In the early 1970s Michael Peterson was the hottest star in Australian surfing. During these years he redefined what was possible on a surfboard with lightning speed and a dizzying array of manoeuvres. However Peterson's career, and indeed his life, was a classic tale of burn-out. After dominating the scene and eclipsing all his peers which was is always a
hard hit to the ego, he lost his edge and retreated into a labyrinth of schizophrenia from which he has never found his way out.
The seeds of MP's problems were laid in his formative years as they usually are. MPs mother Rosie, herself an orphan, was the victim of a pack rape from which she became pregnant with Michael. His mother would do her best to nurture him, but lack of money, and Rosie's own harsh upbringing meant that she would do well to provide for her children, let alone give them the love they required.
However he was a gifted athlete, particularly in the water, and was able to stand out from the pack, winning life saving contests from an early age seemingly without trying. However it was on a board that he was to find his creative outlet. After moving to Coolangatta in the early 60's, MP and his younger brother Tommy, quickly became obsessed with the ocean and surfing.
You don't use the word "obsessed" lightly in relation to anything about MP. From a young age MP was shy and quiet with strangers, and such was his insecurity that it was hard to see any sign of MP's ego or need to prove himself, but once he discovered surfing it became apparent that this lack of obvious ego was just a void until the right vehicle came along; and once MP found out that he could get reinforcement from his surfing he became obsessed with it. So pure was his pursuit of surfing as his only means of validation that there was no motivation to turn outward toward people and surfing became the sole sustenance for his ego. It seemed that he was doomed: every move he made to solve his insecurity only ended up increasing his isolation. MP could never be accused of having a well rounded personality.
Once MP hit his adolescent years, drugs were added to the equation. MP is on record as saying that of all the surfs he did since he was 15 years old, he would have only surfed once or twice when he wasn't under the influence of some drug. Pot was originally his drug of choice and in this he was not alone. The goldcoast in the early 70s was awash with the stuff.
Following pot, MP graduated to psychedelics and eventually heroin. It is likely that MP's drug use sped up the development of his schizophrenia. However it probably needs to be said that the cause of MP's
schizophrenia was also the cause of his extravagant drug intake. As it was the rise in MP's drug intake paralleled the rise in his surfing ability; it also paralleled the rise of his ego. MP would often say that he was the best surfer in the world, and that no one could get near him. Arguably this was true, but MP's utterances also revealed a real fear of not being the best. He was so insecure that he wasn't able to operate as just a normal person because of the degree of hurt he had in his soul.
At one point of the MP biography "MP: the life of Michael Peterson", Rosie Peterson recounts how she was trying to get the health professionals of the day understand that her son had a mental disease. It was a time when little to none was known about schizophrenia (arguably we know no more today), and she was not able to get anyone to take seriously that her son wasn't just eccentric and a casualty of drugs. When it did become obvious that there was something seriously wrong with MP, she is quoted as saying that, "some (doctors) even said that it was my fault". This is obviously an abhorrent thing for a mother to face, and Rosie quite righty dismissed the idea. However, it becomes clear from another quote from Rosie, where she recalls telling MP that "No one remembers who came second", that MP did not receive unconditional love.
I have recently come across a very interesting website called The World Transformation Movement. In it an Australian Biologist Jeremy Griffith discusses schizophrenia as a result of the sort of extreme childhood hurt that comes from a lack of love. Griffith then makes the interesting point that it has not been proper for this to be acknowledged without first being able to defend mothers for necessarily concentrating on their own ego. The mother receives a lack of nurturing in her childhood and they in turn are unable to provide adequate nurturing for their children. It is not their fault.
If we accept that MP's problems stem from a lack of nurturing, then we can see that the child MP would have grown up believing that he was unworthy of love. This abyss haunted MP all his life. He would seek to avoid the issue through drugs, and he would seek to avoid the issue through being the best surfer on the planet.; 2nd best didn't cut it, and literally nothing else mattered. MP would stop at nothing to win and in the book, MP's childhood friend and eventual competitor Rabbit Bartholomew continually stresses the point that no-one can understand how incredibly single minded - to the point of open hostility and how heavy MP was.
When MP lost his fire, he succumbed to becoming an obese, TV addicted shadow of his former self, with a mind like a hall of mirrors, muttering to voices only he could hear. In reality this was just another manifestation of his former self, or at least his former problems.
Those that know him say that MP often laughs when he talks with those voices - that at least they appear to be his friends. It may be that the knowledge that he was once the very best - better than anyone else in the world - has allowed him to build a sanctuary in his mind where he will always be too cool for his demons. Thank god for small mercies.
