The Fool
~No man in his right mind ever seeks to leave the comfort & security of his home & wander off into the dark dangerous forest, filled with mystery & the stalking threat of death. The Fool, however, is not in his right mind, & thus runs off boldly into the unknown.
Whether the Fool truly is insane or just daft, as his fellows often suspect & on occasion can be found loudly declaring, is an altogether moot point. For the Fool, though he hears their pronouncements made in mock-bravado, can more clearly hear the fear which motivates such judgments. For in himself he has begun to master just that fear, & it is this alone that allows him to first set foot upon that Grand Path, that road which leads exactly nowhere, or leads over a precipice & certain death as those who stay behind have always cried out in excuse for why they too won’t get up & find out what lies beyond…
The Fool stands for curiosity, opportunity, adventure & new beginnings. Seen from the point of view of an ordinary life stuck in stolid patterns, such things are seen as “foolish.” Don’t rock the boat. Don’t fix what ain’t broke. But the fool is the romantic idiot, always caught between the “what if” & its actualization. He is the vagabond, the hobo: a nomad, a traveler & outlaw, the outcast who wouldn’t settle down or couldn’t if tried.
He is the now & then invisible visitor: the strangely-dressed man who’ll kindly ask for directions when he wafts into town, who’ll shine your shoes for a dollar; the itinerant laborer, worker & drunk---intoxicated constantly with the fullness of the moment always ready with a joke & a song---perpetually “on the move” & “hitting the road.” Where it all stops, nobody knows.
In the Tarot, he’s shown with a dog, sometimes nipping at his heels. Some say that it stands for society. The Fool, either way, leads the dog’s life: begging for scraps at someone else’s table or nestling down for long winter’s naps beside the fire. The Fool, though he hasn’t got much, is perhaps richest in the actual experience of life, knows when to stop & smell the roses (always!), & knows that the only constant is change. & that the true Fool is he who seeks to hold onto something forever.~