I
have been fascinated by the concept of the fool and the Fool for most of my
life. I was born on April 1, 1949 – April Fool’s Day. I have this blog, which I use for posting these missives, called, Another Fool for
Christ.
This is based on the bible passage from 1 Cor 4:10, “We are fools for the sake
of Christ.” One interesting factoid regarding the day of my birth is that
Newfoundland was supposed to enter confederation on that very day.
However, Joey Smallwood, who would be the first premier of the new
province and the latest Father of Confederation, decided to change the day to
March 31, 1949, to prevent the province from becoming a perpetual April Fool’s
joke. So, as a result the province of Newfoundland is one day older than
I, and being the very mature age of 73, I qualify for both aspects of the
expression, there’s no fool like an old fool being old and I hope, a Fool.
Now, you might be asking
yourself, why am I writing this today rather than on or close to my birthday as
it would be a good subject for an April Fool’s News and Views? Well,
perhaps I am doing it today because it is a foolish thing to do and not wait
until next April thereby giving credence to my qualification as an old
fool. However, I have decided to delve into this foolishness because I
have just finished reading a book given to me by a friend on the subject of the
capital F Fool, To Play the Fool, by Laurie R. King. The
book is a murder mystery but it explores the concept of the Fool
archetype. Coincidentally, I have also finished rereading The
Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore which also delves a bit into the
concept of the Fool.
The Fool appears in many
guises throughout history from the Trickster in the Tarot which has the number
zero and appears in spaces vacated by the other cards, to the fool in the
king’s court who speaks the truth to the king or ruler and reminds them that
they are fallible humans. Here are some quotes from To Play
the Fool which give a taste of this complex, counter intuitive
character:
The Fool seeks to save his
community by appearing to threaten it. The essential ministry of a
Fool is to undermine beliefs, to seek doubts, to shock people into seeing truth.
The Holy Fool speaks a
language of symbols and of Divinity… They (children) believe in the possibility
of magic, the reality of Saints, and would not be surprised at the existence of
miracles. The Fool is their representative, their mediator, their friend.
Foolishness is a hazardous
business, and not only to one’s mind and spirit. After all, one of the Fools
main activities is to make a fool out of others, to throw doubt on cherished
wisdoms and accept behaviours: in other word, to shock.
Christianity is, by its
nature, more akin to folly than it is to the Pope’s massive
corporation. The central dictate of the Christian doctrine is
humility, imitation of Christ’s ultimate self-humbling.
As you see from these
quotes, the concept of the Fool is not an easy one to grasp and hold
onto. It is like trying to contain water in a sieve or getting a
reflection of yourself in a pool of rippling water – it keeps changing.
However, it is one I believe is important to keep in our awareness (consciousness)
and reflect on when we react to things which annoy us, or push our
buttons. Let me close with a quote from Care of the Soul:
The path of soul is also
the path of the fool, the one without pretense of self-knowledge or
individuation or certainly perfection…You will have the spiritual radiance of
the holy fool who has dared to live life as it presents itself and to unfold
personality with its heavy yet creative dose of imperfection.
May you be blessed to
embrace your inner Fool on your journey.
I acknowledge that we are on Turtle Island, the original
homelands of the many Indigenous Nations who have lived since time immemorial
in Canada or as many First and other Indigenous Nations
All of the lands in Canada are the subject of up to one hundred Treaties signed
by the Crown in the right of Canada with these Nations.
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