In this section of the Fish Out Of Water Project, we will take an unabashedly ecumenical (and therefore heretical) look at what is meant behind the concept of "The Fish Never Leaves the Water," drawing from the various mystical traditions which have contributed a voice to this concept.   It is one thing to proclaim that all the religions of the world are efforts to express the same essential Truth in different symbolic forms; it is quite another thing to go to the sources and demonstrate their unity through their own words.  This is what FOOW seeks to do, and this page will be the "home base" for our explorations.

In our search for unity among the various faiths, let us not forget the unique symbols and forms that make them diverse as well, for these variations are real and profoundly desirable.  We were clearly not meant to serve and honor the one God through one autocratic, all-powerful Faith, and the "smorgasbord" of diverse religions keeps in check our natural tendency to consolidate earthly political power, at least in the realm of our spiritual lives.  As stated elsewhere, FOOW aims to elevate the mystical wing of the buildings that house each Faith/Path, not to destroy these houses and erect a new one.   This does require what sometimes appears to be an attack on the exoteric foundation of the Faiths, but history illustrates that without an esoteric core driving it forward, an exoteric Faith stagnates on its own attachment to tradition and form, and succumbs to the allure of political power to justify itself.  In other words, each Faith needs this "attack" from within to stay vital.  Witness the political machinations of the relatively unchallenged Western Orthodox Church in contemporary American society:  the Church has "devolved" to the point that its spiritual bankruptcy must be cloaked behind the political potency to which it aspires.  Witness also the political in-fighting between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in the Middle East that has led to the wholesale self-slaughter of millions of sons and daughters of Allah, in the name of Faiths competing for political power.  The list could go on and on.... If there has ever been a time of dire need for the emergence of widespread, esoteric heresy on a planetary level, it is now.  But the heretic must also beware, lest he/she pave the way for an autocratic "one world" Megafaith that will be more oppressive than its current oppressors.    With this restraint in mind, FOOW will make it possible to explore the esoteric voices within each Faith both singularly and collectively.  Each mystic tradition will have its own distinct page where the exoteric forms and symbols of its home Faith will stand unchallenged; as this site develops and this section of it grows, there will be increasing links on these pages drawing cross-references between the pages --something similar to what the Christian Bible does to link the Old Testament, Gospels and Epistles as a unified Testament of "God's Word"--illustrating the esoteric unity to a greater degree. However, this is not the place to introduce the diverse details that compose each mystic tradition; FOOW has neither the scope nor the qualification to do so.  Rather, I will seek to provide an ample and growing list of resources, directing the interested seeker and helping him/her to delve deeper into the specific tradition that speaks to the Spirit within.  Such dedication to one particular tradition or form of the Absolute has always been a stumbling block for me.  But I believe this is God-given, for it is the service of assisting the pilgrim on his/her path to the esoteric, unified core of Truth within the diverse Faiths that most nourishes me, not so much any one particular path I could take.  After all, if  "the fish never leaves the water," whereto could I swim and not rejoice in the glorious wetness of the Divine One?!? --Hieromonk Crustacean