“On Lake Tanganyika (Lake Tanganyika is located in east-central Africa.) the natives have a very interesting way of catching fish. There on the equator the sun shines straight down through the clear water.
The natives take blocks of wood and string them along a long rope. They stretch this rope between two canoes and with these abreast begin to paddle towards the shallow water.
By the time they have reached the shallows, schools of fish are piled and crowded into the rocks and onto the beach. The blocks of wood on the rope make shadows which go all the way down to the bottom of the lake and the fish, seeing the approach of these shadows and the apparent solid bars which they form in the water, swim fearfully away from them and so are caught.”
moral: there-fore these fish are caught by their fears. Don’t allow your fears to cause you to run straight into your demise. The old saying, “there is nothing to fear but fear itself,” may be a cliche’ but is also a mountain of wisdom. I use a list of sayings often, and one of them is, “It is what it is,” you can’t change it, and if you can then do so. Remember, “acceptance is the key to tranquility.” “Fear is the dangling thread that can unravel you.”
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excerpt from “Enemies of the Mind” (the first post on zendictive)
….Da Mo was an energetic person and exercised frequently. One night the temple was being robbed and Da Mo not knowing what to do but certainly wasn’t going to allow the robbers to just walk away with the items belonging to the monastery, Da Mo thought that he would jump out and be as ferocious as a tiger. He leaped out growling and moving around the bandits like a tiger and the bandits in total fear dropped the stolen items and fled, hence, kung fu was born….
have a fearless day
21 comments
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December 27, 2011 at 7:32 am
denablueline
great post, I love it , and nice photos
December 28, 2011 at 7:38 am
zendictive
thank you (~_~) bows humble
December 27, 2011 at 7:58 am
mysterycoach
Nice 🙂 I love the whole thing, the picture of the racoon is priceless. LOL:) He’s all like (to me) whatchew doing over there? Don’t make me go all Zen on your butt!
December 28, 2011 at 7:39 am
zendictive
perspectives (~_~) that’s funny
I am glad you liked the write!
December 27, 2011 at 8:14 am
Neeks
What a great story, about the fish being caught by their own fears. You do find the coolest stories! Very zen.
December 28, 2011 at 7:41 am
zendictive
thank you Neeks
If I like the story, I use it (simple process) I too liked the story of the fishermen.
December 27, 2011 at 8:16 am
Savy
I do like the new banner… ready to take in 2012.. The fear one has for something causes much despair… Once we cross it and go beyond those fears something brighter comes true… Thank you for this reminder..
December 28, 2011 at 7:43 am
zendictive
thank you (~_~) I have been a blogger here for what? 3 months, I am still learning about the exras and found that I can put random pictures a-top. I have still yet to learn howk a blog roll and add video to posts, but all in time.
December 27, 2011 at 8:50 am
zencherry
How true! Don’t let your fears rule you. Love it! 😀
December 28, 2011 at 7:46 am
zendictive
wisdom in words ~_~
December 27, 2011 at 11:41 am
willowdot21
Thank you Art , I need that right now , you have really helped me today xxxx
December 28, 2011 at 7:46 am
zendictive
bows (~_~) humble
you need something, hollar!
December 27, 2011 at 5:47 pm
iamforchange
Sweet! Thank you for sharing!
December 28, 2011 at 7:50 am
zendictive
sharing is what stories are all about
sharing wisdom is what zen is all about
(~_~)
December 27, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Fergiemoto
So true and enlightening! I like the poster about negatives being developed in the darkroom!
December 28, 2011 at 7:47 am
zendictive
yep, I liked that one too ~_~
December 27, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Linda Vernon
So true. And sometimes things just have to play themselves out and all you can do is be patient.
December 28, 2011 at 7:48 am
zendictive
patience is a key to living ~_~
December 28, 2011 at 2:31 am
Heather Whitley Gibson
I love Fegiemoto’s reply—light coming in different directions
December 28, 2011 at 7:49 am
zendictive
bows ~_~ humble
thank you for reading and commenting Heather 🙂
December 30, 2011 at 6:33 pm
lorrelee1970
Great words. Fear really is a big stumbling block for many things in life. I still get caught up in it myself. By the way….great way to go fishing.