Detours on the road to Awe: Catastrophe & rehabilitation in pursuit of terror & veneration in oceans, mountains & heavens
The spraypainted writing on the wall “Let love be your search, the ocean your religion and the forest your church” instantly resonated and made an indelible imprint on the young boy riding his bicycle to check the surf.
“Put me back in the ocean” were among the first intelligible words uttered some 40 years later through the morphine, adrenalin, oxygen & blood lines attached to the broken body recovering consciousness in the Intensive Care Unit hours after being airlifted for spinal surgery following a paragliding incident in 2022.
At this junction, Chris’ developing university thesis on quantifying biological markers for states of flow, clutch and awe through neuroscience & the shifting cultural attitudes towards people devoted to the acquisition, maintenance & loss of expertise in wicked environments (titled HEROES: High Expertise & Risk Orientated Experience Specialists) became a deeply experiential case study in biological and psychological science where n=1.
Learning to surf before being able to crawl, climb before being able to stand, and fly before being able to walk have formed part of an evolving story of the collective will and actions involved in reclaiming a lifetime of progressive activity and adventure under, on and in the oceans, mountains and skies through fitness for task, expert assistance & constant adaptation.
It is fitting that Chris recounts for the first time this & other rescues as part of the Inspire Series for Paddy Pallin, the origin of the NSW SES Bush Search and Rescue (BSAR) unit that have supported him throughout.