Zero The Hero
“Imagine entering a strange landscape filled with people performing circus acts. You can enter through a leap from a height, through a dark cave, a labyrinth, or even by climbing down a rabbit hole, chasing a Victorian rabbit with a pocket watch. Whichever way you choose, you are a fool to do it.
For those willing to take the chance, they may find joy, adventure, and finally, for those with the courage to keep going when the wonderland turns more fearsome than joyous, the leap can bring knowledge, peace, and liberation.” -Rachel Pollack
The Fool’s Leap
What does it mean to be a Fool? The word is typically used for a person who’s unintelligent; idiotic; dangerous; and sometimes, even insane. But for others, the Fool represents something divinely greater.
The Book of Thoth was said to be a collection of ancient Egyptian texts, written by mythical gods, outlining the mysteries of the universe. As the myth goes, the book was thrown into the Nile to keep certain people from gaining access to its power. It was eventually retrieved, and some have said the contents inspired the images that are seen today on Tarot cards. The accuracy of this isn’t iron-clad, but there is a bottom line. Before Tarot cards were used as a game, or misunderstood as a tool for fortune telling, they were actually used to encourage intuition and prayer. The image of the Fool is the first trumpet card in a deck of Tarot.
Although the term “fool” is perceived by modern day society as an insult, to spiritualists the Fool represents an openness to the infinite possibilities that are available at the beginning of a long journey. The Fool also coincides with the number zero, which is open and available to be transformed into any new number, depending on what gets added to it.
Furthermore, the Fool stands as a symbol of the infant or child-like energy that exists within each of us, and born from the desire to leap from one adventure in life to the next. When the energy of the Fool is active, we stand witness to a free and lively spirit, integrated with strong instincts that have come from deep introspection and higher understanding. The Fool is the wild child, brave enough to climb the highest mountain, gaining a vantage point which the vast majority has chosen to ignore. The Fool finds peace, knowing that, regardless of the shouts from nay-sayers, in the end, the leap of faith will be victorious.
The Fool Rejected
The status quo is only capable of seeing the Fool in a distorted and ugly way, since the Fool isn’t bound to the same rules as everyone else, nor does she share the same weaknesses. Meaning, the mask of the Fool is not put there by herself, but rather, by labels from others, which prefer to identify her as weak or naive. Not until they discover the Fool has found a way to prevail with her wit and kindness are they faced with the reality of their misperceptions. (Pollack, 1998).
The Fool’s commitment to authenticity encourages her to honor all past experiences without rejection, trusting the wisdom they hold for the future. She stays in control of her fear, no longer haunted by memories of the past, and ready to take the leap. The Fool knows to be unafraid.
The Construction of Fear
The idea of taking a leap of faith has hardly been encouraged by the institutionalized church, given that the church is meant to be a safe haven to protect us from our own fears of living in a harsh world. And while it can (and does) serve this purpose, the church is also a point on a map, where the placement and building structure was developed and constructed by the limited human mind (Pollack, 1998).
Trusting the church to be more powerful; more knowing; more connected; and more in tune with our unique soul than we are; gives up a lot of our personal power to those who are mostly concerned with how to keep a building full on Sunday mornings. A place of worship can be a beautiful thing. Still, involvement with the church alone cannot separate us from the impact that living in fear will have on our life. That part depends on our ability to connect with the unseen.
The Fear of Doing Nothing
When the Fool’s energy is not channeled for the benefit of the greater good, but instead is used to carry out reckless desires, its divine, heroic energy gets flipped on its head, turning into a darker version of itself. This is where irrationality, impulsivity, and meaningless action take the stage.
When we feel lost with what to do with ourselves, our conditioned response is to take some kind of action anyway, just to avoid being still. We distract ourselves with a packed schedule from sunrise to sunset, blocking the Fool’s energy from existing at all, which leads to missing opportunities to understand the experience of zero.
