land civilizations, each with their advantages and disadvantages.

The huge gap between land and sea cultural heritages to that of air cultural heritage widened along the ages, as land and sea transportation developed rapidly, while air transportation remained a dream.

Desire to soar in the skies and fly like birds captivated always the human imagination. But this desire to rise above earthly environment and conquer the ocean of air increased manifolds in the modern era, as technology and free mind changed the human world rapidly. What was a regular calm feature of many cultures in the ancient and medieval world became a technological obsession and race of many minds and countries by the beginning of the 20th century.

Source:

Holocaust and Aviation

Nazi Germany Aviation as Major Cause for the Holocaust

Poetic and Healing Research

Part A – Chapter 2

Aviation importance to humanity

Author: Avinoam Amizan

The Most Strange Places in the World - Captured on Google Earth

Russian Bear slideshow in YouTube

Russian Bear is a widespread symbol for Russia, used in cartoons, articles and dramatic plays since as early as the 17th century, and relating alike to Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the present-day Russian Federation.

The following slideshow is a collection of Russian Bear images as discovered by general search in the web. Some 140 different images where this symbol is presented where found. They were divided into  categories.

Enjoy!

Russian Bear symbol categories:

Russian bear on Russia map

Russian Bear on the Russian flag

Russian Bear as a sympathetic figure

Russian Bear as a warrior

Russian Bear control the oil supply

Russian Bear with U.S.A

Russian Bear as Vladimir Puttin

Russian Bear as suffering Russia

Russian Bear as a brutal empire

Russian Bear in 19th century world politics

Russian Bear in 20th century world politics

Russian Bear in 21th century world politics

Russian Bear

Russian Bear is a widespread symbol for Russia, used in cartoons, articles and dramatic plays since as early as the 17th century, and relating alike to Tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union and the present-day Russian Federation.

The following slideshow is a collection of Russian Bear images as discovered by general search in the web. Some 140 different images where this symbol is presented where found. They were divided into  categories.

Enjoy!

Gaston Bachelard and his book Air and Dreams

Main

Like any previous transportation revolution, from the wheel up to the steamer, Aviation gave its masters the tools for world conquest. But unlike land and sea which are the cradle of human activity, Air is a completely new field of activity. Humanity lacks the cultural background to connect the imaginary vision of flight, central for mental development, to practical aviation activity. The dialectic between flight and airplane is vague and destructive. Problematic relationship between aviation and flight were prominent in the case of Nazi efforts to become world rulers while accelerating aviation development with Racialism.

Content

Famous French philosopher Gaston Bachelard [1884-1962] specialized in the role of imagination. His concept of ‘Dynamic Imagination’ is valuable to anyone interested in developing creative abilities.

According to Bachelard, Imagination is created by any movement. Human will is to integrate with that movement. Thought is the search for way how to do it in practice. Philosopher who wishes to understand mankind must concentrate on learning the poets.

Bachelard described the benefits for the imagination as a result of being united with a one of the four material elements. These elements are good conductors of all that is real and provide continuity to the imaginative mind. World of phenomena present in this way primary examples of change and movement. ‘Poetic End’ is a precursor to the practical end needed by the organism.

In his book ‘Air and Dreams’, published in 1942, Bachelard describes the psychological concepts of flying experience.

Any element which the imagination practice is capable of producing special sublimation, purification and clarification. Aerial sublimation is of the purest type. It is carried on with a light dialectical clarification.

It looks as the flying creature moves beyond the actual atmosphere in which it is flying. There's always room to rise further and the Absolute is the final stage of the consciousness of freedom created in this way. The adjective linked most to the noun ‘Air’ is ‘Free’! Natural air is free air.

The aerial phenomena are the most obvious and regular. They give us guidelines to very important psychological feelings: standing up, growth, climbing, flying and purification. These feelings are the basic principles of Developmental Psychology that can be called ‘Flight Psychology’.

In the heart of every psychological phenomenon there is a real sense of verticality. This verticality is not empty rhetoric. It is a principle of order, scale over which a person can experience various degrees of emotions. Mental life, all delicate and subtle feelings, hopes and fears, moral forces involved in our future, have vertical differential, in the full geometrical meaning of the word. Especially notable are the images and thoughts associated with the fundamental values of the soul: freedom, joy, lightness, sublimation.

Elevation, depth, decline, fall, etc., are axiomatic metaphors par excellence. Nothing explain them and they explain everything. In simple language, if a person wishes to live them, feel them, and above all combine them with real life, he realizes their primary quality and naturalness. It is impossible to express moral values ​​without reference to the vertical axis. Every nerve in the body is a vertical transmitter. The imaginary air is a mental growth hormone for mankind.

If we want to really know how things evolve, the first thing to do is to determine the extent of which they make us heavier or lighter. The positive or negative vertical differential indicates well their impact and purpose for the mind.

First principle of the ‘Ascending Imagination’ is: of all metaphors, the vertical metaphors, such as light, height, elevation, depth, decline, fall, are consensus metaphors above all else. Nothing explain them and they explain everything. More simply, if a person wants to live, feel and above all compare them, he realizes that they have primary quality and are more natural than all others. They are the best expressions of almighty Gravity. Man has to learn to weight them in order to know their value for him.

Although this intangible aerial metaphors concerns us more than substantial metaphors, our language is not adapted to them specifically. Language is conditioned by forms and cannot easily make the picturesque images of dynamic height.

Nevertheless, these images have extraordinary power. They control the dialectic of enthusiasm and despair. Vertical boldness is so vital and clear. Its superiority can not be disputed. The mind can not turn away from it after recognizing its immediate and direct meaning. It is unable to express moral values ​​without regard to vertical axis. After studying the physics of poetry and physics of ethics we believe that any courage is vertical.

Individual images are the effective way to define vertical orientation. The focus on individual expressions allows us to experience a unique tonal quality of the aerial hopes, hopes that are not disappointing us because they are not heavy. These hopes are associated with words of hope, words of the inner immediate future which let us discover new ideas, exciting and fresh, original ideas that are our new treasure.

Aerial imagination imagery evaporate or freeze quickly. We therefore always capture them between constantly active two poles.

The words 'wing' and 'cloud' provide evidence for the bi-polar quality within a single aerial image. They may be a mirror or an illusion, a drawing or a dream. They carry the ambivalence of grim reality or soft imaginary. They are metaphors before being analyzed as nouns and adjectives. But only for a short moment we capture their exact meaning for us. We trust these poetic images which are too non-physical, but does it willingly.

Aerial imagery impact the entire entity. After we got very high and far we certainly find ourselves in a state of open imagination. Images of freedom present a problem if their various stages are not tested one by one. Same difficulty exist with truths delivered in open and liberating air. In the Infinite Air dimensions are deleted and we come into contact with non-dimension material that gives us a sense of total internal purification. We are in a state of repose and movement at the same time.

After we arrived by air so far and high the mind is carried away out of control as by drug. Eager to try the upper air reality, the imagination will double any impression by adding any new available image to it. In its new different form, the mind express a resemblance between ambiguous contradictory images, which blur the colors of good and evil and violate the most stable laws governing the values ​​of humanity. The end result of this yearning may be ambivalent moral significance.

There is, naturally, the journey down. Fall, even before moral metaphors intervene, is constant psychic reality. But the images of dynamic falling are few and poor, in contrast to the numerous images of ascension. Psychological downfall is simple, negative, short, scary, meaningless, isolated, nothing, emptiness. It has poetic and moral value only when it is connected to the positive dynamic verticality which is clear and rich in images and contribute to rising up.

Mental slope is constantly changing. If the slope increases, the person straighten up. Paths to greatness are created among us in this task. Everything in the mind is a path. Each path encourages us to soar.

Indeed things are growing. The way of energies, in imagination and reality, is to expand too much. Will is always a wish for power that does not exist at the present. Superman, who arrived by air so far and high, has no equal rivals. He is sentenced, without being able to go back, to existence full of pride in the legendary pantheon of heroes, even though he may never admit it, even to himself.

Folklore fits well with the images of flight. Great images hidden inside legends suddenly get wings, blooming with new meanings. Allegedly meaningless, they has psychological benefits after being analyzed.

The German tales became a catalyst in the development of German nationalism in the 19th century. German soul absorbed and implemented them as an ideology that attributes special qualities to this nation at the expense of ethics.

Airplanes at the beginning of the 20th century, the early era of aviation, were too appealing to be simply integrated into the hierarchy of human needs only.

In addition to the innovation of technological power tool, the airplane is very similar to a man spanning his arms and therefore it can be easily be personified. The plane is a ‘Medium Became Message’, like all the basic primordial aerial metaphors which Bachelard described.

Aerial Consciousness is a term meaning the use of the general public interest regarding aviation to the purpose of creating a complete world view.

In the first half of the twentieth century various thinkers and ideologies combined the airplane with the Ascent Psychology, in several countries seeking a modern definition, leading to the establishment of a Dictatorship of the Air.

Aerial Consciousness shaped the political stage and life of Nazi dictatorship.


Source:

Holocaust and Aviation

Nazi Germany Aviation as Major Cause for the Holocaust

Poetic and Healing Research

Part A – Chapter 1

Gaston Bachelard and his book Air and Dreams

Author: Avinoam Amizan

Map of the world according to Herodotus - 450 BC

Map of the world according to Herodotus - 450 BC

Herodotus the Greek cartographer drew the map of the known world in his time quite accurately, as far as of places that were then familiar to mankind.

Some prominent features on the map are:

Land of Israel is the center of the world, connecting three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa . This indicates its central importance even at that time.

Continental boundaries were not known and they are drawn in a circle .This design served as inspiration for the symbolic world map of the medieval time, of a circle divided with straight lines.

The overall shape of the map reminds human head, where the rear is in the east and the face is in the west:

- Land of Israel is the the jaws' axis

- Africa is the jaw

- Europe is the forehead and nose

- Asia is the back of the skull

- Mediterranean is the oral cavity 

- Black Sea is the nasal cavity

Rivers and seas are drawn with great sensitivity, drawings which remind of arterial blood and central nerves.

In view of this similarity , there is no doubt that the head shape was in his mind when Herodotus drew the map.

Thus we can learn from the map that in the classic past the landscape was used as a source of inspiration for the Study of the human body and vice versa.

Map of the Human Figure of Israel continues this line of thought of constantly striving to discover the world while constantly striving to search the human body.

Original maps in the Human Map of Israel website are a tangible expression of the philosophical outlook of micro and macro Cosmos, in which human beings inner world is a reflection of the outside world and vice versa.

Human Figure Map of the Holy Land adds another layer to the Bible, that have made the simple geometric center of the continents an interest point of fascinating stories.

Holocaust and Aviation - Hannah Reitsch - Look for the Woman

Use of the saying 'Look for the Woman' in study of historical biographies of leaders, especially dictators, indicate the roles played by their wives in the rise and fall of their countries.

The search for the woman behind the rise and fall of the Third Reich leads the researcher to one woman, who more than any other woman affected the fate of the Nazi regime. The woman is Hanna Reitsch, whose image and career as a test pilot inspired the regime and shaped and sealed the fate of Germany.

Hanna Reitsch [1912-1979], daughter of a Nazi doctor, began her career as an excellent glider pilot who broke more then 40 world records over a very long career of fifty years in various categories, before and after World War II. As a result she became a test pilot, before and during the war, of the most advanced and important fighter planes of the Luftwaffe.

Her autobiography, 'Flying is My Life’, is the source of this chapter in 'Holocaust and Aviation’. Her flights descriptions, fascinating and unique, are evidence of her skills as a pilot. Reitsch expands in describing her experiences of many unique flights and most of the book is devoted to her love of flight. But at the same time she emphasizes her blind loyalty to Hitler and the Nazi regime, which gave her the opportunity to fulfill this obsession. The racial anti-Semitism in Germany, which was an inseparable part of everyday life, is not addressed in the book in any way, and it is understood that for sure she supported it.

Reitsch gradually became one of the pillars of the regime, because propaganda of German aviation achievements was an integral part of the Nazi Aerial Dictatorship. As a woman she became one of the most prominent symbols of propaganda, and made many international tours for flying in air shows to foster foreign relations.

Hanna Reitsch had short and thin boyish figure, with pretty but common face and appearance. It is not clear if she was considered a personality who dictated style for women, but certainly she was important and far more famous than any other pilot in the world, including well remembered Amelia Earhart from her time. Earhart was global media star who dictated the international agenda during her daring flights. After Earhart disappeared in the Pacific in 1937, she left a void which helped Reitsch become the most famous woman in the world.

Despite her membership in a conservative right-wing party with oppressing views regarding women, she was in her behavior opinionated, unconventional, inspiring, and controversial. She was a human figure larger than life, full of striving for self-realization and breaking conventions. She is remembered in history as someone who, because of her obsession, drifted off the regular course of life and flew on the fast track toward her self destruction. That is only a superficial observation. Actually she was cold minded person who represents the entire Nazi regime human pattern of technicality and ideology. She was a desired woman who broke hearts of many men and it made her image look lighter.

Hanna Reitsch influenced the liberal world, the German public, and the fanatical Nazi leadership altogether. She was a famous hero with two 'Iron Cross' decorations. She held a stick with two ends. On one hand, she had international recognition as an ambassador for the masses of the aviation world, but on the other hand she was at the forefront of developing the secret weapons of the Nazi army. It was an unusual combination that was unmatched in Nazi Germany. It placed her in a position of great control and option to succeed Hitler along with her friend, Luftwaffe general Ritter Von Greim, who was Hermann Goering's successor at the end of the war.

More than any biographical fact it is significant that her own career reflected accurately the whole history of the Third Reich:

At the beginning, at the early 1930th, she studied in close relationships from some of the fathers of the gliding sport in Germany, a sport which was the link between military aviation of WWI aircraft industry and the Air Force set up by the Nazis. She became world famous after being the first woman who crossed the Alps in a glider. Later on she participated in numerous international air shows as a glider pilot, including one in the USA in1937, as Nazi propaganda messenger.

Later in her career, in the late 1930th, she became an outstanding test pilot for Ernst Udet, head of the development department of the Luftwaffe, during its quick arming and in the first phase of Second World War.

She introduced to the Luftwaffe the revolutionary diving brakes, which she and her friends invented in the 'German Institute for Gliding Research' which was her home base. Diving brakes became a standard part in all Nazi combat planes from the Spanish Civil War and to later on.

Another important development of her and her friends from the 'German Institute for Gliding Research' was the transport glider, out of the small sport gliders. Transport gliders, who could carry significant number of soldiers and military equipment, were vital for air transport in those days of relatively small airplanes. Transport gliders helped the Nazis win the swift offensives in France and Crete.

A third important contribution of her to the Nazis, as well as to the entire aviation world, was being the first successful helicopter pilot in the world. Not only that she could fly an operational helicopter successfully for the first time, but she also flew it in a closed arena in Berlin, in front of thousands people, every night for few weeks in 1938. Charles Lindbergh became her friend.

In retrospective, these three major aviation achievements could be sufficient reason for Hitler to declare a world war.

In the early 1940th, at the height of the war, she was involved in several ambitious aircrafts projects designed to destroy the Allies, of which most known is the rocket interceptor the 'Comet'. The Comet was a very fast and maneuverable glider with rocket engine which launched it to the center of bomber formations, where it could attack them for few minutes. The Nazis had great expectations from this wonder weapon but it failed. Reitsch suffered serious injuries after a crash in one of the last test flights in late 1942, an episode which became a defeat sign for Nazi Germany, few months before Stalingrad.

After recovering, towards the end of the war when Nazi Germany collapsed, she established a squadron of Nazi volunteers in order to use them as pilots of guided bombs. After convincing Hitler, who was isolated and detached in Berghof, about the need for this squadron, she cooperated with famed Commando colonel Otto Skorzeny to transform the V-1 guided missile to a pilot version. It too failed due to short sighted Nazi leaderships who failed to understand, in her words, 'the urgent need for large scale project of such kind'.

Hanna Reitsch was among the few pilots who made constant flights to destroyed Berlin during the last months of the war in early 1945, including the famous last flight to Hitler in the last days which was etched in the collective memory of the neo-Nazis.

Although remaining after the war a declared sympathetic of the Third Reich, her post war international gliding activity resulted in many new contacts. Her vast connections were then with old Nazi leaders, German rocket scientists and western political leaders altogether. She contributed greatly to rehabilitate Germany's international standing.

Because in many ways Reitsch was a role model of a woman larger than life, whose courageous pilot fortitude opened new avenues in aviation, her autobiography challenge the critical attitude towards Nazism. She remained a citizen, but her relationships with the highest hierarchy, including Himmler who was a personal friend, leave no doubt about her importance to the Nazi regime. The answer to the riddle of her character is in the complex social reasons for the rise of Nazism. She was a devoted family member. Her father, a doctor, wanted her to follow his steps and she became a medical student. The German doctors were notorious for their sympathy with the Nazi regime, which introduced modern medicine together with the race theory and deportation of Jewish doctors. Her youth dreams of being a flying doctor in primitive Africa were realized in the diabolical Nazi regime. Women in macho Nazi society were educated to join semi military spheres of duty in the hinterland and created similar cruel ethics. Like most citizens of Germany she contemplated about full identification with the regime. But prominent events that should be a warning sign for her, like Nuremberg Laws, violation of Versailles treaty, occupation of Czechoslovakia, Kristallnacht and the Final Solution, were ignored by her, probably as a 'necessary evil'. She leaved in a dictatorship where only partial information was available to the doubting citizens, but belonged to the generation which grew up with the Nazi regime, and their destinies were combined. Her love of flying was combined with German patriotism, admiration for Hitler the leader of the nation, and the many personal benefits derived from it. As a test pilot, a challenging and dangerous career, she was also trapped in a process of 'survival of the fittest' where only the few best and well connected survived. This too contributed to her obsessive solidarity with the regime she represented.

Hanna Reitsch wrote 'Flying is my life’ in chronological order describes around her important flights. She describes the technicalities, landscapes, feelings and friends. The total is very personal and difficult to separate into its components.

For this reason probably Reitsch did not won the right attention from scholars of the Nazi regime. In Holocaust and Aviation a separation was made between the components, and her whole career is repeatedly described from four major perspectives: ideology, society, aviation, politics. Chronological order is maintained to some extent: Hanna Reitsch was a young ideological woman, who as a glider pilot became famous record holder, recruited as a test pilot for the most advanced aircrafts, eventually to be influential personality in the Third Reich and later on. 

Source:

Holocaust and Aviation

Nazi Germany Aviation as Major Cause for the Holocaust

Poetic and Healing Research

Part B – Chapter 19

Hannah Reitsch - Look for the Woman

Author: Avinoam Amizan

Face Profile of Egypt

DEEP MEDITATION MUSIC | Expand Your Consciousness !!!

Human Profile of Asia

Kangaroo Shape of Papua New Guinea

Australia's Face Organs

Human Face of Australia

Christmas Island - Puppy shaped island

Ground Effect Aircraft - AirFish-8

World Breastfeeding Week

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is an annual celebration which is being held every year from the 1st to 7th August in more than 120 countries. According to the August 26th data of WBW website, 540 events have been held worldwide by more than 79 countries with 488 organizations and 406,620 participants for the World Breastfeeding Week 2010. See WBW pledges for the complete list.

Being organized by WABA, WHO and UNICEF, WBW came up with the goal to promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life which yields tremendous health benefits, providing critical nutrients, protection from deadly diseases such as pneumonia and fostering growth and development for the first time in 1991.6]

Contents

World Breastfeeding Week was first celebrated in 1992 by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and is now observed in over 120 countries by UNICEF, WHO and their partners including individuals, organizations, and governments. WABA itself have been formed in 14 February 1991 with the goal to re-establish a global breastfeeding culture and provide support for breastfeeding everywhere.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) emphasize the value of breastfeeding for mothers as well as children. Both recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and then supplemented breastfeeding for at least one year and up to two years or more.  WBW commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by WHO and UNICEF in August 1990 to protect and support breastfeeding.

Source: Wikipedia

See also: World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action

This year's World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme, 'BREASTFEEDING SUPPORT: CLOSE TO MOTHERS', highlights Breastfeeding Peer Counselling. Even when mothers are able to get off to a good start, all too often in the weeks or months after delivery there is a sharp decline in breastfeeding rates, and practices, particularly exclusive breastfeeding. The period when mothers do not visit a healthcare facility is the time when a community support system for mothers is essential. Continued support to sustain breastfeeding can be provided in a variety of ways. Traditionally, support is provided by the family. As societies change, however, in particular with urbanization, support for mothers from a wider circle is needed, whether it is provided by trained health workers, lactation consultants, community leaders, or from friends who are also mothers, and/or from fathers/partners.

The Peer Counselling Program is a cost effective and highly productive way to reach a larger number of mothers more frequently. Peer Counsellors can be anyone from the community who is trained to learn to support mothers. Trained Peer Counsellors, readily available in the community become the lifeline for mothers with breastfeeding questions and issues. "The key to best breastfeeding practices is continued day-to-day support for the breastfeeding mother within her home and community."