The Fool and The MisUnderstood Fringe Dweller

“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

Relationships!  Great teachers!  That quote always helps me to feel better at times when I feel mis-judged or mis-understood.  I wanted to blog a bit about it and hope in doing so that it helps others who come across this problem themselves.  This may be a more common experience among fringe dwellers and those are the type to come across a blog such as this.

Anyway, do we subconsciously ask for these judgments and or set ourselves up for the opinionated wrath of others?  I don’t think so.  Perhaps a tarot card can help us out here so I pulled one.  And by the way what I’ve observed is that those who point the finger at fringe dwellers are those that fear being on the fringe themselves and as so often happens we project our fears onto others.

So the cards we have here to help us understand these types of experiences are one major and one minor arcana card — namely, The Fool and the 3 of Pentacles.

The Fool has no home, no destination, with no possessions.  I have to laugh a bit at the cosmic joke here–currently I am without a home that is my own (I share an apartment) and essentially live in one bedroom.  I don’t know where I am going to be going (on various waiting lists currently) and well, this last part is partly true.  Most of my possessions are in storage and they’re not much at that–I’ve probably paid more in storage rent than the stuff is actually worth!  In that way this card describes my life right now–thus, the cosmic joke.  But getting back to the point now….

The Fool is fed by what Zen folks would call THE TAO, or the Great Mother or The Divine Intelligence.  And I think this is what fringe dwellers who are mis-understood should remember.  It’s important.

Others (the one’s who mis-calculate our life and our reasoning and our behaviors) are mere reflections of energy that we sometimes cast in more important roles than they deserve.  What I mean there is that we put people in a role many times and then we expect certain behaviors or perhaps a particular loyalty or some such attribute.  And then of course, they let us down.  People most all of the time do not live up to the expectations we have of the roles that we assign to them in our minds.

And that is a 2-way street of course.  It’s the reason we feel misunderstood at the same time the other mis-judges.

The thing is that it is we who are judging our own self, isn’t it?  We judge ourselves for not being part of the pack and then we see that reflection.

It is okay not to be part of the pack and this is why I like the quote from Emerson on self-reliance.  it is reliance on THE TAO or the GREAT MOTHER or reliance on the DIVINE INTELLIGENCE or DIVINE LOVE.

Not being part of the pack and feeling the pack turn against us (no matter how it comes about–i.e. reflection or not) is helpful in that it turns us back within toward that energy as described–the Divine Love.

Many times we want others to give us that respect, that love and to provide that sense of ‘belonging’ for us that we can only give to ourselves.  it is like turning ourselves inside out to find all of that within.  We fringe dwellers have done that over and over again, many times.  it is part of being on the fringe; only old souls or experienced souls seem to be capable of handling it.  I see that observing others who seem to be like myself–that’s why I say so.  Reflections? Maybe, but I do observe and correlate and we do carry the collective unconscious within us.

The tarot card of The Fool is all about learning from experience and and knowing that he is one with All That Is–so why worry?  The Fool is comfortable being alone and without attachment because of the inner knowledge that there is never any separation whatsoever and as in the the movie, The Matrix when the young adept says, “There is no spoon”, it is the same way with The Fool.  Even if there is a fall, even if it hurts a bit, it is just part of the Divine Matrix, an grand illusion.

We are sustained by Life Itself after all and not by the others–they only play out a role of our own making to help us see the truth… there is no spoon, no fringe, no dweller and no others, not ultimately.  Conventionally we have to acknowledge the existence of others, the pack, and the world of matter, but ultimately, “there is no spoon”.

It is a gift really to be mis-judged and mis-understood because it is at those times we are being assisted or reminded of ultimate reality.  It is not denial, it is enlightenment at least in the moment of the recalled realization.

I love being a psychic and in touch with various forms of divination and the tools of the trade.

PS— i nearly forgot about the 3 of pentacles but then again writing this blog post as I feel misunderstood today is an example of that card’s meaning.  I often think of this card as doing work.

Planting seeds, GETTING REAL and that’s writing this blog post today is about for me.   Applying your craft.

Many spokes attach to the hub but it is the empty center that turns the wheel, they say.    Emptiness has potential–that is associated with the 3 of pentacles as well.

The 3 of pentacles as a person is one who is highly skilled and has deep feelings.  This card reminds us to apply our craft, our art to any perceived problem or concern in life.

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The Nature of the Mind – The Nature of Reality – The Fascinating Study of Enlightenment and the Karma of Ego

This is IT for me, you know?  Contemplating the nature of the mind and reality makes it all bearable.  No.  Not right.   Much more than bearable; it makes life a total celebratory event.

You see, we all think (or feel) that we have our own personal single mind that is so very real because it experiences and recognizes things.  Yet, how often (if ever) do we stop and examine those experiences that the mind thinks are so real?  Break them apart, open them up, see what’s there at the core–do people do that?

Trauma or crisis can help us contemplate this type of thing (or not)–happiness too; any intense experience.   Many times doing that drives us to addictive distraction instead of some level of enlightenment and joy.  But if we really examine the experiences that the mind is having and we do so carefully, and we really contemplate this experience that this mind has and we look for that mind that has this crisis or happy experience, we cannot find a single thing!  Not one single thing but a blend of many components that we call “consciousness’.    It’s NOT YOU!

Here’s what I mean–there is no solid mind or self at the core of the experience or no real experience-ER.  I know, it sounds crazy if you’ve never thought about it but give me a chance to explain.

Consciousness has many various components–parts!  You know like a car, a vehicle has many components, parts–engine, tires, frame, door and so forth.  Is not our mind and our consciousness the same?  Consciousness has awareness of visual objects (forms, shapes, colors) and then there is awareness of sound, touch (tactile consciousness), taste consciousness and all these are separate parts or functions of the mind.  It’s like the car analogy–separate parts, gas tank, gas pedal, speedometer, steering wheel and so forth.

Consider the experience of anything for a moment–it doesn’t have to be crisis or trauma.  Anything.  Happy experience let’s say.  If we consider that each type of consciousness recognizes a particular field of experience (sound awareness or consciousness recognizes sound and visual consciousness is aware of shapes and colors of forms)… if we consider this as part of any experience we see that each of the types of consciousnesses function in an independent way from the others.

So the mind is a blend of consciousnesses and not one single unit or not one single, unitary thing.  Rather it is a compound object just like the car, the vehicle.

There are said to be six consciousnesses and in some books I’ve read there are eight.  And one of those eight include the consciousness which clings to the notion of EGO or “I”.  And another consciousness that is part of what we think of as “me” is called ground consciousness — and I wrote about this a week or so ago.  

The ground consciousness  stores information from all other levels of consciousness and accumulated past lives.  You can see how this level of mind would easily support the idea of an individual identity called “me”.  It would seem so ‘real’ but it is a grouping of consciousness; a grouping of experiences.

To explain further, it is fairly easy to grasp that the visual consciousness perceives objects–that’s the potential of the visual consciousness.  If you look at a red cloth, you see red.  If you look at snow on a mountain, you see white.  We are able also, quite obviously, to see things in succession–first seeing one thing and then the next with one thing disappearing and the next thing appearing in consciousness.  So visual consciousness is multiple and successive and has the potential to see many things at once and so is not single or solitary or one thing.  Nor is it one single solitary unit of time.

Even if we could isolate a single solitary unit of time, it would only occur within the framework of ongoing consciousness because awareness is never static–its fluid.  So every moment has to relate to a previous moment and a future moment—meaning, it is not any more singular than we ourselves are.  The future moment is the present being the past in relation to it.  Yeah, I know that last sentence is pretty deep; but the point is that time is not solid, solitary and static and neither is consciousness and neither are we!  

There is no single unit of identifiable reality in either the external world of appearances or in the subjective mind.  Even space does not have a fundamentally real, inherent existence. Space is not a compound, and does consist of various parts like the car or like our mind.  Space is not a thing–it seems to exist but it is the negation of a particular appears of anything else.  Even the space in a room only exists because of the walls–take away the walls and the space that you thought existed in the room is not there and only depended upon the walls around it to appear as if it existed.

So the whole point in this blog post brings me to the point of liberation–even if I can’t fully understand it all in a way to describe it in words; in an experiential way I’ve known this truth from meditation…   it’s all true.

For example, in a contemplative meditation last evening, I tried to find… well, I asked, “Where is Joy?  Where am I located?”  It took less than a nano-second to realize I’m not my body and once you get past that basic truth, look for the location and you will find it’s everywhere!  And now here!  and nowhere!

And this, my friend, helps me to chill-ax (chill out and relax) and to see the humor in it all…. appearances are empty forms!  And again, quoting the Beatles once more, in the Strawberry Fields song, “Nothing is real; and it’s nothing to get hung about.”  

DEDICATION:  May this post help another in a way that is in divine order when they come upon this post–for this is my true intent in writing it today!  

Yogic Conduct, Entering the Action, Embracing Life

I do love the way Divine Mind operates–that’s just me talking to It!  A friend sent me that BUDDHA DOODLE [image above] moments ago via email (credit to Molly Hahn/Buddha Doodles).  This image correlates with the post I was thinking to make here relating to something I heard a Rinpoche (teacher) speak of the other day.  Before I get too complicated with it all–and I really don’t have to since the doodle says it all really–there is a term I heard that really rang those ‘Buddhist Bells’ with me!

Oh, by the way, I have tingsha bells and they are an economical substitute for singing bowls and gongs and other tools… they don’t take up much room either. But let me go to the point about this term or phrase used by the teacher.  I don’t know if this is the correct interpretation of exactly what Rinpoche was intending, but here’s what he said.  When a highly evolved yogi reaches a particular state of evolution it is said that they are in YOGIC CONDUCT.  Rinpoche’s translator said it means they have “Entered the Action”.

Interesting.  For this particular yogi they were referring to first studied at the university and then meditated in seclusion for a long time and then taught students and then following that he went into “Yogic Conduct” or “Entered the Action”.

Sounds a bit like going into battle doesn’t it?  I wonder if that means  (to do what we think of as ) “walking the talk” in a way that is more intense or “activated” or “active”–??

I thought of my own life since haven come down from the mountain into a densely populated area of sentient beings, including souls of blood relation, family.  It’s been totally intense, like I have “entered the action” in some way or another--fer’ sure!

Again, I have no idea of that’s what “yogic conduct” means or what the Tibetan Rinpoche and his translator were really talking about or it means something else entirely. But I thought the term to be interesting.  I tried to goggle it and found nothing.

But anyway; I am about to be putting all of my things in storage for a while and having one room for my personal space like a monk or yogi in a monastery–like a monk’s cell.

And further will be living with two family members, sharing half the rent in another apartment.  (My hope is that this is very temporary until space opens in other housing where I have made application–and also supplication!  ho-ho, hee-hee)

But the monastic cell is going to be awesome (compared to previous lifetimes!-Ha!) –live plants, big windows, TV, computer, desk, etc.  Heaven in comparison!  (And the company of fine family companionship…. I am most grateful to my kind sister for sharing with me temporarily so I don’t have to break a lease elsewhere and can be ready when the place to which was supplicated has an opening.)

Anyway… self-awareness, remaining mindful, allowing emotion to become the  path–that’s what the Buddha Doodle means to me.  Another recent blog post covered a good deal more about working with emotion as the spiritual path.

Entering the Action!  Yogic Conduct!  Om mani padme hum.

ASPIRATION:  May I be able to practice the genuine dharma!  

May I remain mindful and awake!  

May all beings, through their virtue, perfect the accumulations of merit and wisdom! 

May this blog post be helpful to someone in cyber world!