Fly Fishing—The Sacred Art , livre ebook

Turner Publishing Company - Micheal Attas , Eric Eisenkramer

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85 pages

English

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Discover the spiritual potential hidden in every cast of the fly rod.

"For us, fly-fishing is about more than catching fish. We have been skunked on the stream too many times to count, and stood shivering in our waders in 45-degree water long after sundown. Yet, every chance we get, we head back to the river in search of trout and something more."
—from Rabbi Eric's Introduction

"Early in my fly-fishing career I remember telling a friend that there is so much to learn! Some forty years later, that is still true. Every trip I learn something new about rivers, fish and the natural world. Most importantly, I learn something new about myself. Every encounter with the waters of our planet draws me deeper into who I am and who I want to become."
—from Reverend Mike's Introduction

In this unique exploration of fly-fishing as a spiritual practice, an Episcopal priest and a rabbi share what fly-fishing has to teach us about reflection, awe and the wonder of the natural world, the benefits of solitude, the blessing of community and the search for the Divine. Tapping the wisdom in the Christian and Jewish traditions and their own geographically diverse experiences on the water, they show how time spent on the stream can help you navigate the currents and eddies of your own inner journey.

Foreword: Chris Wood, CEO, Trout Unlimited v
Preface: Lori Simon, executive director, Casting for Recovery ix
Introduction: Rabbi Eric xi
Introduction: Reverend Mike xv

Chapter One In the Beginning
Preparing for the River 1
The Fly-Angler's Gear Checklist 11
Reflection Questions 12
Exercise: The Significance of Your Gear 13

Chapter Two Getting There
Escaping the Everyday 15
Reflection Questions 31
Exercise: Meditative Walking to the River 31

Chapter Three Being There
Wading into the Stream and into Yourself 33
Reflection Questions 48
Exercise: The Basics of Fly-Casting 49
Exercise: Improving Your Fly-Casting with Lefty Kreh's Five Principles 51

Chapter Four Homecoming
Peace and Harmony at the End of the Day 53
Reflection Questions 61
Exercise: Five-Step Meditation for
the End of the Day 62

Chapter Five Common Ground
Fishing with Friends 65
Reflection Questions 79
Exercise: Become a Part of a
Fly-Fishing Community 79

Chapter Six Unfamiliar Terrain
Fishing Far from Home 81
Reflection Questions 96
Exercise: Keep a Fly-Fishing Travel Journal 97

Chapter Seven Fly-Tying
A Recipe for Creativity 99
Reflection Questions 106
Exercise: Tie Your Own Fly 106

Chapter Eight Stewardship and Conservation
Giving Back to the Stream 109
Reflection Questions 123
Exercise: Get Involved to Protect the Rivers You Fish 124

Acknowledgments 127
Notes 129
Suggestions for Further Reading 131
Fly-Fishing Resources 133

Sujets

Sport

Autres sports

Sports de plein air

Recreation

Fishing

Sports

Informations

Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	01 avril 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781594734298
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0850€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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CONTENTS
Foreword: Chris Wood, CEO, Trout Unlimited
Preface: Lori Simon, executive director, Casting for Recovery
Introduction: Rabbi Eric
Introduction: Reverend Mike
Chapter One In the Beginning Preparing for the River
The Fly-Angler s Gear Checklist
Reflection Questions
Exercise: The Significance of Your Gear
Chapter Two Getting There Escaping the Everyday
Reflection Questions
Exercise: Meditative Walking to the River
Chapter Three Being There Wading into the Stream and into Yourself
Reflection Questions
Exercise: The Basics of Fly-Casting
Exercise: Improving Your Fly-Casting with Lefty Kreh s Five Principles
Chapter Four Homecoming Peace and Harmony at the End of the Day
Reflection Questions
Exercise: Five-Step Meditation for the End of the Day
Chapter Five Common Ground Fishing with Friends
Reflection Questions
Exercise: Become a Part of a Fly-Fishing Community
Chapter Six Unfamiliar Terrain Fishing Far from Home
Reflection Questions
Exercise: Keep a Fly-Fishing Travel Journal
Chapter Seven Fly-Tying A Recipe for Creativity
Reflection Questions
Exercise: Tie Your Own Fly
Chapter Eight Stewardship and Conservation Giving Back to the Stream
Reflection Questions
Exercise: Get Involved to Protect the Rivers You Fish
Acknowledgments
Notes
Suggestions for Further Reading
Fly-Fishing Resources
About the Authors
Copyright
Also Available
About SkyLight Paths

FOREWORD
F ly-fishing is dominated by two profound truths. First, anglers are optimists. Who other than an optimist would spend hours willingly-and joyfully-casting at river ghosts? An optimistic angler also knows that the last cast of the day will catch the day s largest fish. Second, anglers are a contemplative lot. Time spent in flowing water lends itself to serious thinking about spirituality, mortality, philosophy, and yes, even religion.
Fly-Fishing-The Sacred Art: Casting a Fly as a Spiritual Practice is a book about both of these truths. When I fish, I often find myself thinking about how I can be a better angler, parent, spouse, or friend. Depending on your level of faith, any angler can find solace or see the glory of the Divine in the wonder of a free-flowing river.
This book is not a paean to religion, do-gooders, deep ecology, or pantheism. Simultaneously, it is a combination of Fly-Fishing 101 and Reconnecting with Your Faith For Dummies. The messages from a Reform rabbi and an Episcopal priest are subtle, but hit home regardless of your faith or standing in the church. For example, in In the Beginning, Reverend Mike likens fly-fishing to the Christian season of Advent:
For me, preparing for a day on the river has an Advent feel to it. The annual Christian liturgical calendar begins with Advent, a time of preparation and hope. It is a time to hope-for new experiences on the waters we know and love. It is a time to dream-for new and wilder fish, new challenges, new waters to explore, new friends to fish with. It is a time to long for life on rivers that restores our souls and brings us back into harmony. In finding a small piece of the universe on the smallest of trout streams, we may learn our role in life and in the lives of those we love.
In the book, Rabbi Eric describes serving as rabbi-literally meaning teacher -at the marriage ceremony of an expert angler, Bob, and Bob s betrothed, Marina. The Jewish marriage and faith traditions of standing under the chuppah (wedding canopy), the traditional blessings, and the breaking of glass all serve as a prelude to Bob and Eric becoming fishing buddies and learning from one another on the river.
Fly-fishing can seem intimidating to a novice, but Reverend Mike and Rabbi Eric do a great job of demystifying the sport by providing step-by-step instructions and helpful advice for beginners. Perhaps the most moving moments in the book are the small observations surrounding the intersection of life and fishing. In Being There, Rabbi Eric talks about a common problem that new and expert anglers face: untangling a back-cast wrapped around a tree-branch.
I am always trying to help people untangle complex situations in their lives: spiritual crises, difficult relationships with their loved ones, and other everyday challenges. I, too, have made mistakes that have created difficult knots: speaking harsh words in times of stress and anxiety, harming those I love with word and deed, and being too slow to forgive when hurt myself. As I work to untangle my fly, I remind myself that pulling too hard never works. But if I just try to fix my problems one step and one tangled loop at a time, there is the possibility of straightening them out and beginning anew.
Likewise, Reverend Mike notes how as anglers and people we can sometimes get stuck in ruts. Often the best antidote is to try a new fly, river, approach, or attitude. In Getting There, Reverend Mike writes:
We like our lives packaged, comfortable, and familiar. Yet the Bible is full of stories of heroes called out of their comfort zone to take a journey. Giants of faith may argue, complain, whine, and groan, but finally they say, Here I am Lord; send me. They are willing to risk everything in order to seek and follow.
Fishing is much like life in that regard. We can stay in our comfort zone, choosing flies we know and ways of thinking that we are comfortable with. But when we have the courage to open ourselves up to newness, we are often rewarded with days where time is suspended and life is rediscovered.
Days where time is suspended, and life is rediscovered is one of the finest distillations of why I fish. Fishing affirms my passion for life and provides an opportunity to reflect on my many blessings. Saint Augustine once asked, For what is faith unless it is to believe what you do not see? As anglers, we demonstrate that faith every time we cast our combinations of feathers, fur, and wire.
As the authors note in Stewardship and Conservation, great fishing is not free. Population pressure, urbanization, and a myriad of other threats can compromise the places we love to fish. Great fishing occurs because people have made conscious decisions to donate their time or money to protect and restore natural habitats. Whether on Kettle Creek, a small river in Pennsylvania whose brook trout had been lost to pollution from coal mining but are now recovered; or a pristine landscape such as Bristol Bay that Trout Unlimited is working to protect from a proposed pebble mine, we need anglers to help give back to streams and rivers.
Whether you fish to experience the majesty of creation, or simply because you want to catch bigger trout, listen to Rabbi Eric and Reverend Mike. Get involved. Join Trout Unlimited. Teach a kid to fish. Clean up a river. Get out there.
-Chris Wood, CEO, Trout Unlimited

PREFACE
A s I began to read with delight Fly-Fishing-The Sacred Art: Casting a Fly as a Spiritual Practice , I was anticipating another fish story underscored with various musings on this fishing practice or that casting method. What I found instead was a philosophy that exemplifies and parallels what those involved with Casting for Recovery feel at a cellular level and what one of our Montana Glacier retreat participants once expressed so well:
Fly-fishing is a be here now activity. It takes focus, balance, and being centered, physically and emotionally, to stand in the river and cast. Living well after the diagnosis of breast cancer is best done in the moment as well. It takes focus, balance, and being centered to avoid feeling victimized by the diagnosis or anxious about any future recurrence. In both fly-fishing and living with breast cancer, the best that one can do is be here now and hope.
As over 70 percent of approximately seven hundred women who participate in a Casting for Recovery retreat each year have never attended a support group, their retreat weekend is often the first part of their journey, much like the journey to the river described in In the Beginning, the opening chapter of Fly-Fishing-The Sacred Art . Many women do not know what to expect, have never been away from home alone, and their feelings of excitement meld with anxiety, fear, and anger-feelings that have become all too familiar since the day of their diagnosis.
The meditative exercises in Fly-Fishing-The Sacred Art are relevant to all as we meander along our own path in life. I am blessed to live in Battenkill Valley, New York, and drive along the river each day on my commute to work. One day, I found myself driving mindlessly to work, fretting about the day ahead. Death-gripping the steering wheel, late, and not in the present moment, I finally came to and forced myself to pull over. I got out of the car, stood stock-still, as if I were stalking trout, looked out toward the river, and gave thanks for the moment of reflection.
The final day of each Casting for Recovery retreat is a non-denominational spiritual gathering meant to further build a connection with each other and enhance the peace within ourselves. The text selections used in the retreat are drawn from many sources and traditions, both old and new. Just as Rabbi Eric and Reverend Mike provide us the opportunity for introspection and self-discovery, the same holds true for the Casting for Recovery retreat opportunity as is so wonderfully articulated in the following:
I have not missed the irony that something as insidious as breast cancer could give me something so magical. I was walking around today thinking of you all and holding the specialness close. I never want to forget how I felt. I never want to forget the beautiful memories. I did not know what to expect but this was so much more than I imagined