Simply Grand: My Life on the Zip Line

Be Forewarned: Ride at Your Own Risk!

Diving into a zip line is like getting married. Once you took off, there is no getting back. You have to take the plunge, attend to your fears and leave the rest to the line. Like the married life, the zip line enables you to experience all-in-one, both attraction and dread, the challenge, the excitement, glory, ecstasy, regret, fulfillment.

THE ATTRACTION

Zip line always attracts, just like a pretty face is. But the zip line in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato is an irresistible elfin lady. It towers the Seven Falls that emptied from the lake at an elevation of almost 600 meters. It consists of two stations, the first extends to 700 meters (from Falls No. 1 to Falls No. 5) while the other is 400 meters (from Falls No. 5 to Falls No. 2). The lush vegetation, the panoramic scenery and the enthusiasms of those who queue to take its challenge are more than enough to enchant a restlesshiker like me to try giving into its seduction. So impulsively I decided to dive, attracted at the prospect of having to zip over a breathtaking elevation of more than 1,900 ft.

THE DREAD

The package consisting of two zip lines costs one rider Php. 250.00, cheaper by more than a haft than that in Boracay (Mr. Loho). That one is encouraging. The harness were on and I was positioned for the plunge. Then one of the staff gave a push and I was zooming down fast. I am used to sprinting my bike at 110 km/hr. but not this kind. I seemed to zip at more than 150 km/hr here. My mind was slow to react. It wanted to say stop. It bargained with the zip line, "Hey, I've decided early and impulsively. Can we put a hold on this?" But the line was impervious. My palms were wet and the mind struggled, forced at last to confront its fear.

Wingless though I am, I fly like the eagle

A LEAP OF FAITH

After the dread, came the doubt. My mind wrestled with those unfounded fears. It overcame them only to be assailed by more doubts. What if all hell broke loose? What if the harness or the line itself gave off. Then again, the line beckoned me to be present to the moment. "Hey, you are an eagle now. Use your eyes to see yonder the things only those gifted with flight can behold. Feel the apparent wind caressing your face and allow it to dry your perspiring hands. Spread them out as if your wings. Give in to momentariness by letting go of your dread and doubts. You are on an eagle's wing now."

ALIVE

Giving in to the present moment is a difficult task to achieve. The many distractions technology has gifted mankind make it almost a Sisyphean task to accomplish. But zip line liberated me out of my preoccupations even for a brief passing moment. Having confronted my fears, my angst and doubts, the experience opened up my senses and perceptions to see the world in a brand new light. Suddenly, I felt so much alive. Zipping across the crevice that separates Falls No. 5 to Falls No. 2 was so grand that I heard myself laughing out loud, wowing and howling like an honorable drunk. The air was cool, the canopy of trees below was gaping at my passage. The waterfalls cascaded in symphonic jubilation and a few birds joined me in surveying a vision pure and fair.

FORGETTING, REGRETTING AND WORRYING: THE TOUCHDOWN

As I approached the end of the line, I noticed a photographer framing my expected touchdown. My attention was diverted from the present to that proximate end. The approach was faster than the initial takeoff. Again, I was seized by a frantic dread, a panic it seemed. "How am I to touchdown at this speed?", my mind questioned the line. "I should have not taken this flight in the first place. But here I am, a stupid mule wanting to be an eagle. When will I ever accept my facticity?

I remember a koan. The master asked his disciple, "What is the sound of the clap of one hand?" The unperceptive disciple was unable to answer and got slapped in the process. I got slapped in the process. At 5 meters to the end of the line, something on the pulley atop my harness held my approached all of a sudden. I landed on my legs, now wobbling and shaking exactly at the landing area of Falls No. 2. My mind wondered how did I abruptly stopped and I noticed a rope attached to   the line that served as arrester pulled by a staff positioned about 8 meters immediately before the end of the zip line.

AFTERTHOUGHT: A CELEBRATION

When have I celebrated life? Was giving off birthday bash a celebration of it? Can we qualify our attendance to a christening event, to a graduation ceremony, to a wedding, to an oathtaking a celebration of life?  What about attending a funeral, or a necrological ceremony? Can we say that we are affirming life when we visit the sick in a hospital?

Life in the zip line is a celebration. It is a personal celebration only because I was fully aware of being fully alive for that brief passing moment. It was a wedding and a birthday celebration, a christening, a graduation, an oathtaking. It was funeral as well as a necrological ceremony, even a visitation of the sick, simply because of that awareness to the precious present moment that comes only to but once for a mortal man like me.

The zip line tells me: YOU ARE NOT SUPERMAN. NEEDLESS TO SAY, YOU ARE ALIVE.