Thoughts on (one of the) Greatest Lies Ever Told
#4
There is a quote along the lines of “the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” (1)
In the introduction to Rachel Pollack’s book, “78 Degrees of Wisdom - A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness”(2), she alludes to a similar one; and I’m paraphrasing:
The greatest lie organized religion ever told is that you are a separate from spirit and divinity.
According to Pollack, one school of thought suggests the cards may be based on Jewish mysticism also known as the Kabbalah, because for example there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the letters are connected to the Tree of Life paths, each with symbolic meanings, and the tarot contains 22 cards in the major arcana. It posits that the cards were developed to share those mystical “secrets” independent of religious dogma, so that everyone might have direct access to them.
Various churches and organized religions have been acting as society’s moral compass and dictating what is right and wrong for centuries. It’s no wonder, then, that they decry any means that might threaten their grip on power over people, that takes them out as the middlemen, that might encourage people to think for themselves.
But defending existing power structures is not just a stain on supposedly spiritual institutions, we see it in business, too.
In 1911, around the same time as the first RWS deck came out, Frederick Taylor published his book, “The Principles of Scientific Management.” Basically, he decided that the problem with humanity was a lack of efficiency. He devised a system where (rich white educated) managers would be in charge, and everyone else’s jobs would be stripped of meaning or complexity, effectively reducing workers to easily replaceable cogs in a machine. The focus turned to “a fair day's pay for a fair day's work”, creating competition among colleagues, raising expectations as soon as goals were met, and centering money as a motivational tool.(3)
Although managerial practices today have seemingly stepped away from Taylorism, the essentials are still in place: a few with wealth or status give orders from the top, while the majority struggle to keep up and make a living.
As a society, then, it’s no surprise that many people feel unfulfilled, disillusioned, and unhappy. We feel disconnected from higher purpose and ourselves, and we’re exhausted from trying to keep up with late-stage capitalism. Stress has become the bane of our existence, causing a plethora of physical and mental health issues including inflammation and cancer, anxiety and depression.(3) Paradoxically, many of us still first turn for refuge, help, and support to the very structures, systems, and institutions that undermine us in the first place.
The truth is, what is making us feel unfulfilled, disillusioned, and unhappy, is that because being human, deep down, “we sense that our true nature is something stronger, freer, with great wisdom and power.“ (Pollack).
How can we unlock our true-nature wisdom and power?
Religious dogma tries to sell it to us, just like the many marketers peddling consumerism as self-care. They trick us into believing we can only release our true natures through them. This may work for a while, but they don’t really have the key.
There is research on so-called “collective illusions”(4) that shows our personal thoughts and priorities are actually very different from what we think the majority of others want - and yet we often play along those assumptions, because we’re wired for connection and belonging, and our brains literally try to stop us from going against the grain. For example,
“Half of Americans’ top-ten priorities for success are about a meaningful life, including being able to do work that has a positive impact on other people, enjoying their work, being enjoyable to be around, having a purpose in life, and being actively involved in their community. In contrast, being rich is ranked in the bottom third of all priorities (45 of 61). However, Americans believe that most other people would rank being rich as the single most important priority of all.”
Source: https://populace.org/research
Eventually, then, once we’ve exhausted all external options without finding lasting relief, some of us realize, the key to wisdom and power must be inside ourselves.
Psychodynamic exploration, therapy, and yes, Tarot are all potential keys, which (again) is probably why organized religion, and others who profit from your staying small and unaware, are working so hard to discredit them. Making out as if mental issues are your own fault, shaming generations out of seeking help, ironically throttling productivity and effectiveness in their businesses with rising numbers of absenteeism, sick leave, quiet and actual quitting.(5)
Although the cards started out as a tool for divination and fortunetelling, today, they are more understood to be a tool for self awareness. As Jung said, it is about making the unconscious, conscious.
By interpreting the symbolism in each card we gain access to things we already know, we gain the language to describe things that are already happening, and we also unlock insights we have so far not been aware of.
In decks like the Rider-Waite-Smith, all cards are full of with scenes with colorful depictions of personal and interpersonal situations. The design is rich also in Christian, Pagan, and Egyptian symbolism, offering every seeker and reader diverse avenues for interpretation and making sense of the cards in the context of the readers question. Because the Tarot has been conceptualized and designed in a way that the pictures carry “deep significance all by themselves, the patterns they form and readings can teach us a great deal about ourselves and life in general.” (Pollack)
We’re all connected
While the sciences are still trying to better explain human experience by separating mind and body and spirit, the first card of the Major Arcana, The Fool already shows us that everything is integrated and one. They are assigned the number zero, often depicted as either a dot or a circle. They are young, colorful person, combining, male and female aspects, expressing innocence and freedom, a leap into the unknown material world down from the conscious higher planes. They’re jumping into pure experience without expectations or limitations, even expressing sexuality without fear. This can be read as a reflection of our Soul, and the following 21 Major Arcana cards spell out the archetypal journeys we all embark on.
Maybe reality will fall short of The Fool’s imagination, maybe there’s no actual, specific great piece of inner wisdom to reach, beyond the realization that awareness of each moment is all there is.
Still, The Fool presents an invitation to wake up to our potential, start questioning where we might be under the spell of collective illusions, and how we can voice our actual personal opinions to counterweigh those assumptions.
Who knows, maybe we’ll even start feeling more connected as a people, because we realize the majority isn’t that different from us, and that we might, in fact, be all one, with direct access to universal blessings.
References:
(1) Source: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/03/20/devil/
(2) Pollack, R. (1980). 78 Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness. Weiser Books; Third Edition, Revised (March 1, 2019) https://amzn.to/3UxpwxT
(3) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Principles_of_Scientific_Management
(4) Rose, T. (2022). Collective Illusions - Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions. Hachette Go; Reprint edition (February 7, 2023) https://amzn.to/3UPn5rS
(5) Ramírez-Vielma, R. et. al., (2023). Interventions to reduce the stigma of mental health at work: a narrative review. Psicologia, reflexao e critica : revista semestral do Departamento de Psicologia da UFRGS, 36(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-023-00255-1
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