Thoughts come at us like waves in the ocean-both terrifying and exhilarating. We can ride the waves of thought through learning how to surf these waves. One way to surf with these waves is through fully immersing our mind in reading and writing in literature and philosophy - like fully immersing our body when we surf or bodysurf a wave. And like surfing or bodysurfing a wave, literature and philosophy can allow us to immerse our soul into the ocean-soul of being, lifting us to new heights, catching us as we go over the falls, and sustaining us as we glide across the ocean's glassy surface. As Jon Kabat-Zinn once said "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." A meaningful life depends on discovering a way to glide over the ocean of thought and, to a fulfilling life, an appreciation of the beauty of the waves of thought-literary and speculative-is indispensable to finding intellectual inspiration. Riding the Waves is a compilation of poems that offer brief but hopeful glimpses of the human condition-like a surfer or bodysurfer glimpsing a wave coming over the horizon-with the prospects finding the next meaningful surrender to circumstances beyond our purview of familiarity. Ultimately, the interior life is filled with the cool waters of a new awareness. The enjoyment of the literary arts and philosophical speculation, like surfing or bodysurfing waves, is a lifelong and rapturous pursuit, and, once you start, you cannot stop enjoying the union of your soul with the ocean-soul of collective being-the essence of this blissful enrapture. The delight of insight brings spontaneous ways of coping with adversity-the crash of waves in front of you-letting you find ways to plunge under the redoubtable terror of their prodigious immensity, until you arrive beyond the breakers, ready to catch the next wave onto the heights of poetic ecstasy. This book offers a means of being buoyed by, gliding over and flowing within these beautiful and soulful undulations of thought.
About the Author: Jason Pache teaches creative writing with the Creative Arts Consortium at various socialization centers in the San Diego area for individuals with mental and behavioral health challenges. He earned a B.A. in Psychology from Cal-St. San Marcos and two A.A.'s from Palomar College in Psychological and Social Services and in the Liberal Arts and Sciences. He has worked with numerous non-profit organizations in an effort to mitigate climate change and to put an end to factory farming. He enjoys writing poetry, bird-watching, body-surfing, is vegan and believes in the inherent equality of the sexes and all sentient forms of life.