In my small but growing collection of Tarot decks, the Osho Zen deck is by far my favorite. I don't know a lot about Zen philosophy, but I love how calm and affirming it is, how visually beautiful, how clearly it reads. I love the re-imagining of the cards that affirm and lend new depth to their meanings.
"Completion" is a lovely keyword for the World, since it emphasizes a lot of what it's about: the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one, the feeling of contentment and fulfillment that comes with achieving what you set out to do. In the metaphor of the Fool's Journey across the Major Arcana, this is the feeling we're supposed to seek. This is the great outcome that we're looking for, the hero's quest we're on.
But what is it, exactly?
A key tool for a lot of counseling and coaching is to consider what happiness looks like:
It's an effective tool. It gives us a sense of perspective. So much of the time, our idea of what would satisfy us is either enormous, playing to the idea that it's impossible and out of our reach, or too small in order to keep us safe and comfortable. More than once I've heard of life defined as a quest for a great, nebulous "something" that we're all never going to find. We imagine that our dreams need to be impossible in order to be worthy. We imagine that we'll never be satisfied, that we'll always be looking for more.
Asking what your dreams look like right now, allowing yourself to name them, lets you move forward without self-consciousness. And it's the moving forward that's the important thing.
The truth is that life isn't a quest for one "something". It's a journey towards a lot of little somethings. The beauty of the Fool's Journey is that the Fool can be visiting any of the Major Arcana at any time. When he achieves the World in one realm of his life, there will be others that call his attention. And all of his successes will become parts of his new journey, towards a different piece of his evolution.
Don't paralyze yourself worrying about your path - if it's the "wrong" one, if you're playing it too large or too small, if it's too grandiose or too shallow. Life itself is a journey towards a constantly expanding conclusion. The things that are calling you now, the wishes you have, will become a part of your life and make even grander things possible.
The Fool doesn't take one journey, he takes many. And they're all pieces of a grand puzzle.
"Completion" is a lovely keyword for the World, since it emphasizes a lot of what it's about: the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one, the feeling of contentment and fulfillment that comes with achieving what you set out to do. In the metaphor of the Fool's Journey across the Major Arcana, this is the feeling we're supposed to seek. This is the great outcome that we're looking for, the hero's quest we're on.
But what is it, exactly?
A key tool for a lot of counseling and coaching is to consider what happiness looks like:
- "If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?"
- "What's your ideal vision for this project/relationship/outcome?"
- "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"
It's an effective tool. It gives us a sense of perspective. So much of the time, our idea of what would satisfy us is either enormous, playing to the idea that it's impossible and out of our reach, or too small in order to keep us safe and comfortable. More than once I've heard of life defined as a quest for a great, nebulous "something" that we're all never going to find. We imagine that our dreams need to be impossible in order to be worthy. We imagine that we'll never be satisfied, that we'll always be looking for more.
Asking what your dreams look like right now, allowing yourself to name them, lets you move forward without self-consciousness. And it's the moving forward that's the important thing.
The truth is that life isn't a quest for one "something". It's a journey towards a lot of little somethings. The beauty of the Fool's Journey is that the Fool can be visiting any of the Major Arcana at any time. When he achieves the World in one realm of his life, there will be others that call his attention. And all of his successes will become parts of his new journey, towards a different piece of his evolution.
Don't paralyze yourself worrying about your path - if it's the "wrong" one, if you're playing it too large or too small, if it's too grandiose or too shallow. Life itself is a journey towards a constantly expanding conclusion. The things that are calling you now, the wishes you have, will become a part of your life and make even grander things possible.
The Fool doesn't take one journey, he takes many. And they're all pieces of a grand puzzle.
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