A Fish in the Water
by Brian Piccolo © 2008

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	Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), a German idealist philosopher, once asked, “Does a fish know if it is in water?” He was implying that human reason was limited to the physical world and that abstract reasoning was useless unless it could be grounded in the physical world of the senses. Therefore, for Kant, mathematics is the most acceptable science of abstraction. This is simply because numbers do not physically exist. They are mental abstractions and do not grow on trees. Yet, numbers can be used to figure out physics problems. In fact it was Carl G. Jung (1875-1961), the Swiss psychiatrist, who pointed out that geometry, preceded the discovery of algebra.
Kant was implying that we can never know anything to be true beyond the physical senses. Therefore, supersensory knowledge can never be proved nor disproved. He was arguing like this to prove that it was justifiable to have faith in a transcended God who existed beyond the physical senses. Of course, he was assuming that all human beings had the same limitations, and were all like fishes who did not know that they were floating around in the sea of the physical senses.
	Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925), the famous creator of the Anthroposophical Society, and leader of the German Lodge of Theosophy, strongly disagreed with Kant. Steiner answered affirming that, “Certain fish do know they are in water, after, by their own efforts, they have successfully jumped out of the water once or twice.” Being a highly developed clairvoyant, Steiner had developed his spiritual organs to the point that he could view the supersensory realms at will. Consequently, Steiner was his own living proof that he was one of those fishes who could jump beyond the realm of the senses.
Have you ever been out of the ‘water’ your self? Have you ever dreamed about somebody you never met before only to have them turn up on your doorstep days later? You might be surprised as to how many people have such experiences. All of these types of experiences transcend the world of the senses and cannot be explained by them. These experiences are gifts from the spiritual realms to us. They lift us up beyond our senses to another realm of existence. I have had many tugs out of the water of subjective sensory perception over my lifetime. They have always come at times of great need or peril. Once, I was walking done a street in Indian Village, in Detroit, when I saw two figures in the distance approaching me. An inner voice calmly but firmly spoke to me and said, “Cross the street to the other side, those two men are murderers.” I joked to my self and said, “Sure I can play this game.” I crossed the street to the other side bypassing any encounter with the two men. By the time I reached the corner, the two figures were out of sight. Suddenly, five plain clothes policemen flashing their badges and guns stopped me. They asked me if I had seen two men walking this way. I said yes I did and pointed them towards the direction that the two figures had disappeared to. I asked them why they were looking for these two men and the police answered, “They are wanted for murder.” Wow, is all I could think. There is no physical explanation for such an event. This was the direct intervention of my guardian angel, my higher self, or whatever you want to call it, into my life. My life was most likely saved that day because, for one moment in time, I was a fish out of water. I have many more such fish stories, but you would most likely not believe them, unless of course, you are aware that you are a fish just swimming around in the water of the senses.
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Brian John Piccolo is available to conduct lectures and lead classes in Michigan.