The Fool (A bolond)

“A mark of steadfastness at the middle stage is that you do not indulge in yourself.” [Al-Qushayri]

A mark of passing through work ‘I’ number four is that you do not indulge in your lower self, which is located at the base of the spine. The Egyptian Demotic Papyrus says,
“Do not stop to listen to the words of a foolish man.” Do not stop to listen to ‘I’s unrelated to the sequence, because they are coming from the Fool. The Fool is the zero card in the Tarot, because the state we are in reveals imagination to be nothing. This is why the lower self detests it. In fact, he carries a back of tricks with ten thousand options in order to destroy this state. (1-14-07)

“Your speech contains grave errors; you have not given it due consideration.”
[Sumerian Texts, Debate between Bird and Fish]
“Grave errors” refers to a work ‘I’ not acting—a broken sequence. This is what happened when Moses broke the tablets. The Aztec Texts say, “Do not walk aimlessly; do not wander without a destination.” Even though they have no destination, homeless people walk back and forth in the same spot, wandering aimlessly. This is illustrated by the Fool card in the Tarot. The Fool card is the zero card, because the fool is not present; he is without substance. The state we are in, however, detects the treachery of the lower self, who is sometimes referred to as the “wanderer.” Moses wandered in the wilderness for forty years—that is, he drifted into imagination at work ‘I’ number four. Jesus, too, wandered in the desert at work ‘I’ number four. (1-1-07)

“He took a box wherein he had several medicines that he carried about him to use as occasion might require.” [The Arabian Nights]
This refers to choosing the appropriate theme. Here, the sequence is referred to as “medicines,” which cure us of the illness of sleep. The work ‘I’s are also called “physicians.” In Luke 4:23, it is written, “Physician, heal thyself”— work ‘I,’ engage presence.

The fool in the Fool card—the lower self—carries a bag of tricks with ten thousand deceptions. The magician in the Magician card—the steward—also has a bag of tricks. However, the steward has great Influence C on his side, and they know every one of the tricks of the lower self, and are teaching us his deceptions one by one. This is why we are present more often, and for longer periods, than we used to be. (1-1-07)

“I have slipped away out of the trap, by saying the name of God.” [Ravidas]
Of course, the “trap” is the fool, illustrated by the figure in the Fool card, with his bag of tricks on his shoulder. He has ten thousand options in his bag; however, in this passage, he has slipped out of the trap with Be. Ibn Arabi said, ‘If you ask what the Word of the Presence is, we will reply, the word ‘Be.’” It is lovely, is it not? Bahauddin said, “Allah means presence.” (12-24-06)

“To know the moral precepts and not apply them to the cure of passions is to be like a diseased man carrying a bag of medicine which he never uses; and this is a grievous failure.” [Gampopa]
“To know the moral precepts and not apply them” means to know the sequence and not use it. Buddha called non-recitation “the rust of the scriptures”—of the sequence. “Is to be like a diseased man carrying a bag of medicine which he never uses.” This is the steward failing to use his tools—his weapons— represented by the Fool with his bag of tricks in the Fool tarot card (0). In Journey Forth by Day, it is written, “Take your garment, your sandals, your staff, your loincloth, and all your weapons.” All of these objects refer to the sequence—the thirty great work ‘I’s. The Egyptians portrayed the pharaoh with a cloth—a garment—on his head, which later became a skullcap for the Jews. It represents reaching work ‘I’ number six. (12-3-06)

[Allah said] “O Children of Israel! Part not with My revelations for a trifling price.”
[Koran 1:41]
A “trifling price” means a foolish price, represented by the Fool card (0) in the tarot. It refers to an ‘I’ unrelated to the sequence, coming from the Fool—the zero card. The Fool carries his bag of tricks on his shoulder, whereas the king of hearts holds his sword over his shoulder. (12-3-06)

“To arrive at the unshakable, you must befriend the Tao.” [Lao-Tzu]
The “unshakable” means that you have completed your sequence and cannot be shaken from prolonged presence. The “Tao” is the sequence. You must “befriend” the sequence—that is, you must engage presence with it. Al-Sulami said, “He who has not founded his journey upon the Koran will attain nothing”— he who has not founded his journey to the present upon the sequence will attain nothing—the zero card in the Tarot. Mohammed said, “In truth we have made the Koran easy to remember.” What is truth but the sequence? (8-6-06)

“The path of the Sufi to God is by struggling against the self.” [Shirwani]
The path of the steward to presence is by struggling against the lower self. How do you struggle against the lower self? By proceeding in an uninterrupted sequence. Similarly, Rumi said, “Journey from your lower self into your Self”— journey to your higher self through the sequence. What a journey it is! If you are not taking this journey, then you are taking a journey to the moon—to imagination. The Fool card in the Tarot, is also the moon—the zero card. (8-6-06)

“The cause of wrong action is the glance. There is danger in the glance. If you correct the glance by returning to God, it departs.” [Ibn Arabi]
This is a new revelation for us. It is illustrated in the Fool card, in which the fool is glancing over his back. He has work ‘I’ number four around his belt and is in control of it. “The cause of wrong action is the glance”—the cause of imagination is a glance—that is, merely giving one’s attention to imagination for an instant. “There is danger in the glance. If you correct the glance by returning to God, it departs.” If you correct the glance by returning to your sequence, you deflect it and continue to the next step. Return to God. (7-19-06)

“God shows evil to be nothing.” [St. Augustine]
Presence shows imagination to be nothing; this is why the lower self is represented by the zero card in the Tarot. In this state, he is nothing at all. (6-14-06)

“To obtain a human body is extremely difficult, so it is foolish to ignore Dharma once having found it.” [Padmasanbhava]
Dharma” is the sequence. The “human body” refers to the six precious utterances, because although they lead one out of the second state, they themselves are still in the second state. When you begin a sequence, you are starting with a “human body,” which emerges from the chaos of the ten thousand ‘I’s. It is foolish to disregard the sequence at this point. A thirteenth-century sculpture depicts a Japanese monk intoning the sequence. One sees the “human body”—the six notes issuing from him.

What is foolishness? The zero card in the Tarot. Everything is foolishness but engaging presence with the sequence. (6-7-06)

“A heedless man, although he utters much of the Scripture does not act accordingly.” [Buddha]
The heedless man is a foolish man. This is represented by the figure of the Fool in the Fool tarot card (0), who has turned his back on the present. You know that if the work ‘I’ engages presence, the sequence is right. Rechungpa said, “Whether the sword is sharp or not will be obvious when you strike.” When you strike imagination with the sequence and produce presence, it becomes obvious whether or not your sword is sharp. (5-28-06)

“This offspring of a dog pretends to be of noble birth.” [The Arabian Nights]
The lower self pretends to be the sequence, which gives birth to consciousness in you. This is represented by the figure of the Fool, behind whom follows a dog, portrayed in the zero card in the tarot. Why is it the zero card? Because when one is present, imagination is nothing. (5-24-06)

“Do not stop to listen to the words of a foolish man.” [Egyptian Texts, Demotic Papyrus]
“Do not stop”—the sequence—“to listen to the words of a foolish man”—to listen to thoughts unrelated to the sequence, coming from the lower self.

The figure of the Fool in the Fool tarot card (0) carries a bag of tricks— the ten thousand ‘I’s—over his shoulder. When he successfully displaces presence, he stands on the ball of his foot, and the steward is flat-footed. (5-14-06)

The Fool tarot card (0)is the zero card, because the Fool is nothing but imagination, turning his back on the present. On his shoulder, he carries a bag of tricks. The Mahabharata says, “He is unrivaled in the tricks of dice, and his tricks are never detected by others.”

“A vainglorious bull turns his back for fear of contest.” [Egyptian Tales]
This refers to the lower self, who is “vain”—asleep—and “vainglorious’— feigning presence. He turns his back, like the Fool in the Fool tarot card. (4-9-06)

The lower self is the Fool, represented by the zero card in the Tarot. Since he cannot be present, the Fool has to whisper something to you that is unrelated to presence.

"Let the yogi undistractedly restrain his mind, as a charioteer restrains his vicious horses." Upanishads
Let the steward restrain the vicious mind (the lower self) which cannot be present, and dedicates all his efforts to displacing our presence. (3-15-06)

“The senseless man hears the call, but is ignorant of the place to which he has been called.” [Gnostic Texts]
The refers to the intellectual parts of centers not promoting presence, but serving the Fool, represented by the zero card in the Tarot. In Matthew 6:3, Jesus said, “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” (1-22-06)

“Back! Rebel of abominable character, whose step has been impeded by Ra,who did evil, who stepped outside the prescribed path, who loved the fight,and enjoyed quarreling.” [Book of the Victory Over Seth]

The first word, “Back,” refers to the lower self, which is represented by the figure of the Fool with his back turned to presence in the Fool tarot card (0). He is a “rebel of abominable character”—he is not someone you would wish to invite into your home—“whose step has been impeded by Ra”—whose attempts to displace presence have been impeded by your efforts to engage presence—“who did evil”—imagination—“who stepped outside the prescribed path”—who opposed the thirty precious work ‘I’s. The lower self wants you to be interested in anything but being present to your life. He wants you to be in imagination. “Who loved the
fight, and enjoyed quarreling”—he is argumentative, quarrelsome. That is why the non-expression of negative emotions is one of the very last things he wants you to practice; he wants you

“He who prays ceaselessly gradually loses the habit of wandering thoughts.” [The Philokalia, Theophan the Recluse]
He loses the habit of “wandering thoughts”—imagination. This is represented by the Fool wandering in imagination in the Fool tarot card (0). He has his back turned towards us. (12-4-05)

“O dog, would you have us believe you are an honest man, when your back shows us the contrary?” [The Arabian Nights]
“Dog” refers to the Fool in the Fool tarot card (O), who has turned his back on presence. The staff he holds is composed of the thirty mechanical ‘I’s that seek to displace presence. The “honest man” refers to the intellectual parts of centers. However, here, his “back shows us the contrary”—that he has a hidden agenda to displace presence. This idea is illustrated by the statue from the cathedral of Strasbourg, which portrays a smiling figure holding out an apple, but who has poisonous serpents and toads hidden on his back. (11-9-05)

“There is a dog which is always with you, indeed inside your skin—named negative emotions.” [Al-Ghazzali]
This signifies that the dog in the tarot represents the expression of negative emotions. (10-21-05)

“If you could give up tricks and cleverness, that would be the cleverest trick.” [Jalaluddin Rumi]
If you can give up the lower self, you will have the higher self. This will be your cleverest trick. The Fool tarot card (0) represents the trick-master. He has turned his back on presence, and is without a number. He is the zero card, because there is no presence in imagination. You are nothing without presence; you are a zero. In fact, without presence you are the lower self.

The Fool holds a bag of tricks over his shoulder near the knot behind the neck, which he uses to keep you asleep. Hafiz said, “The enemy desires to be as eloquent in writing poems as Hafiz.” The lower self uses very poetic thoughts to draw you away from the present with his bag of tricks. (10-3-05)

“The jester is also the fool.” [Mohammed]
The zero card in the tarot. (10-3-05)

“Attention is standing firmly planted and not wandering.” [Nicephorus the Solitary]
Divided attention is standing firmly planted and not wandering into imagination. The figure of the Fool in tarot card number zero is wandering in imagination, turning his back on the present. (09-18-05)

“The fool shoots a hundred arrows and each one misses the target. If thou art wise, shoot one, and that one straight.” [Saadi]
In the tarot, the zero card is the Fool, who has turned his back on presence. Rumi said that the fool shoots a hundred arrows and each one misses the target. However, the fool is not aiming at this target—the third eye. He is aiming to displace the third eye, and if he shoots a hundred arrows, and we listen to each one of them, he is right on target, for he has lured us away from the present. (07-24-05)

“The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.”[Ecclesiastes 2:14]
The Fool tarot card is the zero card; it does not even have a number. The fool is walking in darkness. “The wise man’s eyes are in his head” refers to the intellectual parts of centers promoting presence with work ‘I’s. (3-22-05)

“How foolish is the man who tries to make this world his permanent abode.” [Al-Ghazali]
How foolish is the man who tries to make the four lower centers his permanent abode, when only the third eye can be permanent, immortal. In the Fool tarot card (0), the fool has his back turned. He is the zero card, because one is nothing without presence. (2-22-05)

“God created a mirror: its shining face, the heart; its darkened back, the world; the back would please you if you have never seen the face.” [Jalaluddin Rumi]
The “darkened back”—the four lower centers—would please you if you have never seen the presence of your own higher centers. In fact, eighty billion people have been quite content with the “darkened back”—the second state. In the Fool tarot card (I), the Fool has a darkened back, and is running from presence. (1-23-05)