Descartes and the Tower card

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 20 May 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Kiama	20 May 2003
Hi all, Warning: This is what revision will do to you. I stringly recommend you do not undertake such a highly dangerous task. ;) I am currently revising for my next philosophy exam, and the module I am going through is Decartes' Method of Doubt. Let me explain a little of it to you... Descartes wished to prove that there was at least something that coudl not be doubted, and upon which we could base all other knowledge. He was tired of the skeptics of the time, like Montaigne, who insisted that there is nothing we can know for sure. So, Descartes decided to beat the skeptics at their own game, by using their methods of enquiry to prove that there is actually something which cannot be doubted. This method of enquiry is what we call Hyberbolic Doubt, and it is basically: If something can be doubted even in the slightest, we shall assume it is false. We shall throw it out, and continue until we find something which cannot be doubted even in the slightest. A quote from Descartes here illustrates what he wanted to do: Quote: By Descartes: raze everything to the ground and begin again from the original foundations, if I wanted to establish anything firm and lasting in the sciences This to me was a perfect example of the Tower's good side... It is about testing one's own beliefs and foundations, and finding them to be shakey... The tower we have built upon the shakey foundation falls down to the ground, which seems like a calamity at the time, because after all, that's out beliefs lying in tatters... But then we start to examine all the bits of rubble, and realise that they were in fact quite useless, and not the most stable thing to build a tower on in the first place. So, we rebuild from scratch, this time examing the foundations we place beneath us. This way, we build a sturdier Tower, which is less likely to fall down when questioned. This is just another example of how concepts in the Tarot keep popping up in real life. Each time this happens, I find I understand the concept itself a little more. Kiama

jlbvt	20 May 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Kiama This method of enquiry is what we call Hyberbolic Doubt, and it is basically: If something can be doubted even in the slightest, we shall assume it is false. We shall throw it out, and continue until we find something which cannot be doubted even in the slightest. This is just another example of how concepts in the Tarot keep popping up in real life. Each time this happens, I find I understand the concept itself a little more. Kiama If something can be doubted, throw it out! Descartes was a mathmatician trapped inside a philosopher's brain! ;) Speaking of Tower examples, did you see the (seasons old) episode of Buffy where they were up on that shaky, hodge-podge tower and Buffy believed she had to leap off it to her death in order to save humanity (or something) and then when her sister convinced Buffy that her belief was wrong, the tower started to fall apart, and they both almost got killed. I thought that was a perfect Tower scene! :TTOW

shandar	24 May 2005
Thanks for that information. It is truly revealing, and shows us that the tarot is a philosophy for life, just like the I Ching. I don't think the tower is at all negative, it is how the archetype is internalized by the reader that makes it negative. The tower tells us to drop our facades, be ourselves, and jump free of illusions. We are even given a royal jolt from heaven to get us going. The people falling out of the tower were trapped by their illusions and egos. At the moment they are forced to exit the building. The only question is, will they build another ediface, or alow their selves to come out. Shandar

Maelin	24 May 2005
It's been a long time since I read any Descartes, but did his exercise in parabolic doubt not result in the famous statement of first principle " I think, therefore I am" ? If so, how appropriate that destroying everything but that singular statement of "I" leads to the Star, the card of a solitary and personal statement of hope. I like Rachel Pollack's characterization of the third line of the majors as the journey of the soul or superconscious, where we start with the tower wiping out everything that has been before, all our constructs and societal assumptions - and perhaps, as you have added, our intellectual assumptions and constructs too - and then we start again with thought, with hope, in the Star and on from that.

Emeraldgirl	25 May 2005
I think that the Tower can be a positive card if veiwed with that intent and Kiama I think you have nailed it on the head how and whay this can be. Thanks for the great info :)

Kiama	25 May 2005
Wow, good to see old threads being revived. And boy this takes me back... Having studied Neitzsche's philosophy last year, I think he fits well alongside Descartes in the Tower card: his formula of the Uberman is perfect for it. The Uberman/Dionysian man, doesn't cower from the terrifying aspects of existence, but instead accepts all of existence: none of it is expendable, Neitzsche says. And the Dionysian man is capable of tearing himself apart so that he may rebuild himself better than before. He can look into the Abyss and see it staring back at him and accept that. In just the same way, the Tower card can bring about a destruction that leaves you with an opportunity to rebuild, better than before. So, I never shrink from this card when I see it in a reading. Even if it is negative, I truly believe it is an opportunity for a new start, or an opportunity to face the terrifying as well as the beautiful in life. :D Kiama

Fudugazi	25 May 2005
I have always seen the good side of the Tower (as well as the difficult one) - and in my life it is the one I prefer to concentrate on, while staying aware that nasty shocks and losses do happen. I like your Dionysian man embracing of the Tower even more than the more cartesian (ealier) analysis: probably because I am a Montaigne person and will put everything up for scrutiny and doubt; yet your idea of testing one's beliefs and foundation in order to see what is solid and what is not - what Descartes sought - I see and like very much in the Tower. Taking this idea further: if we find out that nothing is solid - and all can be doubted and shaken - then the Tower allows us to break it all down and start anew (until the next shake-up!) - a form of mental sloughing, where the Tower, if approached without resistance, can take the more supple shape of the snake metamorphosing... The Dionysian man speaks to me at the moment, precisely because he is Quote: capable of tearing himself apart so that he may rebuild himself better than before. He can look into the Abyss and see it staring back at him and accept that. - which is something I have been doing in the past month, accelerating recently. The Abyss, my greatest fear, I plunged straight into last week during a shamanic journey that was like a deliberate confrontation with the Tower... Amazing thoughts, Kiama. I hope there'll be more!

The Descartes and the Tower card thread was originally posted on 20 May 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.