The Spirituality Of Diving

There are times when the spirituality of diving almost overwhelms me.

Hovering in the water column, a completely alien environment envelops me.

Weightless, with sounds coming seemingly from only one direction... blasts of air bubbles floating upward, creatures completely alien to me living out their lives right in front of my eyes...

There are times when I just close my eyes for a few seconds and float... float in a way that I cannot anywhere or any when else...

I lose myself in the experience, and for the short time that air and NDL allows, I live in a world that few others see... and I think a world that some who do SEE it don't really FEEL it.

The cares of the world wash away, and the entire universe becomes elemental. Only the most basic of needs, air, need be met... everything else can wait for a while I am away on an inner vacation to my own private universe.

There are times outside of diving that I feel things in a somewhat similar way... I am a cyclist, and there are times when you are riding a bike that the world just melts away. Pro bike riders call these 'no-chain days' where it feels like riding is effortless. Many is the time that I have been riding along, look around and realized I am already reaching my destination... I think, wow, this is 15 miles further than the last time I noticed, how on Earth did I get here?

Also when cycling, there are days when nothing seems to fit right. You can't find your groove and you just seem like you are 'slogging' all day long.

I am inexperienced enough at diving that this happens to me as well, especially if I haven't been in the water for a couple of weeks... it takes a while to get back in the groove again, at least for me at this stage of my development as a diver.

I can also get into a "constant state of being" while shooting pictures, and can look up and find that I have lost hours of the day while working to get the shots just right... or while waiting for the animal I am shooting to do what I want it to do. I can lose hours as well standing in front of great works of art (once I stood so long in front of Caravaggio's St. John the Baptist that the museum guard came over and asked if I was OK) and in a good book.

But none of that really compares to diving. Diving is different. I think it may be, literally, the total emersion into a different world that transports my spirit... the exotic and alien nature of the sea, swimming along as if I actually belonged there, at least for a little while.

There are no bills to pay under the sea, there are no phones to ring, there are no expectations or pressures other than those of the most basic needs we have... make sure we can breath, and make sure we can continue breathing.

Obviously, one must pay attention while diving, that's not what I am saying... you can stay alert to what you are doing and still be lost in the spirituality of the moment (rather like riding a bike... you have to pay attention to actually peddling, looking out for cars, potholes, glass, etc., but that doesn't mean you can't be "in the groove").

The spirituality of diving doesn't (for me at least, your mileage may vary) have anything to do with religion, it is more about finding new ways to feel alive... to BE alive.. and it is yet another reason to be thankful that we were given another day to live on a wonderful planet and in a time where such things are possible

I haven't been diving long, and I am hoping that my sense of wonder and awe of the shear unworldlyness of being alive under water doesn't go away any time soon.

Somehow, I suspect that I will never outgrow the spirituality of diving...

So many serious divers wish to be returned to the Sea when it's all done. It is no wonder why.

I was actually think about that the other day. Maybe I'll ask to be interred in the ocean and let the fish eat me. It would be better than being placed in a box in the ground. Then my relatives can go dive to see my little marker stone. It's so much less depressing than a regular graveyard.

sabbath999:

I haven't been diving long, and I am hoping that my sense of wonder and awe of the shear unworldlyness of being alive under water doesn't go away any time soon.

Somehow, I suspect that I will never outgrow the spirituality of diving...

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Somehow I don't think it ever goes away. I've logged more than 2,300 dives in the past 8 years and I still feel a sense of wonder and awe on every dive.

It wasn't until I learned how to dive that I finally figured out what it meant to relax ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Slonda828:

I was actually think about that the other day. Maybe I'll ask to be interred in the ocean and let the fish eat me. It would be better than being placed in a box in the ground. Then my relatives can go dive to see my little marker stone. It's so much less depressing than a regular graveyard.

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I wrote this a few years back ...

(with apologies to John Prine)

Woke up this morning, put on my flippers
Stepped off the dive boat and died
And oh, what a feelin when I hit that deco ceilin'
And my entrance into heaven was denied

Ol' St. Peter he did say, Bob it happened this old way
You task-loaded and didn't use your head
And all the angels said when you grabbed your deco reg
You should've grabbed the other one instead

So please don't bury me down in that cold, cold ground
Just drop my body overboard and let the current take me down
Just send me on that final dive, and leave me down below
Talk about my death on the internet if folks really wanna know

Well give my tanks to the hoovers, cuz they really need the air
Give my wings to the angels, they can use another pair
Give my drysuit to a passing seal, it'll fit 'em anyway
Hang my regs on wooden pegs and throw my mask away

But please don't bury me down in that cold, cold ground
I'd rather be dropped overboard and have the current take me down
Just send me on that final dive, and leave me down below
Talk about my death on the internet if folks really wanna know

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Not being an astronaut, diving is as close to going into another world as I will ever experience in my lifetime. I hope I will never outgrow the "spirituality of diving" and hope to remain in awe of being underwater. Thank you for this thread, sabbath999.

Yes, there is a quality of light coming through the water, whether that light is the bottle-green of the St. Lawrence River looking up to the surface from 90 ft, or the sunlight streaming down in the aqua blue of Lake Huron/Georgian Bay...it's like home somehow...I feel connected through the element of water to the whole darn universe.

Thanks for the thread.

Totally agree! Anything that focuses our minds is a form of meditation. It can be Yoga, Tai Chi, drawing, playing music, diving, or a million other things.

The idea of meditation is simply to clear the mind of the day to day monkey chatter. When the mind finally clears, the body can relax and flush out stress and the toxins it pumps into our system.

So enjoy diving, enjoy the meditation of it, you don't even have to say Om or dance in slow motion.(some breathing exercises might be good though)

Thanks,
Eric

NWGratefulDiver:

It wasn't until I learned how to dive that I finally figured out what it meant to relax ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

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I can only say that figures greatly in my dive plan every time i'm down there. What better place to take away the aches and pains of everyday life, floating around with some of the most beautiful critters and scenery your ever going to be privileged to witness in your short life span on this planet.

Only diving can give you this.

When I saw the title of the thread, I was thinking, well, some new age, California type nonsense.....

Then I reflected for a moment, and you are 100% correct - very true - and Roatan Man makes a great point too.

The fact that while diving, you forget all your troubles and problems; who can put a price on that?

As divers, we are truly fortunate - thanks for starting the thread Sabbath