The Sufi of Naval Architects by Dan Webber

Excerpt from Dan Webber’s essay “Surfism: A model of spatio-temporal perception” in Kurungabaa. June 2009. Volume 2 Issue 1. pp. 100-102

To analyse how the surfboard responds to the surfer’s movements, the designer reduces the surfer’s influence to a set of rotational axes. Focusing on the surfboard, he ignores the shape and motion of the wave, which is subsequently reduced to a flat plane. At this level of abstraction, the surfer’s influence can be represented diagrammatically, enabling the designer to more easily visualise the different phases of a manoeuvre, as well as the transitions between them.

Full essay following.

Surfism: A model of spatio-temporal perception

© Dan Webber 2009

There’s something about surfing that touches the very essence of what it is to be alive. It’s hard to explain to non-surfers how it feels to carve across a wave, to push the limits of your surfing ability and to surf even better than you thought you could. One surfs with the wave, drawing on experience to manoeuvre the surfboard in synchrony with the wave, all the while anticipating how it will change shape.(1)

As a nexus of past, present and future experience, surfing corresponds to Kant’s model of the intellect, which portrays information as the product of three types of synthesis: the apprehension of raw perceptual input (present), the recognition of concepts (past) and the reproduction of each in imagination (future). Imagination is the least stable of the three, as it allows the mind to alternate between understanding and sensibility.(2)

This triadic pattern reappears in Freud’s model of the psyche, comprising three functionally interrelated parts, one of which negotiates between the other two. According to Freud:

‘The ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world … Moreover, the ego seeks to bring the influence of the external world to bear upon the id and its tendencies, and endeavours to substitute the reality principle for the pleasure principle, which reigns unrestrictedly in the id…. The ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions … in its relation to the id it is like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse; with this difference, that the rider tries to do so with his own strength, while the ego uses borrowed forces.’(3)

This analogy is similar in structure to surfing, where the rider has to control a superior force, in the form of a wave; the imagination riding the mind like a surfer riding a wave.

Surfing is an ideal analogy for the psyche, because a variety of interconnected elements can be represented, with scenarios representing their influences within the system. But, the surfer himself does not feature in the model, because his presence would amount to placing a mind within a mind, which is not only distracting, but leads to an infinite regress of minds within minds. In any case, the spirit of the surfer is reflected in the surfboard, insofar as its design comes from the mind of the surfer who shaped it. Despite the adage that ‘Only a surfer knows the feeling’, surfboard shapers argue that only they truly ‘know’ the feeling, since they project it into the design of the surfboard, making adjustments to the shape, while invoking the sensation of its movement through the water.(4) This connection between shape and motion is key to the surfboard being absorbed into the surfer’s movements.

The shaper’s ability to visualise shape in the context of motion is radically different to everyday spatial perception. Ordinarily, motion is set in the context of space. Space provides a sense of motionlessness – a sort of reference to show how motion differs to it. But, as far as perception is concerned, space is a façade that masks the fluidity of one’s perspective. Paradoxically, this fluidity is more resilient than space, because it is the foundation for spatial perception. Spatial perception takes shape within the fluid movement of one’s own visual perspective. Just as a wave changes shape as it enters shallow water, vision converges with the visible to render spatial relations. The confluence of movements coalesce to give us the impression of form in our surroundings.(5)

Like a wave, spatial perception propagates through reciprocal causality. Motion determines the observer’s perspective, which detects the spatial relations that situate the observer. There are thus two directions of causation: a feed-forward from motion to space and a feed-back from space to motion. The observer’s perspective rides the interface between space and motion. While its basic function is to situate the agent in space, the observer’s perspective vacillates between the spatial and temporal paradigms. Too much of the spatial paradigm causes the individual to see himself as an object. Too much of the temporal paradigm makes him oblivious to his circumstances. The individual needs to balance the two paradigms, to be able to act decisively in circumstances that continually change, because the ability to anticipate change underpins the ability to read a situation.

The proposed model of the psyche is based on the notion of embodied cognition, which characterises the mind as physically grounded in its situated presence.(6) According to Surfism, situated presence emerges from the confluence of spatial and temporal relations, portrayed metaphorically as a breaking wave. The interaction between the surfboard and the wave represents the roles played by spatial and temporal relations in how we perceive reality.

To analyse how a surfboard responds to a surfer’s movements, the designer reduces the surfer’s influence to a set of rotational axes. Focusing on the surfboard, he ignores the shape and motion of the wave, which is subsequently reduced to a flat plane. At this level of abstraction, the surfer’s influence can be represented diagrammatically, enabling the designer to more easily visualise the different phases of a manoeuvre, as well as the transitions between them. By visualising each phase in terms of its rotational axis, or sequence of axes, the designer can identify which portions of the surfboard come into play for a given manoeuvre.

We can visualise rotational axes in terms of lines of latitude and longitude circling the globe:

1. The first rotational axis traces a circle on the horizontal plane, which can be thought of as the Equator. So long as the surfboard rotates on this plane, its interaction with the wave has no effect. So, this is a monadic relation, defined solely by the wave in its relation to itself.
2. The second rotational axis traces a circle on any vertical plane; which can be visualised as the lines of longitude circling the globe from north to south. Rotating on any of these axes causes the surfboard to penetrate the wave, which represents a dyadic relation between the surfboard and the wave.
3. The third rotational axis traces a circle on a plane set at right angles to each of the other two. This second vertical plane of rotation simultaneously introduces the variable of direction, in the sense of the surfboard traversing the surface of the wave. When all three rotational axes combine, monadic and dyadic relations become absorbed into triadic relations.

Numerous mental phenomena are modelled on triadic relations.(7) Fundamentally, this structure reflects the spatio-temporal structure of experience, represented in table 1, in the form of three isomorphic schemas, each comprised of three a priori components, corresponding to temporality, space and emergence.

Table 1. Isomorphic models depicting the organisational principles that make experiences coherent.

The character of triadic relations can be visualised in the geometry of surfing, where the proportion of spatial and temporal relations is influenced by both the shape of the surfboard and the shape of the sea bed.

Since wave shape is influenced by both the depth and shape of the reef, these two features represent either end of a spatio-temporal continuum; the reef inducing spatial relations and the wave temporal relations. Consequently, fluctuation in the tide represents the relative proportions of each, with low tide triggering more spatial than temporal relations and high tide triggering more temporal than spatial relations. At high tide, waves break less intensely, reflecting the reduced influence of the reef on wave shape. Somewhere between these two extremes, depending on the size of the swell, temporal and spatial relations blend in such a way as to produce an optimal shape for surfing.

The response of the surfboard is influenced by both the shape of the surfboard and the shape of the wave, with the proportion of each influence depending on how actively, versus passively, the surfer engages the wave. Actively engaging the wave can be likened to spatial relations, because the surfboard – its shape and motion – is the primary factor influencing where it is going. This is the penetration phase of a manoeuvre, when the surfboard rotates into the water. Passively engaging the wave can be likened to invoking temporal relations, because the surfboard follows a track determined more by the shape and motion of the wave than by the shape and motion of the surfboard. This is the release phase of a manoeuvre, when the surfboard rotates out of the water. Since the response of the surfboard is derived simultaneously from the shape of the wave and the shape of the surfboard, their interaction represents a spatio-temporal continuum; the surfboard inducing spatial relations and the wave temporal relations.

In terms of Kant’s model of the intellect, imagination is the product of understanding, represented by the surfboard design, and sensibility, represented by the shape of the breaking wave. Characterising understanding, the penetration and release phases of a manoeuvre are analogous to concentration and contemplation, in the sense that concentration is active, while contemplation is passive. Characterising sensibility, the curvature in the surface of the wave is analogous to the access afforded by memory to past experiences. The hollower the wave, the deeper the access, the more experience to draw on.

Surfboard design corresponds to latent inhibition, which is the neural mechanism that screens out information previously viewed as irrelevant. Latent inhibition underpins our ability to deal with packets of information without having to unpack the contents every time. People with low latent inhibition perceive more detail than is necessary. It can be overwhelming to have to deal with so much detail. However, it can also enhance creativity, because the surplus information becomes manageable when combined with high IQ.(8) So, if we equate IQ with surfing prowess, then latent inhibition would equate to the shape of the surfboard, such that a highly responsive surfboard becomes analogous to low latent inhibition. It takes great skill to control a highly responsive surfboard, just as it takes high IQ to control low latent inhibition.

Waves carry energy like memories: the kinetic energy is stored in a chain of orbits, which taper into the depths. The orbiting particles are the wave’s memory of the wind rippling the ocean surface. The more wind, the larger the wave, the deeper they reach. When the deepest orbits are compressed against the seabed, the whole chain is squeezed upward, causing each orbit to become elliptical. As wave height increases, the particles break free of their closed orbits and become displaced, either forward or backward of their previous position. The wave thus ‘breaks’ inside, as well as on the surface. So, these breakages are like memories being released in response to a stimulus.

In neurological terms, the serotonergic system corresponds to the bathymetry of a surfbreak, because serotonin effects the mind in a similar way to how tidal variation effects the surf. At low tide, the wave encounters an abrupt incline in bathymetry, causing the crest of the wave to rise suddenly, just like low levels of serotonin result in hyper-sensitivity, causing sudden over-reactions. As with high tide, serotonin ensures that memories reach the surface to help shape current experience.

The surf break represents the memory bank of experience needed to interact in society. This includes the cultural values within which the psyche develops. Often, the decision to abandon a surf break is motivated by the tide being too low, which equates with low levels of serotonin; or else too high, which equates with lack of stimulation. Paddling across open water would be equivalent to periods of detachment, when unfamiliar circumstances cause you to feel disoriented. Since making sense necessarily involves values, this is as futile as trying to catch a swell in the open ocean. Meaning depends on culture just as a breaking wave depends on the sea bed.

With such a rich spatio-temporal structure, surfing is an ideal metaphor for the psychological processes that influence what we ‘make’ of reality. Portrayed metaphorically as a breaking wave, the mind emerges from the confluence of spatial and temporal relations. The surfboard designer’s ability to invoke the link between spatial and temporal relations legitimises the surfing metaphor as a tool for visualising the spatio-temporal structure of experience. While it is problematic to include a surfer in the model, this might simply reflect the real life confusion caused by the ego9 guiding one’s actions. But, to the extent that the surfer’s influence can be reduced to his centre of gravity (relative to the surfboard), the ego’s core function is to balance spatial and temporal relations. When the ego sees itself as an individual, it is succumbing to the influence of spatial relations, which is like a surfer who lacks sensitivity to the forces within the wave.

1. Pierce Flynn. Waves of Semiosis: Surfing’s Iconic Progression. The American Journal of Semiotics. 1987. 5 (3): 398-418.
2. Andrew Brook. Kant’s View of the Mind and Consciousness of Self. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
3. Sigmund Freud. The Ego and the Id. Hogarth Press, London. 1962, pp.363-4.
4. Greg Webber interview at webbersurfboards.com
5. Dan Webber. Zen and the Art of Spatio-temporal Analogy: A Surfer’s Vision of Semiosis. Master’s Thesis, Dept. of Language and Culture, Aalborg University, Denmark, 2009.
6. Mark Johnson. The Body in the Mind. The University of Chicago Press, 1987.
7. Charles Peirce. Prolegomena to an Apology for Pragmaticism. The Monist, 1906, 16 (4): 492-546, reprinted in the Collected Papers vol 4, paragraphs 530-572.
8. Carson, S.H., Peterson, J.B. & Higgins, D.M. Decreased Latent Inhibition is associated with increased creative achievement in high-functioning individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003, 85 (3): 499-506.
9. The ego here refers to the sense of being an individual. This use of the term does not correspond to Freud’s concept of the Ego.

Another version of this essay can be found at Daniel Webber. Zen and the Art of Surfboard Design. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology. 8 (1) 2009

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