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Viewpoint - June 2007
The Mystery of Water, Winds and Waves
By Glenn Hening Copyright 2007 Glenn Hening, Inc.
There's nothing digital about the ocean. Standing on wet sand with waves running around your feet, with your ears full of the echoes of wavelengths beating against the continent; this simple, primordial moment is about as far from an iPod as you can get.
Consider this. The seas are never still because neither are the moon, the sun, or the winds. They move and the ocean responds. And despite eyes trained by forty years of surfing, every time I see the ocean, I never forget that there is still mystery to be found in the combination of water, winds, and waves.
You know, it wasn't that long ago that we really didn't know much about waves. In that respect, we aren't much different than, for example, the ancient Peruvians who covered walls of a ceremonial courtyard with horizontal lines to depict waves marching in to their shores from birthplaces of infinite power beyond the horizon. They didn't have satellites, buoys or instant, digital surf reports. No, those maritime cultures didn't have what we have but they did had something that we find ourselves so easily losing touch of today the ability to be in awe of the ocean and its majesty.
I'd like to think that we are still capable of being in awe, although from the overuse of the word "awesome", that particular emotion is apparently not what it used to be for many people. Maybe it is because there is nothing truly awesome when life is dominated by the disinformation of a digital world. Witness how we've glommed on to the word itself. We over use it in the same way we drive SUVs everywhere to the grocery store, to the video store; everywhere, that is, except to the "awesome" wilderness.
Yet, there is 'awesome' still to be seen, heard, and felt quite easily in our lives along the coastat the exact place where the world's ocean waters touch the continent on which we stand. For me, that makes the shoreline the most important place in nature. And I've done my share to help protect it for future generations.
Even environmentalists are starting to miss the point these days. They are constantly beating the drum about protecting the ocean, when in fact the problem for most people is not about getting sick from the sea. No, the real toxic problem facing people with coastal lifestyles, surfers included, is that they've lost touch with the mystery that drew them to the beach in the first place.
Take the well-off surfers who spend thousands of dollars collecting surfboards and memorabilia. They've been surfing a long time, their memories go back decades, and to this day they exhibit an endless adolescence that is remarkable for any sport. Why? Because the water still feels the same, the waves are still strong, and the sounds of the ocean have not changed. This creates a timeless natural backdrop for some truly 'awesome' experiences that can shape a person's character forever.
Except when they become nostalgia-drenched collectors who buy boards at auctions for top dollar and who seem to be little more than has-beens buying merit badges. You should see the look on their faces when I ask them, "When's the last time you actually rode a wave on one of these?" They look at me like I'm crazy. But it's not me that's lost some sanity.
No, you can't buy the mystery of water, winds and waves because they are priceless. Yet people are increasingly using the ocean as just another channel of entertainment. Look at the people who plan their day around surf reports. Many have the attitude of "if the ocean isn't going to give me what I want, then why bother going down to the sea?"
What is the result of all this? The late Mr. Rogers was once asked for his perspectives on the modern world after 30 years in the public eye. He said, "I don't know that, as human beings, we are made for the world we are making for ourselves."
He said that six years ago. And I don't know too many people who would disagree.
Yet there is a way to make a different place for yourself in a world of prized possessions and digital downloads. Just go to the edge of the continent, take off your shoes, roll up your pants, and leave every electronic gadget you've got in the car. Then walk across the beach, dig your bare feet into the wet sand, and let the waves move around you. Then listen.
For as long as you usually listen to a new CD or watch a favorite TV show or play a video gamespend that same amount of time listening to the sea. Stop your mind and start listening to the silence just before a wave breaks. Concentrate on the sound of it breaking and flowing, right up to its last echo on the sand after a silent voyage across thousands of miles of open ocean.
Go and listen to the waves resonate against the continent, your eardrums, and your most inner thoughts. Do this and you just might begin to hear some hints about how to discover a timeless source of wonder- the mystery of water, winds and waves.
Glenn Hening is the founder of the Surfrider Foundation, and a co-founder of the Groundswell Society which recently held its 6th Surfing Arts, Sciences and Issues Conference at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. He was a Regents Lecturer at UCSB last year and works as a writer and environmental investigations expert at his home near the beach at Oxnard Shores California.