A Lesson from the Spirit.
We found ourselves on the riverbank on a warm, clear morning. The Spirit caught a fish, held it in his palm, and released it back into the water; then he caught another and did the same.
“Fishing. Why fishing?”
“A fish swims in the river. It goes with the current, rarely against it; it lives in its own element and knows only the world it has seen. It cannot look beyond.”
“You hook the fish, it feels pain, it looks at the world, and you let it go with certain knowledge. Is that a lesson?”
“It is a lesson. Each of you learns throughout your life. Someone who was caught, hurt, and then released will remember only that pain. Another will remember that in that moment he was close to knowing the world. He will remember the new things he saw and what his soul felt—the touch of his soul on the space of a new world.
He will not spend the rest of his life avoiding the current and fearing new adventures. He will go on with the knowledge that the world is far larger than he previously knew. He will go on with the understanding that everything is a lesson for his own good. He will continue to swim, to study more, to know more of the surrounding world and of himself—opening new doors, learning, exploring, discovering.
But another will be lost in his own trap of fear. He will isolate himself from the whole river and remain to the end of his days in the darkness of fears, doubts, and hatred.
For every lesson is for your benefit.
A Lesson from the Spirit.
