Surfing and Spirituality

A common conception in our society is that the sacred and profane realms are oppositional. This study seeks to demonstrate the fallacy of this belief through the observation and analysis of the spiritual capacity of surfing. The research conducted for this project will contribute to the scholarship on the binary of secular versus sacred and on the relationship between surfing and spirituality. The intention is to illustrate how people make spiritual meaning out of surfing, a seemingly secular activity. Spirituality here refers to any process in which one aspires towards enlightenment; any activity through which one aspires to assuage the yoke of the human condition by answering for oneself the questions “Why am I here?” and “What is my place in the universe?” The focus of the study is the connection between surfing as a secular sport and spirituality and asks the question: how is it that surfers find spiritual meaning through their sport and what does this mean in regards to common perceptions of the secular and sacred? The goal of this research is to draw attention to the deeply embedded societal assumptions concerning the opposition of secular versus sacred and to question their validity through the exposition of surfing as both a secular and sacred activity. Document Type Capstone Project Degree Name Bachelor of Arts Department Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Public Health First Advisor Cheleen Mahar Second Advisor Aaron Greer Subject Categories Anthropology | International and Area Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences Rights Terms of use for work posted in CommonKnowledge. This capstone project is available at CommonKnowledge: http://commons.pacificu.edu/cassoc/6 SURFING AND SPIRITUALITY By Leslie Kerby A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in International Studies