The Slippery Fish

"The Ego is a 'slippery fish'. That is what they say in Zen.

There is another wonderful saying: 'The Fish in the Trap begin to Think.' We are actually many Fish. And there are many many Traps. Even then, the Ego remains a 'slippery fish'. It finds a way to wriggle out of each Trap...

But lets assume there finally comes a day when no matter what we try, how we wriggle; all the slippery thinking cannot help us escape the Trap... Well: That is an Enlightenment moment.

We see! We see clearly how we have allowed our Ego to over-rule our Heart, harden us, trick us, play us like a sap, to maintain it's supremacy! Our Heart has been Overruled.

What the Heart wanted went against our Ego's Prime Directive; never get caught, never get trapped, always slip out, always wriggle free; maintain the Illusion, pay no attention to that Man behind the Curtain!

The Heart wants Vulnerability and Emotion, Love and Passion, the freedom to make Foolish choices, to learn like a child by trial and error, and the Wisdom to make Glorious Mistakes!

When the Heart Overrules the Ego... That fish is cooked! But we are many fish. That is why Enlightenment is only a Moment. A new more clever Ego takes over. Rationalizes and reasons it way back into Primacy and again, the Heart is overruled...

But there will come a day, or a night, or a dawn, when the last fish gets cooked. Then our Heart is finally free. Finally free to cease beating. Until then we must swim...

My favorite Fish saying: 'Only dead fish go with the flow.' Until our last slippery fish is cooked, we must learn to swim to the Sea! Hao la!

--Pahka Dave