=^..^= Q: Always a cost for an Answer?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 May 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

michelley	21 May 2003
Hello all. I have so many questions I want to post it is beyond ridiculous. First question is: How many of you believe that there is a cost for every answer? I would like to leave my question broad enough for every range of interpretation. I believe in the x-factor. x-factor = one's level of conciousness. -michelley (pisces sun, gemini moon, scorpio ascendent)

HudsonGray	21 May 2003
I believe there's a consequence for every ACTION, but not a cost for every answer. Answers are learning experiences, they broaden knowledge. The action of doing a reading, that'll have a consequence or reaction--if you're doing the reading for someone else, what you tell them will have a bearing on their actions. If you're doing a reading for yourself then it also influences your actions, even if it's a denial action, a shutting down of the mind because it doesn't want to deal with it. But the answers themselves, they're just knowledge, not an action. (Sort of like: here's a theater ticket, go to the movie. Now, you can toss it because you didn't want to see the movie, you can go and maybe enjoy the movie, you can go and hate the movie, you can go and sell the ticket to someone else in line and go home, or you can give the ticket away. The ticket itself isn't the pivot point, it's the actions taken with the ticket that are the focus and therefore have the consequence).

galadrial	21 May 2003
I have a hard time thinking of Tarot "answers" as singularities so that "this answer=this cost". When I wake up and my whole day is ahead of me, there are a near infinite amount of "answers" I might want to know about that day- it would be nice (or would it?) to be omnipotent and just see the whole day/life/universe as one and not have to break it down into packets that our senses can comprehend and process. So, when I do a reading, I'm just picking up on a small fraction of what IS and giving special attention and analysis to it. I don't think there is any especial "cost" to this, no more than the cost of all that I'm not conciously taking in. As HudsonGray says, it is our actions that will define us. One action is how hard we work at trying to analyze our situation before acting, of course, but compared to the whole of what exists, even after a great reading I'm still only understanding a sliver of the reality tree; any "answer" is just part of the continuum.

Sobeknofret	21 May 2003
OK, I'll briefly play devil's advocate here and say yes, there is almost always a cost for an answer. That cost isn't always monetary by any means, but every answer comes at a price of some kind to someone else, or to yourself. For example, I'm a teacher at the University. Every time a student comes in to ask a question or emails me with a question. I'm "paying" in time and energy to answer that question. Every time a student asks a question in class, it gets "paid" for in class time. They're also paying in tuition to have me answer their questions! So why do it? Because I genuinely care for my students and I think that the cost is well worth it to the student. I've been having serious health problems recently. The question is "why me?" I've had to do a lot of soul searching and grieving over it. I've paid for asking that question in long hours of study, in tears, and in grief. Has the answer (what little answer I've gotten) been worth the "price?" Yes, absolutely. On the other hand, I have a hard time percieving Tarot to be one of those situations. Tarot presents us with a series of choices, but in my experience, rarely ever gives us concrete "definite" answers. We learn what could happen or what is likely to happen if we keep on the path we're on, but too many other factors intervene to make it a certainty. In his book on the Ancient Egyptian Tarot, Clive Barrett pictures a cone with the future at the apex and the possibilities to get there radiating out from there to the base. Thus, the point of tarot is not to give "answers" but to point out and explore possibilities. As you make your choices from the possibilities, then the cone narrows to the apex until you're there, where there is another cone and another set of possibilities arising from that apex. Unless you want to count the time and energy that you're expending to do the reading and interpret it, then in Tarot I suppose it does. But is the "cost" worth it to you and/or your clients? In most cases, I think we'd all say yes. --Sobe

zorya	21 May 2003
when you receive an answer, you then become responsible for such knowledge. in a way you have given up a lack of responsibility and a kind of innocence.

Sobeknofret	21 May 2003
Quote: Originally posted by zorya when you receive an answer, you then become responsible for such knowledge. in a way you have given up a lack of responsibility and a kind of innocence. Very nice, and a far better way of saying what I was trying to (clumsily) get at. Thanks Zorya

The =^..^= Q: Always a cost for an Answer? thread was originally posted on 21 May 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.