Tagged: fish
Who you ARE is what you SEE: “Reality” is your polarity.
If the content of an experience hasn’t been processed in Life, then different experiences will bring similar content, until our own perception of “what is” changes without rejection. Inner alignment occurs when we see what we are.
That “change” it is not a mental game or a well-applied method from some ideology or an ideal. It is simply who we “are” at that time in a natural way.
Richard went to the beach a month after his episode with little fish.
This time he went with a couple of wise friends.
After a nice and meaningful talk, Richard was ready to go for a swim; then in that precise moment a guy on his right, called him by making signals. He was a fisherman! He caught a big fish! 🙂
The fisherman was about 30 meters away from Richard’s spot. Richard ran towards him. The fisherman speaking broken English and with joy said: “Picture, take picture!”
The Fisherman caught a small shark.
Richard took the Fisherman’s smart phone/camera, and participated in the joy of the fisherman.
The Fisherman posed for the camera with his catch and Richard took 2 pictures and gave the camera back. The Fisherman gave his thanks and Richard went back to his friends.
Both friends knew about Richard’s previous episode with fish and how he feels about them.
His more “subtle” friend asked: “What did you feel?”
Richard said: “I felt the joy of the Fisherman. I participated in it.”
“and… what did you feel for the fish?” his friend, asked.
Richard responded: “I felt compassion.”
Richard’s friend said: “Because of that compassion, the fish was thrown into the Ocean again… Look!”
In fact, the small shark wasn’t with the fisherman anymore. Richard later found out from the Fisherman, that it was let go into the Ocean. Apparently, sharks could be out of the water for several minutes.
In that episode Richard discovered the meaning of compassion.
Compassion is not pity but far from it, it is a feeling of acceptance of someone’s destiny in Life. In that acceptance there is no sorrow but a sense of being OK with the process, knowing that it is not the final product, the end… but a degree of experiencing something in Life… the circle of polarity.
Richard did not use his passive ego to reject the situation but considered the joy of the Fisherman. He participated along with the Fisherman’s perspective of Life. In that act, at that moment; the Fisherman was the hunter and the fish, the prey. To acknowledge that duality which makes up “One,” is to be aware of what is.
Richard did not use his mind or thought to weigh the possibilities and “choose” a preference, but he acted as he felt, as he was at that moment, knowing that it wasn’t a religious precept or a teaching that he was following, but acknowledging the capacity to feel for both actors: The hunter and the prey. That was a honest action.
When Richard’s compassion and joy was part of that story of the hunter and the prey, the polarity was changed as a new feeling was added in the story: It was the feeling of joy and compassion of the hunter and the compassion and joy of the prey mingling with the joy and compassion of Richard; after all Richard was part of that scene, not as the hunter or the prey, but as a joyful and compassionate witness and observer.
The game of the victim and the hunter
To arrive at a different awareness we may need to find for ourselves the insanity of our deep beliefs. Life will present the trigger, the instant that we may need to appreciate to find the “gem.” That “gem” could be a simple rock, nevertheless; it comes from the depth of our being, as the trophy for looking where “no man has gone before.”
Richard was walking down the beach. There was a fisherman there. As he walked by, Richard saw a container with small silver colored fish. Richard looked closer at the container and a small cute fish swam towards the surface of it. It seemed as if the fish wanted to get out but it couldn’t.
Richard wanted to “liberate” the fish, but he felt short to talk to the fisherman, maybe because of fear, maybe because of shame. Richard decided to stay close by and observe.
Richard was shame, fear, fairness, sadness, anxiety… but he wasn’t violence at that moment.
As Life has it, just a few minutes passed by and the fisherman decided to go someplace. The fisherman took the container with little fish and he walked by the Ocean with it… Richard thought “Yes! Release them.” But the fisherman swoosh around the content of the container and threw the fish towards the white sand away from the Ocean… some birds standing by did not hesitate to have a feast with the small fish!
Richard felt sad, guilty, he felt like a coward…
“Wait a minute… what is the big deal with fish? It is just fish. No big deal!”
That is what a fish represents for everyone else but Richard.
When Richard goes by the Ocean, fish will jump looking at him. Their jumping out of the Ocean and into the air, is a precious sight to watch. There is a language there between fish and Richard, an experience that no one else could be able to understand. Richard loves fish as a human could love their own pet. That is the story, which is not in the surface, which is not known to everyone… Fish are “special” for Richard.
For that “reason,” Richard felt at that time that he betrayed his “friends.”
Life will show us different stories.
For the fisherman; those fish meant something different. They meant food, and so for the birds.
The scene was meant to bring certain emotions in Richard.
Seeing fish jump out of the water and enjoying that unique moment, is to enjoy Life.
To use that moment to decorate Richard’s passive ego by giving to fish a certain significance such as “special,” “friends,” and any other label to bring closeness and partiality towards them to the point of feeling a need to protect them, that is another story.
Out of that need to “protect” something which does not call for protection, an “active” ego is born.
“Richard: Protector of fish, the innocent, the unprivileged ones, the handicapped, etc.” but… as much as Richard is known to be brave, he is a coward as well… for he didn’t save his friend, (as the Disney channel could show how a Dolphin will save his “friend” the dog, from the evil Shark when “cute dog” fell off the boat of his master… I mean human friend.)
The ideal was broken and Richard was able to see how his emotions were dependent on that “savior image” that he (the “I”) has placed upon himself.
The passive ego suffers. The passive ego will call himself derogatory names to feel “better.”
Didn’t the fisherman feel bad for throwing the fish to the birds?
No. He acted according to his nature. He gave food that he didn’t need to the birds. He may have thought of himself as “helping the birds” but the passive ego can believe anything about himself. “Fish” means something different for the fisherman than for Richard. This scene only brought emotions, which inflicted self-punishment in Richard.
That was a great opportunity to heal.
Fortunately, Richard was able to observe that “sad” story in himself at that moment … so he is no longer that “sadness.”
The passive and the active ego will play with our emotions when a scene of Life “attacks” a deep belief. To be open, means to be able to recognize other perceptions in Life: The fisherman and the bird’s. Perceptions are not wrong, neither right.
Life is truly a movie. We are not “part of it,” we are “it,” the movie itself…. One. When we lose that perspective we may get caught up with deep collective human beliefs. Suffering will arrive when our ego has invested itself to promote or defend a particular belief and that belief is being challenged in Life.
As Richard learns to see that the fish became part of the bird, he could understand that the perception of horror of a separated ego fighting to keep himself alive, is just another perception. Death is part of Life. We could embrace it or we could reject it. The ego rejects… Ego cannot see beyond its little “self.”
Consciousness cannot be destroyed. Therefore, the easiest thing to do in Life, is to let go… but we were taught to stick with the difficult, to fight for the static “I” to continue on despite changes.
The role of the victim and the hunter are continually played in Nature. In the human world, we have the same roles but with more “civilized” labels; the coward and the brave. Every being gets to play both roles.
We are taught to stick with one role and to reject the other.
That is insane.
Both roles depend on each other. They are One. If you experience one side, you must experience the other side. What could be the “moral” of the true story above?
Embrace both. There is a coward in every brave man as there is a victim in every hunter, for Death is in Life as Life is in Death.
Only labels separate what otherwise could not be separated.
Levels of violence
When a country or the general agreement of the world is in non-violence, but the consciousness of the individuals have not changed, the result is “pretty talk.”
Violence has many levels and resistance arises in all of them.
Ananda observed that a girl got a fish with her fishing pole. The fish was struggling to get out.
The girl reacted with fear and amazement at the same time. Her friend; who was watching the scene was laughing out loud. After 30 or some seconds, the girl unhooked the fish and it was let go. The fish was thrown almost lifeless into the Ocean again.
Was that violence?
The consciousness of those girls is unable to perceive suffering and struggle from another being.
The girl’s intention may not have been to torture the fish, her intentions may have been to have “fun.”
“After all it is just a fish and the laws do not prohibit to torment a fish,” she may have learned at school.
Human laws and beliefs are of no consequence in the way life operates.
This issue is related with consciousness.
In Nature there is killing, although that is not the label used.
It is called “eating to survive.”
Humans may have a different view on that. Killing for profit may be just called “earning a living.”
As we can see, there are different perspectives according to different states of consciousness.
It is the way it is, but certainly there are consequences.
There is violence in a family, when someone’s perception of an issue in life is not acknowledged but rather “corrected” to fit someone’s view of what is correct under the threat to punish them, to disinherit them or to cast them away.
There is also personal violence when any level of our being is not fully respected. For instance the pursue of the “perfect body” through exercise and diet could bring a disease, it could bring an injury. That is unnecessary suffering, but our consciousness may not be able to catch that and rather use the masochistic cliché: ”No pain no gain.”
Asceticism is another way of inner violence if the body is not accepted in all its wholeness and holiness but rather when is viewed only as a means to obtain something in the future such as “illumination.”
Our thoughts could bring violence when there is rejection of what is for the sake of what “should be.”
As we could see violence exists in many levels and that is why it needs to be observed and understood.
Typically we have been taught to react.
There is a reactionary mentality in society because changes do not happen “right now.”
Malcom X, a human rights activist; is quoted as saying: “ I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American Black’s man problem just to avoid violence.”
Malcom X was assassinated.
Many times we forget about timing and that every occurrence in life does not happen all of a sudden but it has a process for being built and a process to disappear. To respect that process is to align with Nature, the Universe.
Changes will happen, because life is change but the greatest and most influential change, is the change of consciousness.
Observing Nature to learn about life
A whale moves its caudal fin (tail) from left to right to propel itself forward.
A seagull flaps its wings up and down to able to fly.
Moving forward and flying through the “obstacles” in life could be accomplished if we learn that lesson from Nature: The opposites have their own timing. If we respect that timing and allow for one side of the different dichotomies in life to express themselves, we are assuring that the complementary side will arrive in a “healthy” way.
Someone could have good health and not knowing what is “bad” health; that person could enjoy his experience or not. Then, a disease could arrive which will allow that person to know what is “bad” health…. The option after that is good health again; how do we move through those moments, how stable our attitude remains will assure that the experience of moving forward to the right to then move towards the left side of life as a fish does, will be appreciated and enjoyed as the experience unfolds.
A seagull cannot chose not to flap its wings down. “I just want to flap my wings upwards,” that cannot be done for wherever there is upwards there must be downwards, wherever there is a God, there must be a Devil; wherever there is sin, there is something moral, etc.
Interestingly enough, English does not have a word, which is the exact opposite of sin. That is because that word is a religious concept.
When our minds are full of concepts, then our lives are not connected with the “reality” of Nature and the Universe, but rather some man-made invention which even though could exist, is not “real.” That is how our feelings become disassociated with life and our mind takes over.
A triangle is a man-made concept. Through that concept we could create many things, nevertheless; triangles do not exist.
Then, Christians could use that concept for example; to depict the trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Usually a triangle is used to represent this concept, which supports the concept of the existence of a triangle. A concept may be useful, but not necessarily real.
When we use these concepts to lead our lives, we will find ourselves in different predicaments, for our interest will not be in finding virtue within but to comply to a man-made law.
When we observe Nature and the works of Nature, we could run away from the workings of the conceptual mind and free ourselves from that illusion which is a driving force in our day-to-day living.
The above is not a “belief” but it could be made if there is no experience from the readers and then, merely repetition of words, that is information; a “concept” will prevail.
When life is conceptual and mind made, then all we can hope for is to gain information.
Information is not the same as to know. Knowing requires to “be,” that is to experience something by not being the observer, but by becoming engaged, merged in that which is to be known. That is, by living life without prejudices, ideas, beliefs, taboos and all of that.
The Ocean of Life and Death
Everyone has a thought. Everyone has an idea. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a solution. Everyone has a problem… 🙂
This is the story on how some fish living in the ocean debated among themselves about the “truths of life.”
A Lanternfish who only lives in the depth of the Ocean gave his opinion about the extent of life.
“Life is complete darkness. That is why the Creator has given us our own light so we can see in the darkness. Thus, we were created to be in the darkness and this is where we will stay.”
A Shark meanwhile disagreed with the Lanternfish’s opinion. Although the Shark was unable to go that deep into the Ocean to meet the Lanternfish; the Shark assumed through the information disseminated by an Octopus; that all Lanterfish are narrow minded.
“Come up here into my territory, and you will see something different, if you live to tell,” was the Shark’s comment.
A Shark has experienced light and also has experienced that there is life above the Ocean. However, a Shark is not into philosophical/religious conversations. A Shark is there to enjoy himself by being feared. There is no time for this sort of talk when he can smell his next prey nearby.
A Dolphin, heard all of these rumors. The Octopus accomplished a great job disseminating the information in all different directions.
The Dolphin had his own opinion. “Life is vast. It is light and darkness. It is water and air. It is fish and human beings with their machines. There is no end to it.”
That mention of “air” was confusing for many fish, for they though that everything that existed was water. As a matter of fact, most fish only had experienced water in their lives but not air.
It was “normal” to believe in water only. That was the common, accepted and respected tradition.
The Dolphin left the scene and started jumping outside the water but the other fish from below were not able to see that far from below.
Every fish gave their own idea to the gossiper Octopus. Every fish has their own opinion, their own “truth.”
A Seagull flying by caught a small fish by diving into the Ocean. That fish was versed in the recent philosophical discussions of life. The Seagull, took its prey to a nearby rock to be devoured.
The fish told the Seagull before his death: “ Now, I understand what the Dolphin said about life… but even more.”
The Seagull replied: “Death brings greater understanding about life,” and swallowed the fish.
Exploring the Depth of Living 