Despite Mad Max, we stayed on at Cactus a few more days and got some good waves. Then we hit the road again before making a brief stop at Port Lincoln, a peninsula surfing spot just short of five hundred kilometers further East.
While Bazza and Spit Ball played cards Vegemite and I went for a surf. We were in the water for about forty five minutes when I spotted a dorsal fin rise out of the water about 15 meters away. I gave a shout and together we immediately caught a passing wave in. The fin cruised up and down just beyond the shore break before disappearing once again.
We knew it was no dolphin and the thought of our close call had us reaching for a beer to calm our nerves. The cold currents of South Australia are notorious for sharks and we both knew that we had almost become part of the food chain.
We drove for a further six hours before reaching Adelaide and booking in to a caravan park. Time to restock all supplies and refill the tanks. It was great to have our first real hot shower in a long time BLISS!
We stayed a day and then drove the three hundred and eighty km to Beachport where we enjoyed some excellent beach breaks. Bells Beach was another three hundred and fifty Km down the Western highway and by the time we got there it was a wet and windy morning. It was onshore and gale force. We watched the huge 12-15 foot swell from the cliff top. Two guys were out there, scrambling to make it out the back as the huge waves bore down upon them.
It was too big for us. We watched them for a few hours before seeking shelter in the comfort of the bus and then headed off for something more promising. Perhaps Torquay?
Surfing, like life, can be defeating at times, you do need to know your limits and when to let go. Letting go is an important part of going with the flow.
A surfboards design is mostly all about letting go. Various shapes release the water from under and around the board and channel it, depending on design, so that the fins offer the best stability that then helps the rider move the board in the most desirable way.
As I have mentioned in past posts, with a little imagination we can decide not to identify with our own mind (which is more like the emotional energy of a wave) and instead use the idea of a surfboard to symbolically represent ourselves on the wave, instead of in it, and thus keep us upright. (For those of you who think this sounds wacky please see my explanation in chapter seven.)
Most of this, the idea of controlling our life, actually has much more to do with the concept of letting go of life than of trying to control it. Just as with basic surfboard design, it just makes plain sense that you cant actually move forward in your life without the notion of also letting something go.
I’m here to tell you that just as riding a wave to completion involves the releasing of huge volumes of water from under the board, letting go of the things in your life that are holding you back will do the same. By “releasing” I mean “over a period of time”. If you are young you may not have much to release, and that's fine. If you are older you may have a lot. When you are totally honest with yourself only you know how much emotional energy, frustration or confusion is contained deep down in the depths of your very own wave.
My point is that you don’t dive into the wave (by identifying with your mind). In your minds eye, your imagination, you get yourself on the little surfboard and you ride that energy, (by releasing it from under you) the energy of which will propel you forward and then allow you to float, ride, balance, or whatever you want to call it, to move your life forward and let it unfold as it should.
What do I mean by Letting go? Letting go is all about the heart. Its about repeatedly untangling your heart from doubt and then riding the wave of your life all the way to the beach.
You may say “That's fine Rob,” “…but I have real problems that I cant let go of! If I let them go things will get worse!”, and I will say “Your right!” I’m not talking about throwing away all your responsibility, I’m talking about SEEING your situation differently, about seeing YOURSELF differently. The way you see your yourself in relation to your problems determines how you get through them. Keep looking, I’m suggesting that life is NEVER what it at first appears to be, (just as a child sees the world differently than an adult, ) “The Sea of Illusion,” as Buddhism refers to it, is a mass of confusion, problems and suffering that reflect our humanity, but we can ride above it.
Your mind is malleable, so change your perspective, don’t waste your time trying to change all your life circumstances. That is the equivalent of getting caught in a rip (Strong ocean current). Just imagine “Self” as the design of a surfboard so that it fits with the flow of everything. Its hard to change the circumstances of life but easy to change an open mind. It can be done in a heartbeat.
Faith is life itself, regardless of the Sharks.
Next post: The Bridge.
