The Ocean

The waves crash upon the beach continuously, one after the other, in a rhythm like a heart beat as vast as the earth. The sea is mesmerizing and powerful. It is a place connected in the thoughts with serenity and calm, yet it is also connected to fear and the poetic violence of nature. Experiences within its depths are different in both intensity and meaning for every soul. I find taking a simple dip within its’ waters is much like taking a journey. At first you seem to be entering into a foreign element, something extraordinarily unfamiliar to the various rhythms of your body. Then ceasing to be uncomfortable you simply have a good time jumping around and being at odds with the motion of the water. Finally you fall exhaustedly into sync with the ocean’s pushes and pulls. All the while a mysterious change comes over you, you are most definitely not the same person leaving the water’s embrace as you were crashing in.
         
        You stare at the water and you wish you could slip gracefully into the murky depths, but for some reason you are unable to do anything gracefully once in the control of this giant ever moving entity. Your legs can no longer trot along at their normal pace. They are greatly encumbered by the added weight of the briny water and struggle to hold up before the force of the white-capped waves. Your body does not know how to adapt itself to the movement of the water. As you move out further and the waves begin to rise above your head a sense of mindless fear overwhelms you. You realize that you cannot control these immense angry waves that in an instant you might be under and that if you go under you may never arise. This fear grows steadily as one such monster wave heads your way, then as you realize that you can survive these majestic rushes of water the fear dissipates.
         
        Once this overpowering fear has been overcome you begin to become reckless. You constantly tempt fate. You jump over the foamy white waves, dive into them, and let them carry you under only to fight your way up again. You revel in the simple joy of survival and you survive on the constant rush of adrenaline. You play games with the might of the sea. You attempt with all the muscles in your body to stand your ground as waves pound at you, or you try to force yourself in the opposite direction of the blasting wavelets. You laugh at the feeling you get when you fight the vigorous motion of the waters.

      At last you reach a point of deteriorating exhaustion. You give up your fight against the water and let yourself relax into it. You become as unresponsive to the oceans jerks and shoves as a piece of driftwood being blindly pushed along on its’ course. You become almost as one with the rhythms of the sea, allowing your body to be pushed to and fro. You feel as though what was before an unattainable seed of serenity has taken root and blossomed in your soul. You feel at peace with the waves and all you know is the feel of the water moving around you. You continue to allow the waves to control you fully body and soul until you once again reach the shore.
         As you lift your prune like body from the salty water you gaze out at the horizon and watching the sun set you know that the memories of those unearthly moments in the water will haunt your dreams forever. Even though you haven’t honestly spent more than an hour among the waves you feel you have aged a thousand years. Later that night when you shut your eyes to sleep or even just to blink you can feel the movement of the water, you can feel your body being pulled by the currents and you know that you will always have the rhythm of the ocean within you and the knowledge changes the look in your eyes making you more wise than you were before this ethereal exchange between you and the sea.