Becoming Fluid

Essentially I've come to the thought that surfing is essentially all about becoming fluid.

As we begin to surf we want to improve, we want to be Michael Peterson, we want to 'become fluid' in the sense that our moves on the wave have a flow, control and style. We long to shed that jerky, arm waving, balance-broadcasting semaphore that signals clearly to the beach our ramshackle ability. This will be achievable by a few surfers, but most who surf won't reach that level of skill. The more literal meaning of 'becoming fluid' is there from the beginning, for everyone, whatever level and is more about feeling and thought.

What takes us to the water in the first place? A great part of the beauty of surfing is simply to immerse ourselves. Water is our solution (of choice). It is where we go to lose ourselves like a sugar cube in a cup of tea.

In the water, in those intense moments when in tune with a wave your brain disperses, your heart melts and the rest of you with it. We melt into the situation because it's so immediate and there is little time for concious decision: instinct and feeling take over. We lose our minds. (Yeah man!) Yeeeeewp! This dissolution is truly therapeutic in our mentally oppressive age of relentless signification, admin, mobile phone bleeps, obligations, paperwork etc, etc. Dissolution: The closing down of an official body. The dictionary has got it so right!

Psycho-spiritual alchemists (who see the ideas of Alchemy as a psychological endeavour as much as one of physics) see dissolution as a deep deconstruction of the ego; in Bhuddism salvation - reaching the Nirvana - is achieved by transformation, obviously the theme of transformation as a means of elightenment is common in probably all religions. We all want to be different and perceive differences, to soak up the solution and become altered. This sounds like a bit of waffle but I'm sure that beneath the surface of having fun, there can be real and significant meaning in the act of surfing, that is deeply affecting and is similar to what all sorts of people strive for in all sorts of ways/practices/beliefs. I'm not saying surfing is necessarily special over and above other things: but it is to me, it's what I like to do now.

Surfing is my solvation.


Comments

  1. To loose ones self in surfing and achieve transformation one needs a reasonably consistent supply of waves.....I'start to gnaw my left arm off , I have pretty much finished with the right.

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  2. Yeah - life woud be better with... more surfing!

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