The story of Icarus is a popular one in Greek Mythology as one who did not survive his transition from boyhood to manhood. His father, Daedalus, made a pair of wings stuck together with wax for him and Icarus and gave it to him so that they can escape the imprisonment at the castle. Before flying Daedalus warned Icarus to not fly too close to the sun for the fear of the wings coming off because the wax would melt due to the heat. Icarus did exactly what he was asked not to and fell into the ocean to his death. But is it all that simple?

How far had he really gone before the wings came off and why did he not realize it before it was too late despite his father’s warning? May in a parallel world, he did heed his father seriously and flew to the other side and lived a long and happy life. But this world is filled more with emotional Icarus than the logical Daedalus. Why did he not act sensibly? Was he stupid enough to not understand the logic behind it all? He most certainly did. But still he gave into his passions and suffered the consequences.

A society churning on logic alone, devoid of emotions, can possibly never have a holistic Hegelian Dialectic growth and as humans, we are bound to give into passions or else we would be programmable machines for no scope for anything but logic. We all have been Icarus-es in our lives at one point or the other. We have all flown too close to the sun and fallen to our situational deaths. But since we almost always know that the heat is going to kill us, why do we go so close to the sun? I could only think of one thing. We knew that the fire would ruin us but it all never happened immediately. We flew for the passion of seeing the world metaphorically, as Icarus did, but we had the warning of our Daedalus-es in our head at the early flight. But when passion took over and the risk seemed doable in comparison to the beauty one was to experience by flying higher, one decided to do the unthinkable. The wax was slowly melting and feathers were slowly coming off as one sore higher and higher and because it was all happening so gradually, one failed to immediately grasp the extent of damage and the dire consequences it entailed. No one would do it or would have the opportunity to do it, if the wax melted right away. The slow melting encouraged Icarus and he took the risk. This is all very fine because without risk there is no growth. Without passion there is no achievement. But how far is one to go? That is the eternal question.
I have been guilty of an Icar-ian existence myself and as someone wise enough pointed out to me that knowing alone will never help because even Icarus “knew” it. It is the acceptance of it and the subsequent actions that matter.

We all go through the Icar-ian phase where we let a certain thing drain our wings off the wax and still we fly higher and higher hoping that it will all fall in place or we would make it to the other side before it is too late. Sometimes that does not happen and we plunge into the abyss to our death, to our glorious and morbid and embarrassed Icar-ian death.

The society will always have Icar-ian deaths and very few of us will be wise enough to heed our Daedalus and live into a better life. I did meet one recently and their ability to see through a situation clearly and without prejudices gave me a peep into the lives of the people who have had made potential impacts in the world with their vivacious and certain existence. I leave it all with an admiration and desire to be the Icarus who heeds Daedalus than the one who falls to his death. 

DAEDALUS WARNING ICARUS TO NOT FLY TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN