Pinned on Karma Rock: Whitewater Kayaking as Religious Experience

This paper argues that whitewater paddling constitutes religious experience, that non-western terms often best describe this experience and that these two facts are related and have much to tell us about the nature of religious experience. That many paddlers articulate their experiences using Asian...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in	Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol. 75; no. 4; pp. 875 - 895
Main Author	Sanford, A. Whitney
Format	Journal Article
Language	English
Published	Cary, NC Oxford University Press 01.12.2007 American Academy of Religion, Oxford University Press Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
Subjects	Boats Case studies Environmental ethics Focus: Aquatic Nature Religion General subjects. History of religions. Religious anthropology History and sciences of religions History, 20th Century History, 21st Century Karma Kayaking Krishna Life Change Events Love poetry Mental Health - history Native culture Nature Physical Fitness - physiology Physical Fitness - psychology Recreation - economics Recreation - physiology Recreation - psychology Religion Religious experience philosophy Religious Philosophies - history Religious Philosophies - psychology Religious practices Religious rituals Risk-Taking Social Behavior Social Conditions - economics Social Conditions - history Social Conditions - legislation & jurisprudence Sports - economics Sports - education Sports - history Sports - legislation & jurisprudence Sports - physiology Sports - psychology Studies in religion Water Nature Sport Religious experience Religious language Danger Ritual Hinduism Emotion Sacred Body
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ISSN	0002-7189 1477-4585
DOI	10.1093/jaarel/lfm062

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Summary:	This paper argues that whitewater paddling constitutes religious experience, that non-western terms often best describe this experience and that these two facts are related and have much to tell us about the nature of religious experience. That many paddlers articulate their experiences using Asian and/or indigenous religious terms suggests that this language is a form of opposition to existing norms of what constitutes religious experience. So, investigating the sport as an aquatic nature religion provides the opportunity to revisit existing categories. As a “lived religion,” whitewater kayaking is a ritual practice of an embodied encounter with the sacred, and the sacred encounter is mediated through the body's performance in the water. This sacred encounter—with its risk and danger—illustrates Rudolph Otto's equation of the sacred with terrifying and unfathomable mystery and provides a counterpoint to norms of North American religiosity and related scholarship.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/HXZ-PK2VJKL8-7 ArticleID:lfm062 istex:734BE9E5C9C8B1F9D073596B75FD56AEF921DB50 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 14 ObjectType-Article-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0002-7189 1477-4585
DOI:	10.1093/jaarel/lfm062