On Airbending

ISSUE #121

For those watching Avatar and The Legend of Korra—both of which I've finished for the first time—here is a playlist series on bending earth, fire, air, and water. It should be said to the skeptics that these are not inalterable divisions, these four primal states of being, but inventories that show us the tools we have available and how we can best employ them. Four faces of the universe that help us witness ourselves.

There is nothing we feel more often than air—an assertion so obvious as to sound idiotic. Yet nothing's more easily forgotten than that which is with us every day. We are wrapped in atmosphere at every moment. It will touch more parts of us than anything else. There are dozens of names for its every form: a wind, a breeze, a gale, a draft, a puff, a breath, a squall. Each gives its own unique prickling to the skin.

The is no perception without air, the medium through which we hear, see, smell, and feel. It is the way the world establishes contact—music, its vibration; aroma, its makeup; vision, the light granted free and safe passage. It's our baseline for sensation, the tare button for awareness, all our feeling gauged against the normal it bestows. It can be heavy with pressure or light as chiffon, thick as pudding or thin as empty vows.

To hear what the world is saying, the airbenders learn to meditate. It's an act of raw perception, a seeing without thinking. Uncurbed sensitivity unlocks words in wind. Hurt, joy, and sorrow whirl around a centered self until fear and love look exactly the same. Noticing this balance teaches us serenity. It is a peace treaty with chaos. Appreciation is key, and lets us wander like air.

With unchecked perception, we see outside the picture. There is always another path to take—air flows wherever it's allowed. For this, airbenders are flexible, in motion at all times. "When you meet resistance, you must be able to switch direction at a moment's notice," says Tenzin training Korra to float through spinning gates. Facing rigidity, the airbender dodges. Just beyond the air lies a reality unknown, and that's where the truly radical answers will lie.

But peace like this is not easy to achieve. Life and time are narrow, every second is a choice—and every choice erases some path you wished to take. Those who grip too tightly to what they wish to possess have been known to lose their power altogether. "The air nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns, and found peace and freedom," Iroh tells us while teaching Zuko. It is harder to give up than to never own at all—perhaps why all the children born to Air Nomads were benders. Others find it hard to sit forever; stagnant air can also suffocate.

What does this peace and freedom look like? Appreciation of beauty without ownership. The air is for all, and it is to be shared. Without it, beauty and truth are not borne.