The Parable of the Fish

Christians are something like fish who live and swim in the sea of God's reality. But today, there are other kinds of fish who call themselves Christians. There is the fish who lives in the desert. Not a desert of contemplation, but a desert of nothing but sand and heat. This fish longs for the water, but cannot hear or see it because he has been led too far away. There is another kind of fish who lives in the forest where there is nothing but trees. This fish can hear the water and has seen it fall from the sky but has never had a thought of what the sea looks like or what it would be like to swim in it. For him, the trees and too tall and too many and the journey to the sea too far. Then there is yet another kind of fish who flies high above the ground in the sky. But he too has never felt the sea or swam in it. He has seen the sea from a distance and thinks he understands what the water holds. However, the sea appeares very small to him because he is too high above it. And there is the fish who lives by the shore of the sea. He thinks he understands the sea because it appears so near to him. But being at the edge, the sea appears to vanish if he looks wrongly at it and moves away if the waves seem to large. And then there is the fish who lives upon the sea in a boat of his own making. This fish is the worst kind of fish. More than any other he believes he knows the sea because he is nearer to the water than anyone else. He can observe the sea from every direction. By this he has fooled himself to believe he can control the sea and understand its waves and where they are going. But in his boat, he does not yet know the depth of the water and when frightened or challenged quickly rows for the shore. But still there is the real fish who lives in the sea and swims in the water even when frightened by the uncertainty of the waves. For all the movement of the water and the apparent imperfection of the fish, the sea is his home and all that has been created in it. The sea was made for him and he for the sea and his needs are provided for. This was meant to be from the beginning because he who made sea and the fish made it that way.