The fish has been an important Christian symbol for almost two thousand years. Much like the lion, the serpent, the dove, cattle, the bull, and the lamb, the fish is emphasized in several places in both the Old and New Testaments. It is easy to gloss over it’s symbolic meaning, but when studied, I believe it provides a master key to unlock a large portion of scriptural symbolism.
In order to properly understand the symbol of the fish, we will have to juxtapose it with other important symbols and see how they all fit together. But first I want to introduce Gaskell’s definition of fish:
Fish of the Sea and Lakes
“A symbol of facts of the lower experience, namely, concepts, percepts, ideas, feelings, emotions.”
We can extend the definition above to any external knowledge and belief systems. It is the knowledge that we assimilate through the senses, including what our parents taught us, what we learn in school, from our peers, books, and our political and religious systems. These are the fish that swim in the lakes and seas of our subconscious mind.
It is not that knowledge is bad. Quite the contrary. Knowledge is assimilated and analyzed through the mind and is necessary to develop the intellect. The problem comes when we identify ourselves with that knowledge, and take pride in it. Jesus rebuked the Pharisee for this reason. The Pharisee is like the rich man (lots of Torah intellectual knowledge), but was actually destitute and poor in spirit, or lacking in wisdom and understanding (the spirit and essence of the Torah).
How do we, as spiritual aspirants, avoid this trap?
Genesis chapter one tells us that the soul (higher mind, or heart) is to have dominion over knowledge. Remember, fish are the accumulated ideas, emotions, and belief systems the lower mind has acquired.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17).
The death described is an allegory for how consciousness becomes identified with the thought and the emotion itself instead of remaining aware of it as just a temporary experience.
Mind has the ability to consciously express itself as a complete soul unit, which is the allegorical Tree of Life.
Let’s move on to those scriptures which teach us how this process happens allegorically. As we’ll see, Jesus aims to transform Peter (the lower mind) to a fisher of men (the mind as a complete soul unit).
Without Christ, Peter (the lower mind) cast his net but cannot catch fish, meaning he does not yet have dominion over his own thoughts. But with the help of Christ, the spiritual energizing factor of the higher mind, Peter catches an abundance of fish! This signifies the higher mind having complete dominion and control over the mind’s lower vehicle of thought and emotion. Christ in this function is the divine life that is seeking to become ever more active in the soul (higher mind) of man. Peter, the natural man, must evolve. At a certain stage of spiritual evolution, we are all Peter in need of the spiritual influx of Christ, that anointing which can only operate in it’s full function through the power of the Holy Spirit, which IS the fullness of Christ’s unlimited power poured out from heaven into the mind. We’re also going to learn that at a certain stage of spiritual evolution, one of the twelves faculties of all mankind is a Jonah (limited lower mind), that becomes Simon Barjona (Peter), where Christ is recognized and the lower mind realizes, through a self aware process of cognition, its own limitation and the very great need for Christ to become more activated.
Peter and the Fish
Let’s look at Luke chapter five. Jesus is at the lake of Gennesaret preaching truth to the masses. He even climbs in Simon Peter’s ship and asks him to cast off from shore so he can teach from there. But when he is finished teaching to the masses (symbolic of the outer court), he turns his attention to the inner court, those nearest to him (specifically the faculty of mind that Peter signifies). The esoteric scene is now set to bring a plethora of spiritual concepts together!
From former blog posts you may remember that Peter signifies the lower mind; the mind that must be transformed, or renewed. How can we be sure that Peter signifies the lower mind? Jesus makes it clear when he rebukes Peter for trying to save him from Roman soldiers in Matthew 16:23:
“…for thou MINDEST not the things of God, but the things of men.”
Not only did Jesus also refer to him as Satan earlier (the momentary adversary of the higher mind), but the Apostle Paul rebuked him in Galatians as well for following the letter of the law. As we’ll see shortly, the natural man (lower mind) is imprisoned through its own knowledge. This imprisonment is separation / sin from the natural state of consciousness: identification with awareness, not thoughts themselves.
How so?
The lower mind, in its early stages of spiritual evolution, is veiled from the indwelling spirit. The lower mind is full of error because it identifies with beliefs, opinions, and ideas (it’s accumulated knowledge). This is Peter’s condition as he meets Jesus. As we begin the spiritual journey, we are ALL a Peter. But there is something special about Peter. While he symbolizes the lower mind, it is the lower mind which has evolved the capacity to recognize the indwelling Christ, and that it is this Lord that infuses the lower mind with its spiritual power. Let’s return to Luke chapter five to see this Biblical truth unveiled.
In this chapter of Luke, Jesus is the higher self. He climbs into the “ship” of Peter on the “lake.” The lake, or waters, represent the lower mind which is easily stirred up by the external influences of our life and the knowledge it has accumulated. The lake is the astral waters within the mind, where thoughts, emotions, ideas, and concepts are constantly moving within the lower mind’s illusory nature. Just as wind causes waves and currents and changing lake and sea beds, so do emotions, ideas, and concepts churn around in the lower mind of our subconscious affecting the sea and lake beds of our personalities.
The “ship” represents the lower mind floating on the lake of our subconscious. We all have a ship in our minds too. It is the aspect of your mind where Christ expands it’s spiritual influence. Jesus, the higher self, is within Peter’s ship. The esoteric scene that is about to unfold reveals how the higher self makes itself known to the lower mind that recognizes and accepts it’s authority.
Notice what happens:
“Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught” (Luke 5:4).
The higher self leads Peter, or the lower mind, to cast its “net” into the “deep.” The mental qualities of the lower self have to be gathered together and “caught” at the command of the higher self. There’s a lot of accumulated stuff swimming around in our subconscious minds. This reveals the idea that all of our thoughts, emotions, ideas, opinions, and belief systems have to be captured and directed by the influence of indwelling Christ. We know that this happens through the power of conscious thought in the lower mind, because Jesus gave Peter the “keys” to unlock the kingdom within. In other words, it all begins with the conscious input of correct thought into the subconscious. The lower mind must condition itself to the influence of the higher mind. Let’s continue with Luke chapter 5:
“And Simon answered unto him, Master, we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing. Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5:5).
The lower mind admits its confusion. It fishes for the truth in the knowledge accumulated in the subconscious, but to no avail. The lower mind cannot find the truth within its own thoughts, opinions, and belief systems. That is because the truth cannot be found through our external experience of reality and the knowledge acquired there. It cannot be found through the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or through the world of duality, which is a constant changing illusory environment. Yes, we can learn lots of facts and ideas, but they are just that. What good do facts and ideas and opinions of the external world do for the inner man? Sure, they can bring more knowledge (riches), but they cannot impart life that is beyond that knowledge.
Let’s continue and reread the last statement of verse five again:
“…Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
Peter is willing to test the power of the higher mind through faith, and put his trust in something other than his own facts, opinions, ideas, and beliefs. This shows the willingness of that natural mind that is able to take a leap of faith and trust in the higher over the lower.
“And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net brake” (Luke 5:6).
The casting of the net is symbolic of man’s lower mind that toils within itself to find answers. It represents the dark period of our lives, when we aren’t satisfied with the knowledge that the world can give us, even as we try over and over to figure out life based on external circumstances. It is the mind’s absence of light (intuition) in all it’s thoughts, opinions, emotions, etc. Knowledge remains dark until it is illuminated by the higher mind.
Jesus said when the eye becomes single the entire body is filled with light! A great secret to understanding this process is that knowledge is not bad, but that knowledge must be transformed also into understanding. The rich man is destitute and poor until his riches (knowledge) is illuminated by the indwelling Christ. It is not the knowledge itself that is important, it is understanding the cause and effect behind all facts, opinions, and ideas of this world that true understanding is achieved. Then knowledge is transformed into understanding (silver) and wisdom (gold). The union of this process is what’s known as love. The love aspect is known as higher emotions, because higher emotion is the vehicle of unity (non-judgment) between different ideas, opinions, and concepts. And it can work with the intellect. One who perceives with the single eye (pineal gland) unites love and wisdom, which is wisdom and love united in the higher mind.
That power of control over our thoughts is the beginning of the birthing of Christ in the mind. Let’s see how this works in the rest of Luke chapter five:
“When Simon peter saw it [the multitude of fish that Jesus’ command caught], he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
I cannot emphasize how important this scripture is in encompassing the entire spiritualization process that begins in the lower mind. Why did Peter recognize Christ as Lord here? What was the catalyst? It was the catching of the fish! Nothing more and nothing less. That which the lower mind toils for, but cannot succeed in finding truth through, until the lower mind recognizes it is the Christ mind which has the ability to turn knowledge into understanding.
This signifies that the natural mind realizes it’s sin (that it is separated from the higher self, Christ), and that it is only the Christ through the higher mind that can make sin, or separateness recognizable, and heal the mind itself. It is the power of the indwelling Christ that illuminates this knowledge to us, not from an external process, but through an inner one. And how is this accomplished?
Let’s look at another Gospel. We have a similar version of this story in John chapter 21, with a few key differences. Here, Jesus commanded them to cast the net on the “right” side of the ship. This means that the mind ceases to analyze external thoughts, opinions, and ideas from the left brain. It goes within, to the right side, which is towards the east, the rising sun. Remember, Jesus sits at the right hand of the father and is the illuminating light of consciousness.
John chapter 21 also states that Peter caught 153 in the net, and this time the net does not break.
153…
1 + 5 + 3 =9
Nine, according to Gaskell:
“The number three is the number of perfection and completeness. Nine, which is three squared, refers to the attainment of perfection on the three lower planes.”
In Luke, it was early in Jesus’ ministry and the disciples were undisciplined and still being gathered. In John we have a spiritual evolution of MIND in the text. It is after Jesus’ ministry on earth (the lower nature and mind). Peter is the one that brings the net of fish up, but there is something different about the natural mind now. It has walked with the indwelling Christ for some time, and it is ready to become the “evolved personality.” This is why Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times (three signifying the discipline of all three qualities of the lower nature). The natural mind has finally gathered together it’s mental qualities and is ready for the next stage of spiritual growth on the mental plane. It now has the ability to bring the lower mind under disciplined control. Nine then refers to the three perfected of the lower plane. The three are the lower mental, emotional, and physical aspects of man. The mind has gained discipline over all three: sensations, emotions, and thoughts. The mind now has dominion over the fish of the lake and the sea!
Of course this does not mean that the lower mind is perfect. Peter will continue to make mistakes, which is why Paul rebukes him later on. The Apostle Paul symbolizes a further evolution of the mind, which is the actual birthing of Christ in the mind. This process follows the lower mind which has taken control over its course of thought, speech, and action through conscious will power. And this process is what is meant through concentration of the mind, which is a discipline of the thoughts that precedes true meditation.
Fish as a symbol of the Old Testament
The Old Testament version of this healing in the lower mind takes place in Ezekiel. Before we proceed there are some things we should discuss about the Book of Ezekiel. Similar to the Gospel of John, which goes deeper in the esoteric sense than the rest of the Gospels, Ezekiel does the same. In fact, the Book of Ezekiel almost didn’t make it into the Biblical canon, and many Jewish boys were hindered from studying it until they reached a certain mature age. In certain Jewish mystical traditions it was forbidden completely to the uninitiated. Why? Because it is a highly esoteric book containing concepts that require a certain spiritual maturity to understand.
First a scripture about the healing waters which flow from underneath the altar within the Holy of Holies.
“And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of FISH, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and everything shall live wither the river cometh” (Ezekiel 47:9).
This river of living water coming from man’s innermost being, the higher self, is the same idea taught through Jesus in the New Testament. Remember the woman at the deep well who wanted water? Jesus told her the water from that well would make her thirst again. Jesus tells her that he could provide the water of truth that would keep her from thirsting again. But in Ezekiel, notice that this river of water heals the very great multitude of fish. Another example of the subconscious and conscious mind healed through the unity of wisdom and love?
Ezekiel’s temple by the way, with all it’s passages and structures, is a map of the human brain 🙂 The altar in the Holy of Holies, at the very center of the temple (brain), is the pineal gland again.
Simon son of Bar Jonah
I wanted to conclude by showing how awesome the entire Bible fits together and the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. Notice how after Peter recognizes the Christ as the Son of the Father, Christ states:
“…blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood (the natural mind) hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father (spirit) which is in heaven (the realm of the higher mind)” Matthew 16:17.
Jesus is referring to Peter as Simon Barjona because he is associating him with the son of Jonah of the Old Testament. Not a literal son, but the son of the soul in evolutionary progression, in much the same way that John the Baptist was an evolved Elijah who had to come.
Jonah of the Old Testament was cast in the sea and swallowed by a great fish. Do you see the similarities here? Jonah is the natural mind in a period of evolution as well. Peter is the more advanced natural mind who finally is ready to recognize the Christ, while Jonah is symbolic of the mind that is meant to eventually be consummated by the Christ, which is accomplished through Peter’s actions finally. It is interesting that at the end of the Book of Jonah, Jonah is still quite angry with the Ninevites. God gives him a slight rebuke at the end, and then it is over. The Book of Jonah is only four short chapters, and it ends on a very sad note. God questions Jonah at the end and points out the fact that the Ninevites are spared because they can’t tell their left hand from their right. This refers to the mixed up state of the mind that is still quite divided. I don’t have time here to delve into all the symbols of Jonah here, but if you think hard enough, I bet you can find many more similarities in the story.
One more side note to tie in an extra knot: Jesus said no sign would be given except that Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the whale/fish. This is the evolution of mind, and the stories of Jonah and Peter unveil the spiritual evolution process of just one of the faculties of mind in conjunction with the other eleven (disciples). The Bible is so perfectly connected and reveals a deep psychological process of the mind. If only modern psychologists began to see the validity of the Biblical stories in this light, the Bible would become more authoritative than anything Freud and others have accomplished.
I hope this article has given you some food for thought.
Blessings.