“Leary saw Surfers as the throw aheads of mankind, versus the dregs of mankind…versus the irresponsible sceptor of mankind.
And he described the highest destiny of man on earth, as a form of existence in the universe, as evolving towards a purely aesthetic state…that was the goal…the highest possible goal that man could obtain as a species.
Historically, man had evolved around building city states on the bluff, for protection; next to the river, for commerce; and was trying to store more acorns than he needed to eat that day, and the more acorns he could store the more successful he was as a person.
Well Leary said that was all a false diety…a false reason for living.
That really the dance was everything.
And that surfers had discovered this before any other tribe on earth and that they were the example of man to be emulated.
He said surfers were the perfect example of ‘be here now’ The tube ride in which you’re living for that exact instant on the continuum of time, where the tube is folding over your head; your wake is being, disappearing, into the back of the wave, your footprints are washed from the sand…that its totally about being where you are at that instant,
its not about where you’re gonna be
or where you’ve been
its about where you are as each instant unfolds
…and that surfers live for that. And that they designed their lives around having it as much as they can and that that was, in a sense, the highest level of attainment that Man can achieve in his life on earth.
And if you believed in that, you have to WORK to make it…to lead man to that goal, you couldn’t just lay back and passively let other people carry the challenge and fight for that;
you had to actually be a proponent of it and be a firm advocate of it, and work hard to try an lead man to that place.
And so I began to see Mankind as a tribe, whos goal, whos participation in the total social order, was to carry that message.
And to talk about the importance of maintaining the interface between the land and the ocean.
And helping people to realize that life is not so much about acquisition of wealth, as it is about the dance…” - segment in Andrew Kidman’s Glass Love.
I highly reccomend all of you to pick up this film and support Mr. Kidman’s work as this is what surfing and the world needs more of. Good waves to you all.
