Calmness within

A couple of years ago I read a book by Steven Kotler called The West of Jesus - Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief. Steven was an ex-surfer (if you can call a surfer 'ex' when he stopped surfing for a while) who suffered from Lyme disease. He spend nearly two years in bed and with his illness just got weaker and weaker to such a point that doctors did not give him much time to live. As he says, he lost everything: his health, his job, his girl, and, he was beginning to suspect, his mind. Then one day a friend reintroduced him to surfing. He took his board and headed for the waves once more, as weak as he was at that point. He got hooked again and miraculously after a while he got stronger and eventually beat the struggle against this life threatening disease. In this book he tells about his three-year globe-trotting quest to find out what believe really is. He was wondering that if there was nothing to believe in anymore, can something as unlikely as surfing be something to believe in? The answer to his quest unfortunately cannot be answered with a yes or a no, like most questions on beliefs. What stood out though, not only from this book but from other authors writing about the capabilities of the mind and religion, it seems that if one finds something that one enjoys so much that it can cure where no doctors or medicine can. I definitely don't want to start writing about the origins of believe and the power of the mind, but when I think back to his book and compare it with what I experienced last night, I have to admit that I might be convinced that there might be some truth in the healing powers of surfing.

Yesterday afternoon after work I headed for the beach as usual. Yet another perfect day in Cape Town, no wind, quite warm and spectacularly beautiful. I saw a couple of surfers in the water and immediately went back home to fetch my board. The waves were small compared to what most surfer's would call a "respectable wave", but there was something unexplainable in the air and in the water. The sky was blue and the water was crystal clear and warm. Something the Atlantic side surfers cannot brag about often. There were about 70 surfers spread out from the KFC all the way down to Doodles, each one enjoying his own little "private spot". I sat in the water, caught a couple of nice melow rides and experienced what I think changed Steven's life. Unfortunately the feeling or the serenity could not be captured in a picture, but the calmness I experienced while enjoying the sound of waves breaking, hearing guys expressing their pleasure after each wave and the sun that was going down at the same time made me realized yet again how something as simple as surfing could clean out your head and your heart in a single beat. After nearly two hours in the water with the sun already down at the ocean's bottom it suddenly as if someone had switched of the wave making machine. The clouds moved in and everything went flat, the water became glassy and it felt as if I have just had the longest purest meditation session ever. I took my last wave to go out very reluctantly, but I sat down on the beach for an extra couple of minutes just to make sure that the euphoria soaked  completely into my body and soul. It is moments like this that cannot be explained to people who have never experienced that. Maybe if we all could get a taste of this at least once in our lives we could all turn into more calmed and peace loving human beings who not only appreciates the beauty of our surroundings more, but also allow ourselves to believe that there is something more powerful and greater out there than what meets the eye.