Surfing the Ocean-mind

The mind is very much like this ocean; a vast realm of many shapes, colours and forms which seems to stretch on infinitely and is always moving and changing. Sometimes the water takes on the quality of sheet glass – perfect curves and strikingly beautiful in every way; peeling, hollow cylinders with nothing but calm fizzing and warm sunrays in between. A mind in this state is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. On other days, the water takes on a more menacing grey and triangular quality; the howling wind sending the surface into a chaotic frenzy in every direction. Both ocean and mind dance between ordered symmetry and chaotic asymmetry, offering tears of beauty, shivers of terror and everything between… and many a psychonaut has seen the way the weather can shift without much warning, turning the ocean-mind from a calm tropical lagoon to a treacherous sea-cave quite quickly.

When experiencing the ebb and flow of mind-forms within our own minds, it’s easy to think we are at the epicentre and forget that these mind-forms have often travelled quite a way to reach us, from storms in far away places. The mental and emotional waves we ride are not really our own, but they do move through us. At times we tend to behave as though we own a wave just because we are riding it for a while, when in fact we are just borrowing its energy for the amusement of some aspect of Self. We only ever align with the speed / frequency / wavelength / vibration temporarily, but the longer we ride a wave of energy (mind-form), the more of an imprint it makes upon our memory and identity. The waves we miss or decide not to catch are either oscillating at a scale we can’t perceive and match (too small or too big to paddle into and surf), or are just not the right shape for the experience we desire at that moment. It is only the energy waves (mind-forms) that resonate in some way with the state of our nervous system that grab our attention.

A beginner mind-surfer is often both unable to catch the waves they desire (thoughts or emotions worth leveraging or exploring) and unable to avoid the ones they don’t (thoughts or emotions that are consistently unhelpful). Of course, there’s value in learning to ride every kind of wave and sitting with our fear and resistance, but we all want at least some level of control over how and when we do this. Even once on a wave, the beginner often either nose-dives their board or is unable to fully dance with the form of the wave - too tense and disconnected to enjoy the ride. That is, they’re struggling to dance with a thought and let the experience flow because they’re neurally clogged up, having to multi-task because surfing still feels like 10 skills at once, rather than one skill. The experienced surfer is attuned to the movements of the ocean-mind and is able to play with the wave of energy in creative collaboration, while it lasts. Experience and practice is the only way to avoid getting smashed by all but the biggest surprises, as conserving energy and catching the most desirable waves takes a mixture of patience, poise and power.

True mind-surfers are able to enjoy and endure simultaneously; masters of flow and focus, mindless and yet sound of judgement. Some surfers are so highly attuned to the ocean-mind that to the outside eye, it appears they have mystical powers; either seeing the future or somehow requesting the ocean deliver the perfect wave. I believe anyone who is deeply attuned enough to their own nervous system and skilled at interacting with their environment can exhibit these masterful ‘powers’. Those who have dedicated a lifetime to a craft or have access to ‘god-given’ talent can become alchemists, as they manifest their vision by partnering with what is, rather than crashing against it. Perhaps the best outcome of all is to fall in love with the mind like a surfer falls in love with the ocean… appreciating it even on the days when it isn’t so surfable, and holding it in reverence as something which cannot be changed or altered, only danced with for a few hours at a time. Perhaps we can extend enough respect to both ourselves and the mind that we choose to dive in only when the conditions are manageable; becoming regular explorers of the vast blue who always return to land to ground ourselves and dry off.