Weightless and floating sounds magical — but without something against which you can push, you’re left dancing in space without direction.

That can be its own thing, and it can be beautiful, but if we want to move along a certain path … gravity, obstacles, and launching points are of great use. Self-propulsion works in this metaphor too, but not quite as effectively as the idea of a push or a pull.

(Creatively speaking, this can come in the form of a fellow traveler with whom interaction helps to propel you. Or a contrast: “I don’t want to do work like that, so I’ll purposely move in another direction to do work like this.)

Freedom is liberating, but gravity — and navigating fixed points in space — can set conditions for beautiful growth.