Mystics would say this is an experience of eternity—eternity merely unending time, nor the mere absence of time, but the presence of all time at one present moment. I think this explains the deep happiness that both experiences always produce. It is a clue that we were not meant to be in time forever, but in timelessness, and in these two experiences we have a taste of our “home,” our destiny. Both bring us back to the timeless mode of consciousness we see in the very young and which some say was our lot in Eden. (The consciousness of time, of death, of the ego, and of “the knowledge of good-and-evil” all seem to stand or fall together.)

I wonder: did Adam and Eve feel all the time the way a surfer feels for that split second atop a wave? Steven Wright, the dour Boston comedian, understands that moment. He says: “You know that feeling you get when you lean back in your chair and lift your feet up and balance on the two back legs for that one tiny instant before you fall either backwards or forwards? Well, that’s how I feel all the time.” He’s not at home in this world either; he must be a surfer.

This timeless experience is available every time you catch a wave. For if time does not stop for you, you do not catch the wave. If you remain in time for a quarter of a second too long, the wave is past; “pretty woman” has not turned to smile at you. If you run ahead too fast and enter the wave a quarter of a second too early, you get creamed. You must find the split second. It is like a split coconut. But into that split, eternity can fit.

[ artwork "Surfing in Pink" by Blue Whisper ]

[ article written by Peter Kreeft via Scribd]

Despite the damages brought about by the hurricane, surfers were lucky enough to experience some “pipeline” sized waves that rolled through some of the eastern coast’s beaches, like in Montauk new York. Although swimmers were not allowed to enter the water, the excited surf crowd paddled out to consistent sets and pounding waves. The scene reminded me of the North Shore of Oahu during the consistent winter swells, as crowds gather in increasing droves to gawk and stare at the brave watermen who paddle out into monster-sized waves.

Call them crazy, call them adrenaline junkies … whatever they can be labelled as, they are out in the waves for the same reason as every other surfer: the stoke. The ever mysterious, and elusively indescribable “stoke”.

What is “stoke”? The best way to explain it is to let someone experience it for themselves, but that is about as easy as hitting an arrow with another arrow while you are on horseback in the middle of a hurricane.

So for the lack of a better way to explain stoke, one has to turn to using metaphors that hopefully correspond to some reference point that people can relate to. The difficulty is that stoke defies definition, for the simple fact that it varies greatly from one person to another. Although most refer to it by the same name, the experience that an individual goes through is definitely unique within each person.

Stoke is, by all intent and definition, an individually personal experience that has no prerequisites – small waves, big waves, surfboard, body board, solitary, or surrounded by friends, it happens at any given moment in time. It is about your state of mind, and state of being.

Someone once said that the secret to life lies in one thing, and one thing alone. Once you find that one thing, you should spend all your energy and effort ensuring that everything you do and strive for is devoted to that one thing. When questioned as to what that one thing is, the answer was simply “I don’t know. It (the one thing) is different for everyone.” Go, and find your stoke … your one thing!

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