This is a painting by Kim Waters of The Fool, part of the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck. Kim partners as lead singer with Hans Christian. Together they form Rasa and they sing devotional music in the Persian and Indian styles, among other things.
The Fool is a holy figure, closer to saying The Divine Innocent, than to some more modern vision of some stupid person, bound to fail for lack of something essential. The Fool often succeeds, and he succeeds because he is so innocent that he trusts God completely. The Fool is often depicted as one who is just about to step off a cliff edge.
"A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices."
-- William James
A Singular Fate
I've been left alone.
I am the man they knew well,
nobody wanted.
They say, I am not
like you, not your kind, could not
ever be like you.
Then they sniff and snort,
they hem and haw, take themselves
away, leaving me
to my singular
fate.
July 19, 2009 8:24 AM
interestingly, on the only occasions that I have had the tarot read for me, I am always The Fool. I thought that was an insult. Maybe not.
ReplyDeleteI would consider being The Fool a dangerous blessing. Being The Fool is to be touched by God for His work but somewhat without regard for one's own self interest. In the long haul then, one might experience a price rather than a profit like Job did. Inherent within the situation however is achieving some genuinely selfless divine interest, a closer wedding of God and Man, a corner turned in the larger story of the human presence on the planet.
ReplyDeleteGod never does this without there being no other choice than the sacrifice of someone, and in a real sense the Fool elects him or herself though without complete knowledge of the consequence. This election too is not possible any other way, and that is the meaning of the necessity of The Fool's innocence.
Thus the whole human world profits at the sacrifice of some portion of The Fool's own innocence. The requirement of faith appears in the assumption that there really was no other way but this one. There will never be any way to test that assumption. In that sense then the choice of The Fool is made in blind faith.
Christopher, your response hits home with me right now in an amazingly intimate way. Maybe some people would think this foolish hocus pocus. I'm living it and it doesn't feel so silly.
ReplyDeleteNo being The Fool is not foolish as we use the word now. Of course it is not, but it is one of those singular sorts of experiences. Those who have the destiny and the capacity have the eyes and see. Those who have some other destiny and perhaps lack the capacity do not have the eyes and they do not see.
ReplyDeleteThose people in your life you may need to convince you cannot. Those who see and choose to stand with you need no convincing. You need to accept both groups as they are and know then who you can rely on and who you must learn to love even though they cannot see you so well.
I once lost a lover because she could not see me in this way, see that I was God's Fool. I had to let her go though it broke my heart. That blindness is probably the tip of an iceberg, so to speak. It was in her case.
Again, I'm amazed by the immediacy of your comments to me. You have said exactly what I need to hear and exactly what I need to make myself believe. Pretty amazing to find what I need right here. Thank you, my friend!
ReplyDeleteKaren, Thank you for your gratitude. I hope things work out.
ReplyDeleteOh, by the way, Karen, the word silly is directly in the heritage of the Fool as we are discussing the Fool. If one was fired with devotion to God, willing to follow Him anywhere, one was silly. This is like being a Lunatic was being devoted to the Moon Goddess.
ReplyDeleteThey say, I am not
ReplyDeletelike you, not your kind, could not
ever be like you.
I think I've mostly said these words about myself, having felt like a round peg in a square hole most of my life.
I'm intrigued my your knowledge of the Tarot. Do you read cards for people too?
Jinsky, it is more that I follow the symbolism, especially of certain cards, and that I have lived in the symbols enough to tell stories with them. There is something weird in this. This is not the realm of science and logic. Thus when one expresses meaning specifically on Tuesday, it may not come out the same on Thursday. There are threads of meaning and they rely on how they are shaped. There really is no timeless meaning that stands above everything.
ReplyDeleteI have read the cards in the past. Tarot is a realm I largely avoid in that direct engagement. The meanings are too dark for me. I spent quite a long time in astrology with certain professional responsibilities in the seventies and early eighties. I keep up I Ching for personal meditations on my path today, continuously committed to study on some level since the early seventies.
ReplyDelete