'Being at one' and other stuff!

[derbyshire surfer]

Hi all,
I went for a surf yesterday to Hells Mouth, not the cleanest of conditions, but I got a ride that was just absolutely spot on, not massive around 3ft but none the less I was absolutely stoked! I paddled back out just sat there a while taking everything in and felt massive inner calm. That sounds really cheesy but there you go...what could've been a lousy 400 mile round trip just changed with that one ride.

I guess most of us have experienced that feeling and now doubt felt 'at one' with the ocean and whats around us, even if we don't say it to our mates or whatever.

I grerw up in a VERY religious house i.e my mum and dad were 'ministers' my brother is now one my parents in law are ministers. I try to be a better/kinder person at some level most days often failing and occasionaly saying the odd regretable thing!

Just wondering if anyone else out there find that surfing and maybe Christianity or other beliefs go hand in hand?

Cheers!

[flyingvee]

I think I know where you are coming from; I went to Boscombe yesterday with Essex and although the conditions were not as forecasted (to put it mildly), I got to pop up a couple of times (only to get pounded). Yet for that it was all worthwhile and I felt I had moved on a step. (Ok - a very small step...) All the same I was stoked....

I too grew up in a very churchy family and I have no idea if that contributes to anything - but it felt mighty good to be in the sea again yesterday..

[Otter]

That's why I visit The Church of the Open Sky and the Green Cathedral as often as I can. It's inexplicable...

[Mudharp]

I'm a Born-Again Christian and can totally appreciate God's creation every time I paddle out. Just sitting in the water makes you realize there is something much greater than us...

[justloafing]

There is just something real special about it. Nothing like it.

[Beachbumhippie]

Yep, Born again Christian here, and yes it does make you appreciate the ocean. We are very lucky.

[Luke]

To be honest i find the complete opposite. When I go walking up the mountain or paddle out, i do think about how nature works...and i think it's just mad how it all fits together, and how we are just a tiny tiny part of it all... but for me taking god out out of the equation makes it even more amazing.

[b-lag]

I know what you mean

When I pull up to the beach and see what seems like endless lines crashing to the shore...

Surfing is such a unique sport. You're in a controlled fall the whole time, while being pulled upward as the wave wants to pass under you. It's a balance of falling and rising - pushing in and pulling back all at the same time. And yet, we somehow find grace in the midst of all that chaos. Is surfing a metaphor not just for life, but for all of existence?

The sea wants us out of the water. The ocean pushes wave after wave of power against us. You struggle to overcome the power of the ocean as you seek the calm beyond the break. And finally, despite all the ocean throws at us, we continue to try, we push ourselves as hard as we are pushed. And when all of the infinite possibilities come together and you're in the right position at the the right time and despite all of the physics and of the power, we glide toward shore... just to do it all over again