Before you begin reading this piece, sit quietly for a couple of minutes and begin to think about how big infinity is, and about how long eternity is.
If you have completed that simple task correctly your human mind should be sufficiently scrambled and we can begin.
If you are thinking that I am going to give some trite work dealing with how foolish human beings are, and how they are unworthy of The Kingdom of Heaven, save they worship this or that “deity”, you will be disappointed. What you are going to get is a simple work comparing why The Fool card is the first card in The Tarot to a line from Christian philosophy. That being the line from the character of Jesus stating “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Growing up in various Fundamentalist churches, a false meaning of the statement “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” was forced upon me. A meaning for this statement which was blatantly manipulative. Repeatedly in services, Sunday school, revivals, and camp meetings this statement was used as a threat that Jesus was coming soon so we must make ourselves ready by asking for forgiveness of whatever sin we committed. Our primary sin seemed to be that of being born at all. Repeatedly we were told that simply because we were human that we were worthless, while on the other hand being told that God loved us so much he gave his only son to save us from all of this sins we were destined to commit because we were human. As I grew older I came to whole the belief that Fundamentalist Christianity is made up of complete idiots.
Please, before you make judgments, read on.
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At this point you may wonder why I would even consider a statement from a religious work that those complete idiots tout as being the inherent word of God. The reason I consider this particular passage is because it actually speaks to a more complex principle about the nature of reality. I have also come to peace with the fact that the cryptic and esoteric truths that were being transmitted via The Christian myths are of some value to the world. I love Star Trek and liked Star Wars, however, why should I hate those works if some took them for reality and began to force whatever ethos they gleaned from those works of fiction or modern myths upon the world?
Once we get past notions of a historical divine Jesus, and begin to examine the teachings of the early Christianity and it’s predecessors, we can begin to understand statements such as “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Since much of early Christianity was Gnostic in nature the teaching was about the nature of reality. Gnostics viewed nature as fallen and corrupt. They viewed our material reality as being vile. They were also a bunch of idiots. However, these idiots were unto something. That being that reality is not as concrete as we believe it to be. This is where the statement of “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” gets intriguing. It is a statement about changing one’s focus to live in a different reality than the one they are presently in. It is saying that if you want to be in Heaven or Paradise choose to be in that reality. Simply choose to be in a different state of being. Will it. Enter it.
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What does all of this have to do with The Fool card in The Tarot? If you look at The Fool card you will see a fool basically getting ready to step off a cliff into an abyss. It is the first card in The Tarot because it is giving a warning and teaching a basic truth about the nature of reality. The warning is that you do not need to make this journey of trials and tribulations. The truth is that inside everyone is the spark of the divine if we choose to accept it and focus on that reality. The Fool buys into the distortion that life should be about hardships and trials. The Fool takes this journey and imposes vile thoughts on reality instead of accepting the joy and beauty that is The Kingdom of Heaven. Fools create hell on Earth in hopes of treasures in Heaven. The Fools will never see Heaven because Fools do not realize that Heaven is all around us. Heaven is all of the beauty and bliss that does exist in the Material Universe. Fools are the ones who create all of the horror in the world by insisting that we all must join them in their Fool’s journey of trials and tribulations to earn a place in Heaven or to gain the knowledge of the divine, a knowledge that we already have inside of us. Everything that exist carries this divine spark within it.
Are you going to be a Fool who continues to impose vile thought patterns into reality or will you choose to enter Paradise and help in the continued creation of Heaven here on Earth? Are you going to continue to preach that humans are unworthy, scum that needs to be cleaned, begging for forgiveness of our souls, or are you going to elicit change in the way we think about ourselves? Now resume thinking about how big infinity is and how long eternity is.
Interesting. I’ve always found the symbolism of the Tarot facinating (especially the Rider-White set, beautiful cards those) but I hadn’t thought of the Fool as a representataion of organised religion before.
We only need to distance ourselves awhile in order to see reality from afar. In either case some of our kind are swallowing more than they could chew that a case of indigestion could get them thinking exalted prophecies. Bible prophecies are true but later ones appears to be props.
Nicely written!
Mark – you are so mistaken about the value God places on the life of a human being. If that is the message you received in church, I am so sorry for your loss. God loves you so much that He would rather die that see you follow Satan into the hell that was prepared for Satan and the angels who joined him in rebellion against God.
The Kingdom of Heaven starts here on Earth as soon as you choose to join it.
Karen, I am not mistaken. I do not believe in the Christian God nor Satan. I believe the stories in The Bible are myths like any other and not meant to be taken literally.
Your last comment is interesting. “I am not mistaken” and “stories in the Bible are myths”? How would know that? Either you are a “god” to now everything, and hence your conclusion or a fool to suggest that as human you know everything.
The kingdom of God is not about suffering but it make it easier to endure suffering because it is never in vain. You seem so angry and you use hard words to describe those whose faith you disagree with. How does that make you different from the Christians you are lashing out at?
It seems to me like you are trying so hard to justify not believing in the scripture. I wonder why this is so? I am sorry that you had a bad experience of Christianty but that is man’s doing not God’s doing.
Of course we all have a choice on what to believe, but have you given yourself the chance to understand the truth? I will quote form the same scriptures that you refute “the fool says in his heart that there is no God” Psalm 14:1.
Mark, thank you from the bottom of my heart.You have put into words the knowledge that I have from the center of my being. It feels good to see someone who is not brain washed with religion. I love you, and you can tell B I said so.
This is to wanjiku, and anyone else.
It is mostly fundamentalists I have a problem with – those who take things too literally.
It has been proven that the Bible was not written at a time of most accounts, but were written MUCH later – and transcribed even later.. and edited even later – rewritten many times.. re-edited
the original was NOT even written in verse form. many stories were tossed out by Constantine when he compiled the Bible.
most religious scholars (spelling?) now agree the account of Jesus was probably not based on one person alone. Most religions have there own story with the same details – only the name and birth place/date are changed. As such it is doubtful the Jesus story in itself is true when MANY other stories of the same “virgin birth” predate it.
Also wanjiku,
I haven’t said “that there is no God” I simply said fundamentalist Christians and others of that ilk have it all wrong. Scriptures and ancient texts can only take a person so far until they become tangled up in them as a fool jumping off the cliff. All one has to do to prove that fundamentalist christianity is a fraud is to look at fundamentlist christians, read those old scriptures and see if they are being followed to the tee? see if what is being asked of the believer is something that is of value or loving? If you believe the Bible is the inherent word of God then you make many judgements on many people and are calling God a Schizo, that has anger and jealousy issues. IE not divine.
People calling themselves Christians who are trying to live a Christian Ethos based on those myths are a different story. Those people are okay. It’s the fundies running trying to impose one way on being on the world through spreading negative thought patterns. IE not divine.
Fundamentalist Christians do not own God, the being, the word, or the concept. Stop assuming that you do.
Rudy thanks,
Mark Brown what do you believe in? Yes, I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God so to you I am a fool. I can live with that.
I do not make judgements on anybody based on my believe because everyone has a choice on what to believe. It is called free will which even God did not interfere with at the garden of Eden when it came to Adam and Eve. Oops, I forgot you don’t believe on that myth!
You are sure that you know the truth hence your condemning the fundamental christians whom you disagree with. What’s the difference? What makes you better than them when it comes to knowing the truth?
I believe that the word of God is supreme and each of us may interpret it differently. I don’t try to live my life according to religious dogma, but I , through the help of the Holy spirit, live a righteous life before God. Do I claim to be perfect, absolutely not and no ne of can ever make that claim.
God remains God, whom my people call, “Ngai, or Mwathani”, or in Swahili “Mungu”, I reverence Him and worship Him through Jesus Christ.
to wanjiku
Suppose you lost your keys, and looked in your pants pocket for them, then you know they are NOT in your pants pocket, but this does not mean you now know where they are. I was raised in a Fundamental Christian background so much so I know it is not 100% true, that does not mean I have found the truth, it only means I know where it does not lay.
An interesting article… I wonder if you’d enjoy my poem ‘God’…
http://authspot.com/poetry/god-45/
Mark, you think that because you are familiar with the Scriptures that you know what Christianity is about. I will also quote from the book that you think of as myth \”For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God\”
You do not understand because you are among those who are perishing. But you know, I am sure, that God does not wish for any to perish, and it is not yet too late for you.
I recall that you commented once that the only Christians that you respect are those who do not consider the Bible to be the authoritative word of God. I would contend that those people are not Christians, even if they base some of their beliefs on some of the teachings of the Bible. There is no fence sitting option – you are either for God or against Him, and Jesus is the only way to the Father.
Karen,
Christianity means so many things to so many people. North American Evangelical Christianity is nothing more that Americanism, even if you will north of the border. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the original. Catholism is basically Roman Emporer worship extended to the present day. Things I refer to come from the Gnostics, The original Christians, not the filtered stuff that is being spread around in the mainstream fundie churches today that is so far removed from the source it is laughable. Words have exact meanings even if some modern day “pastors” choose to teach they mean something different based on bais. “at hand” means one thing and one thing only. It was a story told to tell a “truth” and the character used as a vehicle has been deified to continue the succession of Roman Emporer worship than further obscured by Protestants who have no understanding of the original texts. Start living because if there is a Heaven those who avoided living waiting for the afterlife won’t get it. We are here to live, not wait for death.