Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Tower

The tarot deck is about the story of a fool. In fact the fool represents us, walking ignorant and blind down the path of life.

In the story the Fool comes upon a Tower, fantastic, magnificent, and familiar. In fact, The Fool, himself, helped build this Tower back when the most important thing to him was making his mark on the world and proving himself better than other men. This tower reminds me of the ego and pride of young martial artists trying to prove their metal - and of some old teachers that become deluded with their own ideas, cult of personality and ideas of control.



Some say the Tower is a card about war, a war between the structures of lies and the lightning flash of truth. The Tower, as Wang points out, stands for "false concepts and institutions that we take for real." When the Querent gets this card, they can expect to be shaken up, to be blinded by a shocking revelation. It sometimes takes that to see a truth that one refuses to see. Or to bring down beliefs that are so well constructed. What's most important to remember is that the tearing down of this structure, however painful, makes room for something new to be built.

Some of the Tower's positive ideas

having a revelation
suddenly realizing the truth
exposing what was hidden
having a burst of insight
seeing through illusions
getting the answer
seeing everything in a flash

I find in my practice it is a constant search for truth. I search for truth in myself, in the faces and words of my students and teachers. The art form itself is questioned and redrawn as my understanding grows and my previous ideas shattered.

Build your towers and cast them down.



many words borrowed from aeclectic.net

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