Leap of faith

I pulled off a daring manoeuvre that allowed me to finish my goal and win a lot of points. Unfortunately, the guards have spotted me and are pursuing me. What do I do? I spot a tower and begin climbing it in the hopes of eluding the guards. The guards have spotted me again, and while some are still in pursuit of me, others stand guard at the base of the tower. I am trapped. What do I do??

Well, I keep climbing to the top of the tower, complete a synch manoeuvre, walk across the ledge atop the tower, see a cart below and perform a leap of faith. Miraculously, I end up in the cart in one piece and sneak away from prying eyes.

Apologies, if none of this makes any sense.

I was referring to the Assassin’s Creed game franchise’s ‘Leap of Faith’ manoeuvre. In the late 2000s, I was a huge fan of the game, and one of the biggest appeals was the visually spectacular ‘Leap of Faith,’ described above and seen below.

I spent a lot of wonderful hours on the game franchise, and performed countless leaps of faith. And then, I got bored and moved on. Years went by, and I forgot about the game, and I forgot about the Leaps of Faith I used to take.

Something happened a week ago that reminded me about Leaps of Faith.

When I travel into the city, I pass by the airport. I was joined on some occasions by my toddler, who is a big fan of anything that flies. She used to point out and exclaim, “Look Dad, Plane !!!” whenever she saw a plane landing or taking off from the airport.

I was driving into the city with my better half and my toddler one night. My daughter couldn’t see anything outside because it was dark. She was completely unaware that we were so close to the airport. A airplane had taken off, and all that could be seen of it were blinking lights quickly fading into the horizon.

Me and my spouse were wondering if the little one can make out what the lights were. We decided to keep mum and see what happens. Soon enough, we heard the scream of joy “Look Dad, Plane !!!" The kid spotted the fading lights and correctly deduced that they belonged to a jet in the few seconds that followed. When asked how she reached to this conclusion (despite the fact that she had never seen an aeroplane flying in the night sky), she replied quickly, “Flying Lights, Plane!!!"

With what little information and knowledge she had, she came to a conclusion and confidently took a leap of faith, and she was proven right in the end.

Kids do that all the time. They leap without worry.

And adults? Rarely so !! What changed as we grow up? We gain more expertise, we have access to a wealth of information in our fingertips. And yet, taking a educated guess, taking a leap of faith never comes easy for an adult. I’ve been thinking about this for a few days, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

Fear of the Unknown:

The more information we have as adults, the more we understand what can go wrong.(For the same reason, doctors are terrible patients. They are aware of their diagnosis as well as any potential complications.) As a result, adults tend to worry about the unknown, their fear of self-preservation sets in, they stay in their comfort zone, and they never take the leap of faith.

Children, on the other hand, are fascinated by the unknown since they know nothing about it and are eager to take the leap. They look forward to make the unknown, known!

Journey & Destination:

Adults are more concerned with the final destination. They want to get to their destination, their objectives, in the least amount of time and in the safest manner possible. They don’t take the leap of faith, since they’ve discovered a safer, faster option. They’ve also forgotten that the journey is just as pleasurable as the destination.

Kids enjoy the journey without caring about the destination, and they take the leap without fear of crashing into the cart because they are enjoying the new experience that comes with the leap, at that moment.

Trust on themselves & others:

Kids jump, because they know someone is going to be there to catch hold of them.

Trust never comes easy for the adult. The trust on themselves and their abilities and the trust they place on others. They are wary if they can really jump, if someone is gonna be there to catch them, or if that someone will end up crushing them to oblivion. Too many ‘if’s’ and unfortunately not many adults can make the leap.

After a lot of pondering, I made a short list for me to revisit from time to time:

• Too much knowledge is not always beneficial.
• Do plan, but stop focusing on the destination.
• We are all going somewhere. And we will greatly benefit by learning to enjoy the journey.
• We have a lot to learn from our kids.
• Some risks are worth taking. We have to believe in ourselves, trust our gut, and take that leap of faith sometimes.

We may land, or we may crash. But we will never know, until we take the leap of faith.