Ocean as a Hostile Environment

¶ … ocean as a hostile environment -- a place that is determined to put an end to human life and where it would be impossible for someone to feel 'at home'. However, living far from land for tens of years provided me with the opportunity to 'understand' the ocean and it practically feels that I speak with it as I dive into the water. All my senses are numbed as I enter the blue salty environment and I almost feel that I become one with the world as a whole. It would be difficult for me to describe the exact feelings going through my body as I am underwater, but all that I can think about there is the fact that this unforgiving environment provided me with the opportunity to interact with it, smoothly massaged my body as I dived, and made it possible for me to understand that I needed to respect it in order to be respected.

Being underwater provides me with a colorful show of light, as if the ocean wants to teach me more about its past, its present, and its future. I am but a mere episode in this never-ending film and the outside world seems to stop for a second when I am submersed. I am virtually transported to a whole new society, a community that is just as civic as the one standing on dry land but that is much more concerned about the natural world.

Sound is also from a very different dimension underwater. I no longer focus on my breathing or on my heartbeats as I am provided with the opportunity to hear what I consider to be a loud form of silence. Everything moves slowly and rapidly at the same time here. Conventional laws are no longer of any value while under water as the show of light captivates your thinking and concentrates on drawing you closer and closer.

In spite of the beauty of the underwater environment, I know that I must not stay for longer here. As beautiful as it is this place is treacherous, it uses its beauty to captivate individuals up to the point where they are no longer able to leave it. It is because of diving for prolonged periods of time that I was able to understand why Ulysses was obsessed with hearing the sirens as they sang. While underwater I feel that it is important for me to continue to concentrate on its impressive display of light and that I absolutely have to stay submerged as much as possible. Whether one is a mythical hero or a simple diver as me, the ocean's deepness is likely to attract individuals and trick them into forgetting about the world above water.