Oops, I Missed — Spear Fishing Is Hard

Notes on Fishing for Men

“What you see from above the surface isn’t what’s really there.”

Spear fishing from above the surface is notoriously difficult — even in clear water. The problem is physics. Light travels differently through air than it does through water, and as it crosses the boundary between the two, it bends. The result is a predictable optical illusion: objects beneath the surface appear shallower, larger, and closer than they actually are. Every spear fisherman has to learn to compensate for this distortion, or they’ll miss every time.

Atticus Finch said it well in To Kill a Mockingbird: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

The same distortion that fools the spear fisherman fools us when we try to understand the people in our lives from a surface perspective. What we observe about someone from the outside is almost always distorted. Things are usually deeper and dimmer than our initial read. The pain is further down than we thought. The story is more complicated than it appeared.

The spear fisherman who gets in the water doesn’t have that problem. Below the surface, things are as they actually are.

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

For us fishers of men, the application is uncomfortable but clear: stop judging from the surface. At minimum, learn to compensate for the distortion.

Better yet — get in the water with them. - This is The Way

Here’s the link to the entire series:
https://www.thisistheway.live/t/fishing-proverbs