The Fool

The Fool is the original wild card, and appears to have been a contribution from the Tarot back to the 52-card deck, as the Joker, in the 19th century. He did some evolving along the way, though, having begun as a beggar or loser card. He is about as ambiva- lent as cards get, but this is primarily around one axis: whether or not it is foolish or wise to adopt this character or his superpowers in the present context. Having expecta- tions of consequences to our actions can work in opposite or unpredictable directions. He has neither dignity nor a need for it. There is no future, so there is no fear. There are a couple of characteristics that are sometimes attributed to him that just do not fit at all. He is not a trickster: he lacks the understanding or wits to stay a step ahead of himself, much less others. Neither is he the blank slate that was once thought to characterize each of us before we begin to individuate. He has the basic set of foolish human characteristics, such as modes of self-deception, a lack of self-restraint, and a difficulty with deferring his gratifications. He is still a puer or child. At least in his inexperience, his mind is in no way closed. Further, one of the great lessons life has learned in its aeons is the value of play, having fun and just fooling around as among our greatest teachers, at any age, not just before our first seven years are up. Play also may give us a resilience that seriousness lacks. Like a drunk falling out of a wagon, we bounce better. The Fool is celebrated in many ways in human tradition, particularly in religion. Most famously, perhaps, we have ‘Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ (Mat 18:3). Zen speaks of Beginner’s Mind or chūxīn. Associated from early on with the element of Air, he is the original airhead. Breathing in the air is the root of the word inspiration, and breath itself is the second meaning of many words in many languages that also mean spirit: pneuma, spiritus, ruach, prana, and to some extent, the Chinese Qì. The Sufis some- times refer lo living the holy life as ‘Being breathed by Allah.’ Zhuangzi references the importance of letting breath take us when he says ‘The breathing of the true man comes from his heels.’ The journey that the Fool is on, as suggested by his bindle and staff, does not yet have any goal, so this isn’t really a quest, unless it’s simply a quest for an unforeseen vision. His is a journey of discovery, but not a journey to discover. Regardless of the randomness of the ‘fool’s journey’ idea in Tarot lore, this card is the start of a real journey. It’s merely one where the next steps aren’t known. True discovery is almost always unexpected, and often requires a detachment from any hoped-for outcomes. He remains clueless as to what it is he is after, and is far more drawn than driven forward in his movements. He is in the wind, and is at its mercy for direction. He is on walk- about, Zhuangzi’s xiāo yáo yóu, wandering free and easy. He is letting life be zì rán, just so of itself, or purely spontaneous. His transcendence will be without any map or intention, except perhaps to follow his bliss. Ecstasy and enthusiasm may tell him that he is on the right path, but this could be just before he stumbles over the edge. The objective world, with its suggestions of consequences, offers no guidance. There is nothing here to call wisdom. There’s only live and learn. It’s a roomful of monkeys eventually typing Shakespeare, and it's a sea full of microbes eventually evolving into us. But it’s also life taking nearly four billion years to learn how to think, and then believing in the Bible. He is not on a quest to be who or what he truly is, because, like the rest of us, he makes this up as he goes along. Original nature does not set our goals. It only pushes us out there. Entering into this card’s state, we set aside what we know, suspending our disbelief and hopefully belief as well. Nothing is precluded from experience. We are ready to admit all possibilities or approve of any hypothesis. It’s often what we know that keeps us from what we might know, so we sometimes need to reboot or reshuffle the deck. This also happens when we use elucidogens. Perspective is refreshed or renewed. Our trust in the unknown may be unwarranted going in, but the openness can free us from preconceptions and cognitive biases that keep us from what we are better off knowing. And much of the time we may need to risk the unknown in order to grow. We gain access to what’s missing, and our access is often unfettered, like the historical fool’s access to the inner court and circle of the king. He has the power to nonplus, disarm, or deflate the royal hubris. He can speak truth to power and still keep his head. He comes at life sideways instead of head on, and as long as he is almost certainly harmless, he’s refreshing and entertaining. In a way, the Fool is the happier side of universal injustice. He might enter a state of grace or inherit vast wealth and territory without doing any of the work prescribed for such rewards. Sometimes he seems to exist to annoy the religious, sometimes to annoy the atheists. More often than not, it’s just that the world is a safer place than our fears would have us believe. The law of gravity is always in force, but most of the time we don’t have that far to fall. Society cannot praise him for his success, and much of the time must use the dismissive epithets, like bliss ninny, or mooncalf, to be certain he represents nothing important to matters of real consequence. But he is an algorithm of sorts. He had it worse in the earlier days, when zero was new, and still illegal in places ruled by the church. He is like a big What If? Or maybe WTF? Aside from injury and death, the downside of being a fool is ignorance and delusion. This is the fool we don’t want. The laughter here is not the laughter of great wisdom, and getting the joke that is life in its cosmic-sized context is not always funny. We practice witlessness, heedlessness, recklessness, and indiscretion. We can’t tell a nugget of real wisdom from a vacuous platitude. We will sometimes step right over the cliff, and this doesn’t work like it does in cartoons. We are taught to look both ways because of what our deaths might do to our families. Unawakened man ultimately suffers. When we don’t know right from wrong there are still some who would excuse us, claiming we aren’t responsible, but these folk are showing they have the same problem. We are accountable, and it really does matter which way we go when we stand at the beginning of our future. Butterfly wings can do real damage.