West of Jesus Surfing, Science, and the Origins of Belief

A spiritual and scientific surf quest,West of Jesustracks a contemporary surfing myth and looks at the neuroscience that connects spirituality and high risk sport. After spending two years in bed with Lyme disease, Steven Kotler had lost everything: his health, his job, his girl, and, he was beginning to suspect, his mind. Kotler, not a religious man, suddenly found himself drawn to the sport of surfing as if it were the cornerstone of a new faith. Why, he wondered, when there was nothing left to believe in, could he begin to believe in something as unlikely as surfing. What was belief anyway? How did it work in the body, the brain, our culture, and human history? Into this mix came a strange story. In 2003, on a surf trip through Mexico, Kotler heard of "the conductor," a mythical surfer who could control the weather. He'd heard this same tale eight years earlier, in Indonesia, but this time something clicked. With the help of everyone from rebel surfers to rocket scientists, Kotler undertakes a three year globetrotting quest for the origins of this legend. The results are a startling mix of big waves and bigger ideas: a surfer's journey into the biological underpinnings of belief itself. Steven Kotler'snovelThe Angle Quickest for Flightwas aSanFrancisco Chroniclebestseller and won the William L. Crawford IAFA Fantasy Award. His nonfiction has appeared in theNew York Times Magazine,GQ,Discover,Outside, Details,Wired,Men's Journaland elsewhere. He lives in Los Angeles, California. Steven Kotler almost drowned when he got caught on the wrong side of a wave in Mexico. As he emerged from the water, battered and torn, a fellow surfer told him, "It looks like the Conductor had his way with you." This was the second time Kotler had heard of this "Conductor"the mythical surfer who controls the weather and the waves. Strangely, it was nearly a decade earlier in Indonesia that he was introduced to this mysterious troublemaker for the first time. He almost drowned that time, too. After suffering from Lyme disease for two years, Kotler loses the perfect job, the perfect girl and much of what had been the perfect life. With nothing of any meaning left to him, Kotler sets out to surf around the world in search of the Conductor. As he regains his strength, he begins to have mystical experiences, not unlike those hinted at in the Conductor's myth. In spite of being a committed skeptic, Kotler had out-of-body experiences, felt time stoppages, had moments of ecstasy. Could this be standard neurochemistry triggered by flashes of adrenaline and other brain chemicals? Was he achieving some kind of transcendence? Or was he just losing his mind? InWest of Jesus, Steven Kotler starts out on an admittedly mad quest and ends up at the peculiar intersection of neuroscience, spirituality and sport. The results are a startling mix of big waves and bigger ideas: a surfer's journey into the biology of belief. "A wonderful and engaging book,West of Jesusprovides a unique window into the neuroscience of belief. Woven into an enthralling surf narrative, Kotler's quest will appeal to anyone interested in understanding the connection between science, sport and spirituality."Dr. Andrew Newberg, director of clinical nuclear medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and author ofWhy God Won't Go Away "Steven Kotler's struggle with Lyme disease leads him on a journey, on a surf trip of sorts, where stories of a Conductor who can control the weather and the waves lead inexorably to a place where physics and metaphysics converge. Here is a strangely exciting tale of coinci

Steven Kotler’s novel The Angle Quickest for Flight was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and won the William L. Crawford IAFA Fantasy Award. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, National Geographic, Details, Wired, Men’s Journal, Maxim, Salon, and elsewhere. He has surfed all over the world and lives in Los Angeles, California.