Underwater Mind

-Alex Kirkbride


For the human mind, the crossing from air down into water has powerful effects. Unable to smell, losing accustomed gravity and losing our air hearing, it is surprisingly difficult to carry memory across the the border... Underwater, writes Cousteau, "one forgets the sun. One forgets a lot." All the pretty, dry concerns are left to the squabbling gulls. The air world is hard to recall on the instant of merging in the saltwater world we knew before. It is enigmatic that memory can meet amnesia here, how completely and instantly we forget the world of air, our corrugated corner of earth and our dry lives, but seem to remember, opaquely, as if memory coursed through our salty veins, that this ocean was once our home.

-Wild An Elemental Journey

It's also easy to forget to be living presently wherever one is, completely and fully in the moment and yet simultaneoulsy clean the bathroom, wash the dishes, and take the garbage out... ho-hum.

My mind feels submerged... the rain subsided, but flash floods are to be welcoming us once again tomorrow.