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#Post#: 6745--------------------------------------------------
On Christianity and Fly Fishing
By: HOLLAND Date: January 17, 2014, 6:23 am
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On Christianity and Fly Fishing
There comes a time that one must speak of fly fishing, not the
mudane sport, but rather this action, as all other human
actions, exists in its deeper dimensions. The action of the
human discloses who were are, and how we relate to ourselves, to
others, and to the natural world.
We observe our world with a fisherman's eye. We have watched the
succession of fly hatchings; and, now it has now come a time for
the last hatchings of the flies for the season. We select those
homemade tied flies that we believe will be the best for the
catch. We go out to fish; going to our favored spot, going
alone. We make our preparations to fish.
The silence encroaches. There is no one else is around except
for the flitting birds through the distant branches and, a
fluttering of white, a suspected whitetail deer looking out from
the brush along the river. We wade waist deep into the river.
The sun is shining brightly, with a mild wind in the air; we can
sense the movement of wind throught the trees. Through the
pines, higher above, there is the roaring sound of wind through
the branches. At water level, though, at the bend of the river,
there is no wind which permits the perfect casting of the line.
The line is drawn out, the pole is snapped in the air and the
line with the fly lands in the river current and floats towards
the pool of water.
Despite the wind above and along the ridge, the silence deepens.
There is not an immediate strike on the line. The fly is allowed
to float past the pool and into the moving water below it. Soon
the line is beyond control and is reeled in.
The silence deepens, yet again.
There is some wind upon the water, but not enough to cause
problems. The light of the sun makes the water to shimmer in
reflection, a dancing kaleidescope of lights, of all the colors
of the rainbow. To our joy, we can now smell the pine wafting in
from the mountain ridge above. The line is snapped out again.
Again it floats out over the pool and then beyond. Again it is
reeled and then snapped out to float over the pool. Gradually we
enter into a oneness with our world. One begins to merge into
the silence of the place, to share in a benediction derived
from. One in a sense, enters into that benediction, having a
thankfulness, a joy of the presence of the place.
At a point, one is no longer fishing. One is.
One is no longer holding the pole, rather the pole is the
extension of one's self, one's being. One is encompassed by a
greater reality, the being of which one is. One is not catching
fish and then releasing after the struggle on the line. That
fish and who were are, are at bottom, the same partakers of the
same reality, shareres in the same benediction. We share in the
fragilities of life, we suffer, we die. We must be what we are.
We cannot be anything else, except through that benediction that
makes it possible.
And in the benediction makes for our openess to this moment in
our lives, the divine discloses that which we know and must know
as we have been graced to receive. The possibility of joy in
that fragility that admits to the sorrow which in turn must be
accepted as part of the benediction. Through this existential
experience of benediction of place and of being, the possibility
of the divine is disclosed, and the possibility of the deepening
of it towards Christ emerges, the Word speaking in the silence,
the Word beyond words.
Our respect for the environment must start from our respect for
our being, the oneness to being that we experience to the
depths, at those moments in our lives, at those times that are
truly important, at those times when we draw close to the divine
and the divine draws closely to us. The environment is not
simply an aggregation of objects for us, for our use; the
environment is the temple of God in this world that we worship
Him in.
[I have never fly fished but write this in memory of my father
and in memory of Montana philosopher, Henry Bugbee, who were
both fly fishermen and have communicated that understanding of
the experience of being, in this instance, of which I speak. My
father never became a Christian though he had come to the
doorway concerning it. Professor Bugbee, I suspect, was a
Christian, but he never spoke at depth concerning it, dominated
as he was by philosophical concerns. It is my wish that you
will find it of some use to think about.]
Peace be with you all!
#Post#: 8481--------------------------------------------------
Re: On Christianity and Fly Fishing
By: coldwar Date: July 8, 2014, 6:53 am
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I enjoyed that. Here's a song about fly fishing -
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=463nKnO-NoQ
#Post#: 8496--------------------------------------------------
Re: On Christianity and Fly Fishing
By: HOLLAND Date: July 10, 2014, 6:49 am
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^^^The song was enjoyable, too, coldwar.
The song is suggestive to me of how life is a continuum, a
flowing like a river, ever changing, but yet ever the same.
As we reach down into Being through the beings of this world, we
discover the bedrock of things. We enter into benediction and
the speaking of the Word through Being. As it says in Psalm
19:1-6:
Psalm 19 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
God’s Glory in Creation and the Law
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hid from its heat.
. . .
In Being, through the beings of this world, there is a speaking,
a word, that is spoken. It is a speaking that is shared with
the speaking of Being, which it partakes of, which is, yet
distinct. Given that God is the only One who has subsistent
Being, this speaking of God is, truly, the Word, and yet, it
discloses itself in beings of this world, whose very being is
derivative, the Word spoken in word.
The voice is not heard, yet it is heard, the Word is silent, yet
it is speaking, the Word beyond words.
Peace be with you!
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