n e w c h u r c h l i f e : m ay / j u n e 2 0 1 6
makes them want to learn it and live by
it. This is what brings people into the
readings
Church. (Apocalypse Explained 820.2)
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
It was Doug’s own love for the truth,
“Whom shall I send,
and
his own discovery of the goodness
And who will go for Us?”
contained
in it, that made him a great
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
communicator of it.
(Isaiah 6:8)
It wasn’t just by chance that the first
disciples the Lord chose were fishermen.
It is because “fish” – like all animals (and
everything else in creation) – represent aspects of our human nature, which is
why animals are mentioned so often in Scripture.
The Lord is called a Lamb (a symbol of innocence), as well a Lion (the
power of Divine truth). He is called a Shepherd, and His people like sheep,
who hear their Shepherd’s voice and follow Him.
And so it goes, all through the letter of the Word. Gentle deer, ravening
wolves. The serpent that goes on its belly. That fox, Herod. A golden calf. A
white horse. Sparrows that fall, eagles that soar. Faith like a mustard seed. The
sea and boats and fish. And heaven itself is like a net, as the Lord said in a
parable (in Matthew 13).
All these things correspond to aspects of human nature: the thoughts and
affections and qualities of character that inhabit the spiritual environment of
the human mind.
It was this doctrine of correspondences that captured Doug Taylor’s
imagination when he first discovered the New Church. He loved imagery, and
used it to good effect in illustrating spiritual principles in his teaching.
There are countless examples, but let’s return to “fish” for a moment.
They represent a natural state of life, as opposed to spiritual. We can see how
fish represent such a condition: they are relatively insensitive, cold-blooded
creatures, and the underwater realm they inhabit is cold, dense and dim.
Before we are brought into a spiritual state, we all start out as “fish” –
governed by natural affections, motives, thoughts and goals. An unloving,
uncaring, coldly calculating person might even be called a “cold fish.”
Another characteristic of fish is how prolific they are, which goes along
with their more specific representation as natural knowledge. This makes
them especially significant, symbolically, for our “age of information,” in
which facts are multiplying so rapidly that people can hardly keep up with all
the knowledge now available.
In a naturalistic age, a materialistic age, an age drowning in facts but
lacking in spiritual understanding and sensitivity, “spiritual fishermen” are
much needed to elevate people’s minds into the warmth and light of heavenly
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