Spontaneous Rainbows
…or the Velocity of Time
You were talking about surfing, I remember. About how the moment you drop into a twelve-footer, time slows.
“Your energy is explosive, high adrenaline, screaming for you to paddle, paddle, paddle, and then suddenly you’re on the precipice, and the second your board dips its nose down, it’s like life becomes a slow-motion video. You can hear droplets detaching from the roof of the wave overhead, you can feel your toes splay, smell the breeze before it hits your cheeks. It feels like an eternity.” You sat up straight in your chair, adjusted your coffee cup before continuing, as if to stress your point. “And then the wave spits you out, and it’s over, and time quickens again. The wave, with all its power, slows time to a near standstill. Fear falls at the lip of it. Your brain stops. All there is then,” you took a sip of your coffee now, “Is the absolute present.”
“That’s the zone,” I said, making air quotes. “There was this documentary years ago about the zone. They surveyed all the happiest countries and people in the world to find out what they had in common, and what researchers found was that all of them had something that took them to the zone. Whether they were rock climbers or classical pianists, surgeons or janitors, everyone experienced that moment of timelessness at some point while doing whatever they do…
