0 - The Fool
0 - The Fool
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0 - The Fool Keywords Spontaneity. Innocence. Risk. Adventure. Unconventional. Unexpected. Simplicity. Inner Child. Trickster. Laughs at oneself. Irrational. Unconscious. Undirected. Flow. Playful. Energetic. Seeking. Trusting. Ignorant. Unskilled. Carefree. Rash. Irresponsible. Immature. Foolish. Themes A step into the unknown (off the precipice). It is the journey of life, the path of initiation into self-knowledge. The dog represents instincts that can guide us, that allow us to move beyond comfort zones, that allow us to take apparently crazy paths. The Fool has two basic themes, that of the start and the end of the spiritual path.
The good way that the holy fool or heyoka does, to display the opposite or a mockery of societal “good” (good that is not really good e.g. worship money, forget God), so that society may wake up to the absurdity and shitfuckery of life and rather move in the direction of true good. Jesus Christ and Buddha are ultimate holy fools. The bad way of authoritarianism, that uses propaganda to brainwash us, to churn out brazen lies, treating the masses as fools, to constantly tell the masses that the sky is green until it is believed. The leader may even appear to be a bumbling fool (e.g. Trump, BoJo). Both transgress social norms for different purposes, one for good and for healing, the other for evil and power. The Fool starts life as a drop of water in an endless sea. The journey of the Tarot is to understand that in fact The Fool is the ocean in a drop. Rumi said: "You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop." Comparisons The Fool is the most powerful Tarot card. In its highest manifestations, it is God within, the Holy Spirit. Totally free. The Fool contains all possibilities. The zero implies it is both: nothing (numberless) yet also everything (circle of the universe). It is mystical paradox, beyond words. Notes & Quotes "A master cannot always prevent his disciples from having the experiences they want, even if they are foolish or dangerous adventures. An experience is something, it can cure you of false ideas." (O.M. Aïvanhov, Alchemy, Astrology, Magic, Kabbalah (CW4), 1975, p.85) "Be foolishly in Love, because Love is all there is." (Rumi) "Cultivate your spirit silently, never forgetting that you are but a fool." (Japanese [?] poem entitled Saikontan) "Except ye become as a little child, ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." (Jesus Christ, Matthew 18:3, Bible) "Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise." (Alice Walker) "Fools are Wise men in disguise." (Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki) "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever." (Chinese proverb) "I am light and I travel light." "O ignorant one, try, so that a Master, open-eyed, you'll be. As long as you're not traveller, how is it guide you'll be?" (Hafiz) "Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others." (Otto van Bismarck; from a Latin proverb or Seneca) "Our life is simply a succession of encounters, of contacts with objects, places, situations, human beings and other creatures. Everyone wants to experience and know. Why? Because they think that with this newly acquired knowledge they will gain something. That is true, but be careful, or you run the risk that the opposite may happen. The fly looks at the spider’s web with great curiosity. It wants to know what it is. It has no idea that in this magnificent web of threads lurks the very cunning creature who used all its talents to spin it, and so the fly ventures in and makes the acquaintance of the spider. The artist who conceived this trap is of course delighted, but for the fly it is the end. Well, life is full of spider’s webs and traps like this, waiting for the curious and unwary who think they can venture forth without being aware of the dangers." (O.M. Aïvanhov) "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." (Richard Feynman) "There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true." (Søren Kierkegaard) "There is nothing left to you at this moment but to have a good laugh." (Zen master) "The Way is beyond words." (Sengcan, the Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen, Xinxin Ming) "Tragically, it's infinitely easier to fool people than to convince them they've been fooled." (Mark Cranfield, 24 March 2023 tweet excerpt) "Trust everybody, and you might get taken for a fool. Trust nobody, and you become the fool. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way round that." (Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian, posted and accessed 18 July 2025) "We make vessels of clay, but their true nature is the emptiness within." (Lao-Tzu) "Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves." (Carl Sagan) "You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself." (Sam Levenson) |
Also see:- Major Arcana Tarot Maps of Consciousness articles |
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