Meet 0-The Fool the highest card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck.
As such, The Fool is the first character (of 22) to emerge from the vast, unfathomable, unnameable, unknowable “infinite”. Or, in other words, The Fool is the closest thing to “spirit made flesh” in this esoteric system of understanding and knowledge.
As such, The Fool travels light and keeps his eyes on the heavens. He is utterly without guile. He is, in fact, exactly as you see here.
I admire The Fool. I am inspired by The Fool. When I place myself in this card as The Fool I love the feelings that I experience. I feel wide as the sky, free as the breeze, open to give and to receive, poised to make a leap of faith and blessed by every thing around me. I feel joy in my heart.
When I was young I had a poster of a hobo walking jauntily along a path with his sole possessions wrapped in a polka dot bundle dangling from the end of a stick which rested on his shoulder. Also on the end perched a blue bird. A lady bug stood tall on a flower and acknowledged the hobo's passing with a wave of his top hat. This poster gave me a very good feeling of carefree light-heartedness. So, even then it seems I was inclined towards The Fool.
This summer of 2010 I twice acted (as completely as I will ever be able to act) as The Fool - once in the matter of money and once in the matter of affection. And, each situation followed the exact same arc as it unfolded.
I found both situations equally inspiring. When I weighed each matter before my highest ideals, my highest hopes and/or my highest dreams - as well as my deepest feelings - each one passed the test. In each case I could not imagine anything being more beautiful, more wholesome, more complete and more satisfying. And, from there, I made a guileless and completely open leap of faith towards each of these situations.
Twice, I was dashed to the ground.
Twice, I understood completely (and for the first time) that The Fool is also the fool - someone who acts unwisely and imprudently in the "eyes of the world". Someone who is perceived as being ridiculous. A person to be scorned and, if possible, taken advantage of.
Now, this is where it gets interesting (to me) because it is now up to me - and to me alone - to know whether, or not, I was truly acting as The Fool in each of these situations (as I felt I was) or if I was truly acting as the fool (without realizing it). And, how do I know the difference? Well, it has taken me a while but I have determined to my satisfaction the answer to this very important query.
I know I was truly acting as The Fool in each of these situations because - even though being dashed to the ground was deeply disappointing - I can still feel the joy and the rightness of the leap itself. It was right to leap even if the outcomes weren't what I imagined. In the place where I imagine my highest imaginings both situations remain (upon review) well worth leaping towards and I have absolutely no regrets.
I simply don't feel foolish. I feel, instead, enriched in ways I had not anticipated - serving to prove, once again, the essential value of each of these two situations and also serving to prove there are times in our lives when being The Fool is the wise thing to be!
That's it.
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