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Author’s note:
In March 2009, I did 17
slide shows in Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland. This is a blog
entry by a UK paddler who watched one of those shows.
Zen
and the Art of Extreme White Water
“The
Thin Line that Leads Us”
Name:
Rhiannon
Occupation:
Environmental geochemist
“I left a
stressful life in Sydney to find the road less traveled. The blog is
an attempt to remind Stu and I of what we’ve seen along the
way.”
Favorite Books:
Quote:
“All outward journeys should also be inward journeys.
Without this, there is little personal change, still less meaning,
and there certainly can be no philosophy.”
Doug Ammons
Zen and the
Art of Extreme White Water
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Personally, I'm not
much of a white water kayaker. Bobbling down French rivers with a
bottle of wine and a slightly damp baguette is about as far as it
goes for me.
So as you might imagine, it was all a bit of a
surprise to find myself at a lecture by white water kayaker Doug
Ammons the other day. I assumed it would be an adrenaline junkie's
wet dream, just something to while away a pleasant hour or so.
How wrong could I
be?
We piled into the lecture theatre, a group of folk neatly
split into two halves: the young adrenaline junkies and the older
ones with beards, wearing fleeces with a history. As Doug started to
speak, it became immediately obvious that this was going to be a very
rare gem of a talk, and about as far removed from my expectations as
his kayaking experience was to mine.
It's difficult to know
where to start describing what Doug's talk was about. Sure, we
watched as Doug and his friends kayaked the steepest, most committing
Grade VI rivers in the world. Sure, he had pushed the boundaries of
his sport in a way very few are privileged to know or understand. But
this was only a part of it. What came across was a sense of knowing
what it was about on a much deeper level. How the ultimate
achievement couldn't be counted with grades, or with first descents.
What mattered was being at one with the greater forces of nature, and
that this outward journey made possible an inner journey with an
unparalleled opportunity for change. Down this deep, there were
similarities between these ideas and many other forms of
spirituality, eastern philosophies, and martial arts.
After
the talk finished, I felt like a hand grenade had gone off in my
head. In a good way.
But it all left me with a raft of
questions. Had anyone else sensed such incredible clarity and depth
of thought and inspiration? I've since asked everyone I know who also
saw Doug speak, and very few seemed to be willing to talk about it.
In a copy of his book,
Whitewater Philosophy, Doug wrote:
Rhiannon
I
hope you find these ideas as interesting as I do and keep developing
your own.
Doug
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