WalesWoman
Bat Chicken said:I guess I did not express much of an opinion on what I think that Fool is doing. Or a least not in a way anybody was going to bother reading....! So let me try again....I'll use the female gender for the Fool just because I am!
This Fool looks to me like she has just set out on a journey. Her community has seen her off - giving her the mistletoe to protect her from harm and as medicine if she needs it on her journey. She has a romantic and grand dream of what adventures lie before her. She sees her self as the Hero in her own story. She is so wrapped up in her thoughts, she is not in the present moment - and the real adventure is about to begin. It isn't anything like the romantic picture she was dreaming of. The Gods certainly have something in mind for the Fool and the first lesson is to pay attention! The greyhound appears to be the companion of the Fool. I realized, the book does mention the goddess Ceridwen takes the form of the greyhound in the story of Taliesin. I think the connection to the Fool is very clear. The Fool is the Innocent child on a Divine mission. The child Gwion unconsciously licks his finger and his journey chased by the Goddess begins.
This Fool is unconsciously starting an adventure in which awakening and wisdom shall result, but first, the Fool must wake up!
I did read your first post, but it took this one to zap my brain into functioning and make the connections.
The Fool is 0, nothingness... so say someone is living in the future, i.e., life will be good when "x" happens, I'll be happy when... basically as you said, living in a state that focuses on the past or future, rather than the Now, is not really living and could very well be in a state of nothingingness, because everything is on hold for some conditional state to become. I had never thought of looking at the Fool in this light before.