When I was a really little kid, I remember going fishing with my grandpa one day, watching him carefully place the bait on the hook. I told him I couldn’t understand why the fish would want to bite the hook when they could clearly see it going through the bait.
My grandpa smiled and patiently answered, “The fish are so tempted by the tasty morsel, they don’t pay any attention to the hook!”
I thought that was so weird, because for an eternity we’ve been fishing, and fish have been watching us catch them. You’d think that they’d have caught onto us by now and avoid the bait!
When I shared that thought with my grandpa, he rolled his eyes and laughed, “Grandson, the fish want the short term satisfaction of the food and don’t think about the consequences of biting on the bait, and thank goodness for that, or we’d have nothing for dinner tonight!”
In the passing years since then, I’ve come to realize that people are not a lot different than fish. And although we perceive ourselves to be higher on the evolutionary scale, in many ways we’re not. How many times in your life has someone said something provocative or challenging to you… instead of seeing their words as bait for a painful argument, you bite the baited hook?
You take the tasty morsel without paying attention to the shiny hook… favoring the momentary rush of being right, over the long term consequences of living your life in conflict with others. We abdicate our personal power and responsibility in favor of something we, as mere mortals, can never truly control – the behavior, opinions and view-points of others.
The truth is… if we take the bait, we suffer the consequences.
So just like fish, we’ve been dealing with each other forever – and we still haven’t learned that if we take the bait, we’ll end up hooked. Does that sound like a “fully conscious” species to you?
I didn’t think so…
It’s important to understand that attention is the mechanism we use to create our reality – whether it is one of peace or suffering. The ability to focus our attention is the one of the few things in life we can actually control. We choose what we want to see – and what we don’t want to see – in any situation.
If we give our attention to the bait and not the hook, we’ll feel the temptation for the tasty morsel rising in our mind and bodies – whatever that bait represents to us at the moment. And we know the consequences of doing so, but we all do it anyway.
So how many times are we going to choose to not see the hook instead of the bait? How many centuries does humanity have to suffer this self-imposed ignorance?
I don’t like the idea of being hooked like a fish – and tired of being victim to the hooks I choose to bite. How can any of us cry ignorance when these hooks are constantly dangling right there in front of us?
Truly, is there really any bait that is so blinding, we cannot see the hook right behind it?
For example, how many times have your loved ones suggested that the person you’re associating with is going to cause you to suffer? But just because you want the tasty morsel of someone’s friendship, you take the bait – you’re SO hungry for attention and validation, you ignore the obvious.
How about when you’re applying for a job, and the company hangs out a tempting lure? Your deep inner-awareness is screaming NO, because it can clearly see the hook. But, because of your fear around lack of money, and your need for security, your attention is focused on the money – and you take the bait, suffering the consequences of your choice.
Or… how about when you’re afraid of your own success and living your life boldly – so you purposely sabotage yourself by taking bait you know will take you down the road to ruination?
I could give thousands of examples of how we choose not to see the obvious, but I think you get the idea.
I have made the choice to pay attention to any and all inner fears that could possibly put me into self-created denial, blinding me to the hooks that lurk behind all those tasty morsels in life.
The question becomes, will you do the same?
I encourage you to open your eyes – and be aware of where you choose to place your attention. It’s well worth it not to suffer like a fish on a baited hook!
