Embrace the Fool

 For me and many of my 20-something peers, there seems to be a contagious state of lost-ness that has taken hold of us and caused many to experience this overwhelming anxiety and fear about life. Many of us are victim to this extremely confusing time of not having any idea about anything regarding our futures, and this is really scary. I don't want to speak for everyone on this matter, but the general gist I get from my own feelings and several others is that we don't want to limit ourselves to these jobs we remain un-passionate and under-appreciated in, we want to live, to be happy, to feel fulfilled.

In meditation, one of the first basic advantages of its practice is allowing yourself to be fully present. To do this or to understand this, one has to acknowledge their emotions and thoughts as temporary, impermenent. To allow yourself to feel whatever you feel, to think whatever you want to think and simply acknowledge it, and go back to your breath, the breath that ultimately gives us life...this confusing life. 

Maybe we could all use this idea of  "temporary" is actually the calming to everyone's (my) brain. A good friend of mine (thank you Bianca, ya little nugget of love) said something to me the other day that these decisions we are all making right now (what job to have, where we want to live, who we want to be with, who we shouldn't be with, how are lives are supposed to go etc...) will determine the rest of our lives. This is so far from the truth. Change, as with everything else, is impermanent. 

Try it. If it doesn't work, try again. 

"When the mind is still, our true nature begins to reveal itself. Out of stillness, like the early morning mist of the lake, emerges a thinking that is not thinking--a wisdom beyond thought. Out of stillness emerges, effortlessly, a subtle world of experience we have longed for." - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I have been playing with this idea that we are all born with this inner fool...this childlike sense of wonder and amazement/bravery that many of us lose sight of. A child in many ways will leap into unknown territory with minimal hesitation because they don't know any better. It is honestly bewildering to me why we grow into ourselves and just become more fearful with age, when in reality, we should cut the scaredy-cat bullshit and EMBRACE THE FOOL.

I know the fool sometimes carries a negative connotation with it, but historically, fools were considered some of the wisest people. Think back to some of the first fools...jesters. In an era of nobility and class, a person could instantly get beheaded if he/she engaged in the most simplistic disagreements with the king. The exception was the fool (Jester). He could lampoon the shortcomings and lunacy of royal conduct and live to tell the tale. The fool did not understand the new social conventions that arose during that time, so they acted upon their natural instincts.Shakespearean plays are notorious for their fools. These characters were clever peasants that used their wits to outdo people of social status.

In tarot, the fool card is a blessing, it remains at the beginning of the deck, the number 0…a symbol of the infinite/unknown. The fool wants to experience life, is fun-loving, playful, spontaneous. As with the wise fools that were acknowledged in centuries before us, the fool has the willingness to see beyond the conventions of society, to be playful and expressive.

"Sell your clerverness and buy bewilderment." Rumi 

This idea that we need to adhere to conformity and lead a linear life is a myth. Sure, some people choose to live their lives by the book, this safe, secure, predictable and mundane mold. But in reality, whether these people admit it or not, they are scared, just like all of us. Scared of the long term consequences of making a wrong decision or being a little bit foolish and taking a leap into the unknown.

Maybe all of us should be less sensible, less prudent. Maybe a good decision isn't always based on knowledge of experience, but taking a leap into the unknown, embracing the fool.

"I love this world because it is imperfect. It is imperfect, and that is why it is growing; if it was perfect, it would have been dead. Growth is possible only if there is imperfection. I would like you to remember again and again, I am imperfect, the whole universe is imperfect and to love this imperfection, to rejoice in this imperfection." OSHO 

The unknown is filled with possibilities, all we really have to do is trust in it. The fool doesn't waste his energy fighting "what is," doesn't try to control the moment, the fool will happily walk to the edge and leap into darkness open-hearted and fully committed. Embracing the fool is listening and saying yes to what feels write in your soul and heart. We are all making it up as we go along in life, so we should all stop trying to control the unknown and allow our lives and energy to just...flow.

We could go through life staying away from heights but we could also step into the risk-filled abyss of the unknown…which is better?

"Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be." Lactantius 260-340AD

And just so I gain some credibility here with this idea of the fool, the Beatles (or at least Paul McCartney) wrote a song about this very idea of the wise fool. “When asked about “The Fool On The Hill” during his 1980 Playboy interview, Paul said:  “’Fool On The Hill’ was mine and I think I was writing about someone like Maharishi.  His detractors called him a fool.  Because of his giggle he wasn’t taken too seriously.  It was this idea of a fool on the hill, a guru in a cave, I was attracted to.  I remember once hearing about a hermit who missed the Second World War because he’d been in a cave in Italy, and that always appealed to me”” (beatlesebooks.com). 

The Beatles "The Fool on the Hill"