A near-death experience propelled Dundee West MP Chris Law on the road to politics.
The SNP member made the revelation in a speech to Dundee Rotary Club.
The former French chef, social anthropology graduate, organiser of motorcycle tours in the Himalayas and financial adviser almost drowned in the Indian Ocean.
During a spell as an overseas charity worker, he went swimming off the east African coast when he was caught by a riptide.
“It dragged me below the surface and I couldn’t do anything about it,” he told his audience in the Invercarse Hotel.
“I was pulled deeper and deeper and I thought I was going to die.
“I went through all the emotions panic, fear, hysteria.
“I prayed to God and suddenly I was caught by a current that seemed to come from nowhere that shot me back to the surface.
“I swam and then felt pain in my foot.
“I had cut it on a rock but I was overcome with relief on realising I was close to dry land.”
As he recovered and thought about the experience, he was prompted to re-evaluate his existence.
It made him determined to use the rest of his life to do good in the world “to try to change things for the better”.
The dramatic episode sent him round Scotland in his Spirit of Independence Green Goddess during last year’s referendum campaign.
That led him to win Dundee West for the SNP at this year’s general election, capturing the seat from Labour with the biggest majority in Scotland.
Mr Law, who also revealed he had been adopted as a young boy, spoke on the theme “Is our Life by Design or Chance?”