Limerence

I've often been asked. Why do you like diving so much. Is it the sense of freedom you get? Is it really very beautiful under the waves? Well...yes and yes but beyond that, I think I finally know how to begin to explain it, thanks to a bolt of inspiration from something I read. The word is limerence, the feeling you get when your inner and outer world meshes and you get the sense of perfect alignment,when everything is in harmony and feels just right. These moments are often fleeting, some people get it at the top of a freezing mountain having hiked a gazillion miles, others at some point during an arduous ultra human race, yet others jump off cliffs or planes not just for the adrenaline rush. On a dive. After dealing with the cumbersome equipment (oh how I wish I had some of them gillyweed) and splashing about abit,you get down under to a different place. A silent world, where you are suddenly conscious of your own breathing, your heartbeat, the sound of the bubbles you are making. Where to move fast, you've actually gotta go slow. Where the office, your troubles all seem so foreign and literally miles away. Where you are just one with nature and yet merely an observer of the beauty around you. It's almost a (religious?)meditative experience. Admiring the handiwork of God, of nature, observing the cycle of life that is going on around you. Your senses are alive and there are no words, no mindless chatter, no beeping electronic device to get your attention on some utterly useless piece of info. It's rather blissful. I think partly that's what bucket lists are about. Besides being there and checking stuff off. It's the sense of just 'being' that we seek. Of standing in awe before the majesty of creation. Of feeling so small but your heart feels so full like it's gonna burst. Of that one fleeting moment when you know there's gotta be more to this earthly life and yet you are just where you are supposed to be...