Fishing for a Meaningful Life
John H had a nice angle on ‘Fishing for People’ last Sunday.
During his chat with the children, I looked at my old mate, Les William, a couple of pews away, and recalled the great times, and great ‘feeds’ we had from dragging our 100 yards net on the beaches north of Two Wells. I figured that netting is no way to fish for people. They’d be a captive audience. There’s no way to back off. Using hooks wouldn’t be all that great either. Who wants stuff shoved down their throats?
Then I recalled one occasion when I sat on a Jetty with no return. It must have been a ‘dodge’ tide! Before packing up I tossed all my burley (a mix of bran, bread-crumbs and fish oil) over the side. A few fish of different kinds were drawn to the burley.
It occurs to me that some were ‘nourished’, they were free to leave, and who knows, some may have found it disagreeable.
That thought gives me confidence ‘cast my bread upon the waters’ more widely than I hitherto felt comfortable with. Its a nice way to go fishing.
The attachment is not to ‘hook’ others. I simply hope that a morsel ot two will add a increment of meaning along your chose path.
It’s there for the taking or the leaving.
With Love,
David
PDF: Messages values and future
One Response to “Fishing for a Meaningful Life”
Thanks David – it’s great that we have the benefit of your musing on your experiences. I like your picture of being attracted to something nourishing rather than being trapped into something we don’t want.
I’d probably go a bit further, and say that this particular food is essential to life itself. Another analogy I’ve heard was proposed by Sheila Pritchard in a Reality journal article in 1994. She compared the use of wells (in extensive farming in arid lands, such as in the Outback) to attract and keep animals close, with the use of fences in more intensive farming to bound and contain stock. The water brings life – without it, we die.
If you’re interested in Sheila’s article, which goes on to examine the implications of these two models for faith communities, it is reproduced here: http://homepages.which.net/~radical.faith/misc/pritchard.htm
Roelant