For the sake of equal time for malevolent swine, I would like to offer my own version of the above allegory. Mine is more of a fable, I guess. I expect that the truth lies just about exactly halfway between the two, adjacent to the golden mean. My half certainly isn't sufficient on its own.

So:

A man and a woman hiked up a mountain. Hours passed, they grew tired, and the straps of their packs abraded their shoulders. They began to wonder why the packs were so heavy, so they stopped to rest and have a look.

They were alarmed to find that the packs were full of rocks, and not a damn thing else! Naturally, they abandoned the packs.

Having discarded their ballast, each floated up about six feet into the air. They're floating there still, because you can't walk if there's nothing holding you against the ground.