The Day Pass

The notion that surfing is a permeable adventure filled with resolutely independent characters tackling the impulses of the ocean in solitary ecstasy is something farcical in my current surfing life. A fact that induces no small consternation. The creation-myth that fuels this state of internal affairs, the idea of man against nature, or rather, man in tune with nature, is so ingrained in the psyche it is impossible to escape.  But where does it fit in an interconnected, globalized, ultimately explored environment?  Is the sense of satisfaction I gain from communing with nature simply the wool I pull over my eyes to hide some esoteric shame about a place I inevitably have to take in a social community?