The Fool - Zero

Hello there, so zero seems like a good place to start. Since moving into the new house and trying to get things organised, it does feel like a fresh start at life. I am a little bit further East down the coast, and am familiarising myself with a whole new beach. It does feel like I'm starting from scratch. This is what prompted my to change things up online, make changes to my blog, youtube channel, instagram, etsy, all of it really. It's just where I'm at right now. I am still organising my bedroom and art studio, which is full of boxes waiting to be unpacked. The living room is just an empty room waiting for furniture. The kitchen is a bit of a mess, with floor boards that need varnishing. It's all a bit of a construction site, and that's ok. I was given the mantra "my life is a work in progress" at Yoga last week. It's a good one to repeat and remember, it's ok to be a work in progress. While I am organising my art studio, I am thinking about all the creative projects I want to get done there. One of my ideas is to illustrate my own Tarot deck. Partly this is due to the fact that I'm never quite satisified by other people's illustrations of the Tarot. I want to create something that speaks to me very clearly, showing exactly what my understanding is.

My understanding of Tarot is that each card has a numerological meaning. The Fool represents the number zero. He is traditionally depicted as a beggar - the man who has nothing. His clothes are tattered rags and he can't afford shoes. He is a homeless wanderer, a vagabond. Perhaps he is a wise man, and has voluntarily given up all his worldly possessions. Zero may represent the state of no-self, liberation from ego. He is not distressed by physical affliction, he is not attatched to material things. He may seem crazy to others, he may be feared and misunderstood. But those who understand can see that he is enlightened, a free spirit. The Fool represents desire to achieve something by freeing oneself of familial, societal and earthly attachments. The Fool is Zero, dead to the world and dead to themselves. The ruggedness of the Fool deters many from following the same path. The lifestyle of the Fool requires a detachment from common luxuries. Poverty and hunger are ever-present realities for the Fool. He is on a perpetual pilgrimage, moving without ceasing from one town, one holy place, to another. The Fool is a living embodiment of the divine, an image of what human life is truly about – enlightenment.

"The delusion of self; the delusive belief that the individual self is real and self-existent. This fetter is rightly placed at the head of the list; for the clinging to individuality, the desire to affirm the apparent or actual self instead of looking forward to its expansion into the real or universal self, has its ethical counterpart in egoism, and egoism is the beginning and end of sin." Edmond Holmes, The Creed of Buddha, 1919. To me, the Fool card says "egoism is foolishness" and the fact that those who are able to let go of the illusion of ego appear to be "mad" or "crazy" to those who are not yet awakened. Zero is a circle which represents the infinite whole, the Universal Self with which the wise man identifies.

 Sadhu in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photography by the NGO medapt 2006. Author Wen-Yan King