The Parable of the Fisherman

This parable tells of the difficulty of choice. Once a fisherman was fishing from his old boat. The bottom had grown quite rotten, and he was afraid to sail into deep waters, preferring to stay near the shore.
His dream was to catch as many fish as possible for his starving village, to feed everyone. But he could not, because it was unsafe for him to go so far on a leaky vessel.
"Why didn't he repair it?"
"He was not a carpenter; he was a fisherman. And in carpentry matters he understood nothing."
Yet he did not want to turn to anyone either. As if he feared that whoever touched his boat would learn to hear the whisper of the sea wind that sets the vessel's course.

His desire was to feed as many people as possible. But he made choices that favored the lesser.
And this is not only about the catch. Although that too.
It is about the lesser thing he allowed himself to see.

Only when the island's food was gone and his family began to starve did he go to the local carpenter.
And together with him, the two of them began work on a new craft. Others joined them. Each contributed to this beautiful ship.
Someone sewed exquisite sails, someone painted the hull with wondrous patterns, giving the boat a particular spirit. Someone brought food and drink to the workers who were building the boat. And someone preferred to sing and play instruments, lifting the spirits of all who labored.
The blacksmith, the potter, the baker... All gathered. It was not just a boat,
but a symbol of the unity of many skills.
Where each brought a piece of their best craft so that a great human creation might come to be and honor all the masters who gave boundless freedom to thought and word, which then sails across the boundless oceans of knowledge.

Wanting more while doing not even a little risks leaving you with nothing. Thus to continue drifting in coastal waters is to never taste the true freedom of its boundless realms.

Allow yourself to think more broadly, but do not draw narrow frames for yourself.
Where you doubt, where you refuse to share with anyone, where pride keeps you from asking for help,
you not only lose your own harvest, you lose the ability to feed everyone else. For through you and your awareness the space around you is formed.