In this Hemingway-esque description, John shares a dream about fishing in a stream. And the metaphor is an apt one, because when dealing with the energies we seek to connect with, what brings us closer is the subtle inner processes. A spiritual journey can’t be accomplished with grandiose displays of might or determination, or big pronouncements of our intentions. It can only be traveled on the subtle energetic lines of our inner processes, one moment to the next – and with consciousness. (At the end of this post there are instructions and a link to download this recording to your computer.)
John: In my dream it begins with me sitting by a stream-side contemplating what I need to do. And I’m contemplating it because, I’m not sure, based upon whatever it is that’s already happened. I’m not sure how to proceed.
All I know is that the situation needs to change, or the circumstances have changed, and I’m seeking to establish my orientation. I suddenly notice that I have a fishing pole in which the line has two hooks on it. In other words, you have a long fishing line and, normally, you have a hook at the end of the fishing line, but then there’s like another little leader line, leader hook coming down further back in the line.
You tend to use maybe two hooks like that that if you’re fishing in a lake or something, like ice fishing, but this is not the way you fish if you’re fishing a fast action stream. You don’t think like that, and that extra line gets in the road and could even tangle things.
So, because I’m by a stream and this is what I find myself as having, I’m kind of confused over how to use this because my understanding is I only need one hook. Also, there is my dad and whatever it is that he’s doing, moving about, talking on the phone, whatever he’s doing gives me the concern that his activities could disturb the fishing.
And my brother is there as well, and he kind of helps me out because he decides that he can use the extra hook and the line that I do not feel I need. Not only that, but because both hooks are baited this other line even has the bigger worm on it so that makes more sense for him.
And I’m not concerned about the size of the worm on the hook. I just want to free things up so I can proceed because it’s not a question of size of the worm or anything like that that’s going to make the difference. Having a line with two hooks on it simply complicated things, and confused things, and created an imbalance. And that imbalance was what would have dictated if something couldn’t have been adjusted or changed.
I also feel that I can tell where the fishing holes are along the bank. I know how to go at this more simply. Everyone else, as evidenced by someone else that seems to have a fish, and my brother are casting the line out into the stream thinking that is the way to fish. But I’m not comfortable with that because I don’t have any feel for that kind of fishing. What I feel about that is that it is too hit-and-miss and inconsistent. That’s my impression.
My idea is that you can sneak up on the bank, drop the line into what you can tell is an interesting and wonderful little fishing hole, and if you’ve done this properly and haven’t scared the fish, because you’re really close to them that way, and they sense things, vibrations on the bank and everything else, if you’ve done this properly, subtly, you’re more apt to get immediate action.
So this is what I do and the approach works immediately. I don’t catch a big fish, but I get immediate action and I catch a smaller, pan-sized fish. But then all of a sudden my brother has a fish, too, and of course he’s showing it to me and it’s larger. And of course that’s why he’s fishing like he is because he wants to catch the bigger fish and, as far as I’m concerned, I would have expected that to happen with that style of fishing, knowing though that it’s more inconsistent and yet when it works you are apt to catch a more active and bigger fish.
My approach and my best hope is to catch the attention of a lazy lunker who is taking it easy in the hole, not engaged in looking for food, that takes the bait simply because I have made it too hard to resist. What happens is, is when you get close to something the bigger the fish the more easily it gets disturbed. The smaller fish are more sensitive, but kind of more impervious in another way, too, and so along the shoreline you can generally expect to find the smaller fish congregating in and out there.
Because they are pretty sensitive you can destroy that whole spot. I don’t know, I just have to find out so I prove that this is possible. I catch a smaller pan-sized fish right away, quick action.
My brother proves that the bigger fish can be caught in the deeper water. As he shows me his catch I just happen to look down and notice that I have another fish I caught. It is also a decent size, not quite as big as his but you don’t expect to catch a great big fish, but this is plenty big. It is along a shoreline what would be considered kind of a lunker.
When you fish along a shoreline there’s usually just one lunker per hole and, once you catch them, you often times disturb the hole because then the littler fish, if the big guy gets caught, can even move on and leave. But in this particular instance it’s a good hole and fish are coming in and out so there’s action there.
At least I have proven that to myself because I have two fish to his one. I have action. Or if I like the excitement of sneaking up and getting close to things again, I can locate another excellent hole near the bank that might have another lazy lunker hanging out there, or at least I’m settling for the more action I expect from the fish that congregate at a good fishing hole along the shoreline.
When fishing like this you have to quickly identify when the conditions change. In other words, sometimes just catching a small fish can freak out the others. It depends how you pull it out and whatnot. Sometimes you can do it so it’s not really that noticeable. The smaller fish aren’t as wary. But once you catch the lunker you might have shocked the whole spot, so when fishing this close the fish are more readily disturbed.
And the meaning is, is that I am finding an effect that is more varied and the potentiality more sensitive the closer you get to a situation. The imagination is simplified in that you are either right or wrong because I am utilizing an approach that, if it’s to work, is naturally more subtle.
If this approach works, I am finding that the range of possibilities is also magnified because you have more action. So what is going on is I am proving to myself that I am able to find greater satisfaction and able to better overcome nuances by going to a more subtle and discreet approach to myself.
I wouldn’t be inclined to do that if I get carried away on the result. In other words, size is not as important to me as consistency and steadiness. And what I find is that you can catch a lunker because that’s a potentiality even though you don’t think and require that, I mean you don’t lose track of that, but it’s not an imperative.
If you make it an imperative, then you’re getting into your imagination which would be adopting a “counting on it” an attitude. And also, as the dream indicates, to my surprise fishing more closely like this works out. I’m never sure because things can be overly sensitive, and things that are more sensitive can be more easily disturbed.
And when you’re able to be like this there’s no overreaching, and one’s sight, as a result of a closer connection, well, it comes together. So I had to try that to see if what I saw or felt or sensed was true because you just never really know. I mean, it’s a good guess, but maybe it’s not quite so for whatever reasons that you don’t necessarily properly grasp.
In other words, you could have been wrong, and I was prepared to be wrong. That would have been okay, but it was nice to find out otherwise.
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