P.D. Ouspensky's intriguing book, "A New Model of the Universe" (see earlier posting), contains a fascinating chapter on the origins and symbolism of the Tarot. Drawing on "Le Tarot des Bohémiens" by a Dr.Papus, he suggests that the cards embody the secret esoteric teachings of ancient Egypt and that each card represents an aspect of a man's struggle to awaken to a higher level of consciousness. Pursuing my research, I dug out a copy of "The Tarot Path to Self Development" by Micheline Stuart, a little volume I'd picked up years ago and had almost forgotten about. Ms. Stuart goes through each of the Tarot cards, hinting at what might be their inner meaning. The first of the cards is "The Fool". In interpreting its symbolism she writes:

Humanity is young and not yet mature. Therefore the Fool is represented by a young person. He is walking towards the abyss, turning his back to the light, and facing his shadow, because the sun is behind him. There certainly is light, but the darkness comprehends it not. In order to reach the threshold of the path initiating the creative process, he should be turning around to face the light, but his ignorant, human nature causes him to mistake the shadow for reality. Instead of facing the unknown of the Holy, he faces the unknown of the abyss. His animal nature, biting and kicking him, is urging him on his way. His essential garment is white, but it is covered by the dark coat of ignorance. He lives in fantasies, in imagination, subject to the hazards of life. He is passive, although convinced of the contrary, impulsive, abandoned to blind instincts. Irresponsible, incapable of directing himself, under the power of every influence, anything can happen to him. He is under the law of accident without realizing it and blames life for the events he encounters and for putting him into situations which, in truth, his foolishness has attracted. He interprets everything in his own fashion, on his own level of being.

He will continue to remain like this until something happens that shocks him into facing his situation. Then he will begin to wonder about the meaning of his life and of life in general: he will begin questioning his condition and look for the answers. He will begin to see that he is immersed in the world.

This Fool is us. If there is to be any hope of saving ourselves from the abyss, we must first acknowledge this fact. If we remain at the level of the Fool, we continue to stay childish and immature. For the rest of our life this will be our inner condition, no matter our achievements externally , in the world.

Some of these ideas must have been at the back of my mind in a small poem I've been putting together over the last few days. It is equally an opportunity to vent my spleen at the tawdry consumerist values which increasingly threaten to appropriate even the last residues of our true intimate sense of ourselves:

In the modern economy

The informed consumer

Exercising individual choice

Ingests convenient experience

Satisfying personal life goals

Nourishing an infantile lie.

In this inverted world

Soaring we plummet

Falling

Falling

Falling

Into chasms of geological loneliness.

Where

No love melts the hard heart

No light illumines the worldly mind

No bright raiment enfolds

Our naked self interest.

How strange

That we should so fear

What we are

So love

What we are not.