Surfing and God

Surfing and God

I have been watching the new HBO show “John From Cincinnati” and I am not sure what to think. I should love it since it combines two of my favorite things, surfing and spirituality, but I haven’t made up my mind about it. It brings to mind a conundrum.

The suits have determined that spirituality is a profitable venture. I see this as a mixed blessing. first it is great that people have really begun to allow that there is more to life than what meets the eye and that the almighty scientific method leaves a few epistemological holes and simply cannot provide all the answers. I’m not knocking science, it just annoys me when folks take the same approach to science that radical extremists take to religion. Dogma is dogma.

On the other hand, there is a lot of nonsense out there. Spirituality is one of those topics that give the writer or guru free reign to lie and manipulate and basically say whatever they want to and back it up with calls to faith. I try to take a lightly scientific approach to faith. It works for me. Or, more accurately, I work for faith. I believe at least in part because of what I do.

I worship because it reminds me of who I am and whose I am. I sense the eternal in the rhythm and beauty of liturgy and I taste God’s grace when I participate in the Eucharist. It becomes real to me.

O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! (Psalm 95:1-6)

But my acts of worship are not confined to Church. Surfing on a big day fills me with a sense of awe at the sheer powerlessness of humankind. If you have ever been worked by a triple-overhead set then you have tasted powerlessness. You go over the falls with a empty feeling in your gut, like when a plane drops five hundred feet in few seconds during a storm, and you enter the darkness. In it you twist and tumble pining for air and the feeling of death squeezes you and the roar of the water fills your ears. It is a feeling of total surrender until the wave releases its grip and you float in silence. A quick tug on your leash tells you which way is up and you go for it. But the sense of victory felt when you burst into the sunlight and gulp air is usually brief; because the next wave rolls at you like a white locomotive with Casey Jones all jacked up and driving. You get some air and dive!

I believe in miracles. I am just wary of a television program that lumps faith with the paranormal. And I am a bit uncomfortable with the liberal use of Jesus Christ as an expletive and prophetic visions as plot devices. But, I think I will keep watching. It is a little less shallow than my other new vice Entourage. I think it might be a good thing that people can ask questions about faith and spirituality. Maybe the idea that I have the answer is my thorn in the flesh. Maybe asking the question is more important than having the answer. God is the answer, what was the question?

Damn HBO on demand is addictive. But I would rather be surfing.