John Peck Squared

Posted on January 17, 2007 @ 11:43 AM

While Senior has found Christ to be his guiding light in a
mysterious universe, it’s certainly not the be-all and end-all for
everyone. “This thing about ‘you have to know Jesus and you
have to take him as your personal savior to be saved’ is total
hogwash,” Senior states in another moment of candor. “Jesus
never taught that. He said those that believe in my name will
be saved, but he never said that those who don’t, won’t. There’s
only one organism in the universe, and that’s God’s body. And
we’re all little parts of it. Microscopic parts of it. And we’re all
spiritually and mentally connected.”

While Senior is a wealth of stories and insights from his
very full six-plus decades on this planet, he’s also managed to
incorporate some of Junior’s lessons into his being. “John’s a
really delightful, talented, healthy, smart, cool little guy,” he
says, clearly viewing Junior as nothing short of an “evolutionary
upgrade” of himself. “As far as responsibility and intelligence
and character,” he explains, “he’s a lot smarter than I was at his
age. He seems to have a natural tendency to go for the higher,
cleaner, stronger path, on all levels. And he surfs really, really
good. It’s amazing. He’s one of those true soul surfers.”

Senior’s wild times during the ’60s and ‘70s give him much
reason to embellish on Junior’s relative enlightenment. “Any of
those experiences that I was given,” he says, referring partly to
(but never in promotion of) his experiments with then-legal LSD,
“are available to anybody, and they don’t need to bang their head
against the wall like I did a lot of times to get better experiences.
Luckily, us pioneers of what modern surfing is today, did a lot
of the grunt work, whatever you call it. We found most of the
potholes and traps, and we can let you know where they are and
help you not have to go through them.”

“John kind of let me skip ahead in a way,” Junior frankly
admits of his elder’s help and advice. “When he stepped in, he
sort of let me skip ahead of that part. He showed me potential.
It took him a certain amount of time because he didn’t have
anyone to show him. But for me, he was able to step in and
say, ‘Start right here. Skip ahead to here. I’m here, and you can
be right here.”

Yet Junior makes the point that
his experienced counterpart, who’s
been completely sober for 20 years and
counting, never told him to do or not to
do anything. “He never said ‘don’t’,” he
states. “He said, ‘Do it with a reason. Don’t take it too far.’
He told me all about the trips, and his experiences. He just
allowed me to jump ahead.”

“I could have ended up anywhere, but the weirdest thing is that
we’ve ended up together. It’s just a really strange thing. It’s going
to sound weird to anyone ... ”

For the younger Peck, the importance of all the events that
brought them together, and of those experiences they’ve had a
chance to share, isn’t lost on him. “I almost look at it like it’s a
passing of the torch kind of thing. I feel like I’m his apprentice
or something,” Junior says. “I’ve just learned so much from the
guy. It’s kind of transpired that, as an apprentice, he’s teaching
me a certain aspect and a certain way of honing your mind
… and really honing your potential. It goes beyond surfing. It
goes into my work … it goes into everything. John taught me
everything, basically.”

For Junior, meeting with this older surfer, with all their
uncanny similarities, is indeed unique. He “trips” on the fact
that one tiny, random corner of the world has come to host
them both. “I could have ended up anywhere, but the weirdest
thing is that we’ve ended up together. It’s just a really strange
thing. It’s going to sound weird to anyone …”

Yet for Senior, a man rich in experience of the most
unusual, cosmic variety, all the bizarre similarities they share
are no more fantastic than anything else. “The universe is
unfathomable,” says Senior. “I’ve experienced so many socalled
supernatural, mystical, magical things in my life that it’s
not extremely unusual to me. John feels it strong. It’s kind of
new to him, but it’s outstanding and exceptional and unusual
to him, according to what he’s told me.”

And telepathy, one of the duo’s viable forms of
communicating, is a gift as normal as walking or breathing.
“I’ve experienced it with quite a number of people, actually.”
Senior laughs. “Telepathy’s normal to me. Everyone has it,
but they’re taught when they’re young not to rely on it. They
see angels. They see other vibrational-plane existences. Their parents tell them it’s their imagination. They’re taught to think
it isn’t real. That’s kind of the long and short of it right there.
There’s infinite – and I emphasize the word infinite – levels of
vibrational coexistence going on all the time … in the same
space even!” Senior concludes with a giggle.

Metaphysics and speculation on interesting coincidences
aside, Senior strongly feels a desire – a concrete purpose – to
convey what he knows, his valuable life lessons. And they’re
for anyone, not just those bearing bizarre similarities to
himself. It’s his calling, his purpose, while on this transitory
universal plane.

“I’m happy to share at any point the gifts I’ve been
granted,” says Senior. “The whole point of it to me is to help
people to realize that they have infinite possibilities available
to them … If we all search our hearts and souls, and discover
for ourselves our gifts, and look for how we can give and
share them, and if others do the same, then it makes for a real
synchronistic, complimentary, functioning whole.

“Open your mind, open your heart,” he continues. “Treat
others how you’d like to be treated … and keep on surfing!
Surf through your whole life!”

Based in Central California, Josh Kimball has managed to balance his life as
a surfer, writer, and photographer with an interest in the sociological aspects of
religion. His words and photos on South America, Baja, and Hawaii have appeared
in recent issues of The Surfer’s Path.

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