A FOOL'S PARADISE (continues from A FOOL'S JOURNEY)

This first of my Mattonelle, or Tarot-Tiles, is a rendition of Arcanum Zero, called Il Matto, or, in English, The Fool.

The Fool is the first in a series of 22 Major Arcana (from the Latin Great Mysteries), also known as Trump cards, in English, and Trionfi, in Italian.

In its framed version this particular Mattonella features cultured pearls, Mother-of-Pearl, shells, silver, gold, amethyst, agate, jade, yellow  aventurine, hand blown Murano glass and artisan jewelry.

The sun face design, shown in a detail below, is an exact replica of a traditional 14th century art motif from Assisi, Central Italy, inspired by Saint Francis' famous Canticle of the Sun, also known as Laudes Creaturarum ("Praise of the Creatures").

The overall flavor I hoped to convey through this Tile points to an awakening of sorts, similar to Neo's in the movie The Matrix, and what follows represents my attempt at defining such an experience.

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ABSTRACT: Any human being who "awakens" from the collective dream state, a.k.a. the cultural milieu our personalities are shaped by and function from, is likely to experience an identity crisis. 

Verbally expressed, the crisis' leitmotif may go something like this: "I, as I know myself, am just a fantasy; someone I pretend to be, in order to fulfill what is expected of me. The truth is that I don't really know who I am, why I am here or what I am supposed to do."

Sounds familiar? If it does, you are not alone.

Le Mat, from Le Tarot de Marseille

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As a result of my work as a Psychobiologist, I have had the honor of participating in many such "awakenings", including my own, so I speak from first-hand, personal experience.

The following is an attempt to document my observations.

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Many of us become increasingly uncomfortable, as they begin to awaken, and try to ignore what is happening, thinking it will go away. Others become convinced something's wrong with them and run to their doctor, begging for anti-depressants.

Others bravely decide to face their inner dragons and try therapy, hoping to recover the former degree of self-confidence, but quickly realize that this strategy doesn't bring the results they had wished for: bad therapy is a waste of time and money, while good therapy, strangely enough, seems to intensify the discomfort.

What is one to do? Give up the quest for truth and seek palliative solutions? Start over with a new partner, or a new career; buy a new car, get a Ph.D., change jobs, hair styles, get a new set of teeth, a bigger home, plastic surgery, convert to a more fashionable religion, etc. etc.

In other words, changing something is what's needed, in order to recover my former sense of self. Identifying with a new set of circumstances, one that suits my needs better than the current one does. Then, all will be well. Right?

I don't think I need to point out the obvious, but I'll do it anyway: no such luck. None of these stratagems work.

Why? Because what we seek, once we realize we've are not the persona we've been acting out, is not an external adjustement. Rather, it is the inward journey that C. J. Yung termed Individuation.

This is when archetypal symbolism comes in handy: what we need is a trigger, a psychological tool that will open our imagination onto the unexplored vistas of our inner landscape.

Fortunately, the Major Arcana are designed to do just that, as you'll discover further along, should you choose to continue reading.

Next, I'll attempt to facilitate a recognition of the symbolism available through the image of The Fool.

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The numerical symbolism of 0, in this case, is not pointing to a lack of something.  Rather, it represents a state of  reality I will call pre-manifestation, where particles are about to hop into existance.

This is the energetic configuration physicists call the Zero Point Field, or Dark Matter, if they belong to the old school. It is the moment before creation. Also, the point in time and space where an Observer's mental focus intersects with potentialities in such a way that it calls  forth what it is observing, or something else, depending on the case.

If the above paragraph brought up questions worthy of a brief detour, this page's first word links to an interesting short video.

Most often representing a starting point, The Fool, can also be interpreted as a return to the beginning, signifying the completion of a cycle, but its meaning in a spread depends on an analysis of the unique situation at hand, including the individuals involved, the questions they ask, the foreseeable outcome, desirable and undesirable, and many other variables relevant to that reading.

In its most common interpretation, The Fool represents one who "has no clue", even though he or she may be, to use a colorful vernacular expression, "smack in the middle of everything". Overall, it conveys innocence, not of the kind one associates with childhood, but more like that of a sleepwalker, who, unable to perceive the danger inherent in his situation, walks on confidently, and blindly, along the edge of a precipice. Alternatively, it can also imply that, sometimes, ignorance is blissful while a little knowledge can wreak havoc and be rather inconvenient.

The Fool from the "1001 NIghts" Tarot

On another level, The Fool may also be said to represent the human in the Garden of Eden, or, as  Dr. Stephan Hoeller would call it, The Fool's Paradise, living in a state of unconscious bliss, unaware of self,  without purpose or direction and totally oblivious of what lies ahead. In other words, it  points to a human being's intellectual spark that is still dormant, trapped within a body of flesh, and headed for a big surprise.

If waking up is so painful, why not stay asleep? Why bother with the acquisition of knowledge, especially if it means angering a wrathful, manipulative and powerful Being? Why not dream our whole life away, safely protected by a nice, thick layer of ignorance?

Why should we let that spark ignite our curiosity, if this leads into all sorts of trouble?

This is a dilemma we'll all have to face some day, on our own, I'm afraid. It is, in fact, the central question in life, since it opens up the Pandora's box of our presence on earth.

The Fool, in essence, represents a human being who has come too close to the light and now, having discovered it, our poor chap cannot stay away from it, even though it burns him to the core.

Distressing analogy? OK. Try this: The Fool, like Dorothy,  wakes up in Oz.

Is it real, or is it a dream? No one knows, least of our hero/heroine, whose only certainty is that this unfamiliar and wondrous place is definitely not where he/she belongs and whose only real wish is to find his/her way back home.

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Although very few can understand this person's behavior at this point, even fewer can explain it.

From an outer perspective, a newly awakened human being appears to be acting foolishly, in the sense that he or she no longer seems to care about worldly gratifications nor people's opinion. Their actions may even come across as self-sabotaging, as if their value system had been turned upside down and/or their life compass had lost its magnet.

But appearances can be deceiving.

My rendition of The Fool features soul-filled symbols from Ancient Egyptian, Taoist, Vedic, Buddhist, Islamic, Gnostic and Esoteric Christian themes, precisely because this is when the previously hidden path of the world's Ancient Wisdom begins to appear and provides the newly awakened human with a solid foothold upon which to step forth, on the journey home.

This is also when a person begins to hear a whisper, coming from inside the heart and inaudible to anyone else, and opts to follow its murmuring rather than the usual voice of the socially adapted ego. 

This can be disorienting to the individual's friends and family, because the reasoning of the heart is often antithetical to intellectual considerations. However, just as no amount of well meaning advice can keep a bee from its floral target, there are no logical arguments that can keep a human heart from Love, (and I am referring to the archetype, not to some celebrity's romantic saga type thing) once it has been touched by its mysteries.

As soon as the false, narcissistic self has been discharged, honorably or dishonorably, depending on the case, former boundaries disappear and one begins to sense that one is dwelling within a much larger reality than heretofore experienced.

There is a whole world out there, beyond our fears, and so we take what we can carry, head out and, having lost our worldly navigation devices, we gaze at the stars for direction.
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Il Matto from the Mantegna Tarot (ca. 1475)

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 Il Matto, Arcanum 0, our Fool, is a reflection of us, exactly as we are, at the beginning of our journey home, or at the moment we realize that anything we might have considered valuable up until now isn't real and is, therefore, not worth holding on to.

We may feel broken and aimless, as this image from the 15th century  conveys, but our soul is still with us. The little dog (the Anima-l) appears eager to send us forth on this apparently goal-less journey while we, having forsaken our worldly connections, and discarded our possessions, have no reason to look back.

 

 

The Fool, from the Raider-Waite Tarot deck

It may look dangerous to the uninitiated, but we know better.

Don't we?

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 TO BE CONTINUED