Page 108 - THE ENDLESS WAVE | Skateboarding, Death & Spirituality

THE ENDLESS WAVE | PART TWO
Irrespective of whatever path you choose in a faith or a type of skateboarding, one has their place of practise and the connection to the experiences and the expression. It turns out that subconsciously, in every skateboarder is a seeker and in every religious devotee, there is a seeker.
What could it be that these seekers are searching for? Could it be enlight- enment? Enlightenment is not an end goal, but rather it is an ongoing process. Enlightenment of the body, mind and spirit and both paths have the potential to achieve both as participants of both religion and skateboarding ideally cul- tivate their experiences and work towards self-improvement, growth and ap- preciation of the world within them and around them.
At their best, religions can start as a place that people can turn to for some op- portunities to find a sense of belonging, develop discipline, morals, friend- ships and participation in practices to help them make sense of themselves and the world. Skateboarding might look like another sport or physical activ- ity, however, beyond this, there are also opportunities for similar things that religion offers, such as acceptance, belonging, discipline, friendship and un- derstanding of self.
After becoming aware of what religion and skateboarding have to offer, one might be led to ask the question “which one is the best?”, or “Which one is correct?”, no one truly knows and no one can answer that question for anyone else except for themselves.
At times, people from different paths might be convinced that their way is the way and may display some bias towards their own path. They may argue about which is best or put down other paths or the people that follow them, in an attempt to influence others to join their cause. Representatives from one re- ligion may promote their religion as the right one and the others are false rep- resentations of the divine. There might be skaters calling skaters of other genres “kooks” because of the popularity of one form of skating over the other.
When this happens, there is a disconnection from the essence or the roots of both religion and skateboarding. Sure they might look and feel different on
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