Where is the Sea?

Carolyn Gratton uses the following story to introduce her book The Art of Guidance. It's about a wise fish.

It seems that there once were some fish who spent their days swimming around

search of water. Anxiously looking for their destination, they shared their worries

and confusion with each other as they swam. One day they met a wise fish and asked

him the question that had preoccupied them for so long: "Where is the sea?” The

wise fish answered: "If you stop swimming so busily and struggling so anxiously, you

would discover that you are already in the sea. You need look no further than where

you already are." (Gratton 2000:5)

For Gratton, the wise fish represents a spiritual director. The search is God's kingdom; hurry is the devil.

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