Surviving the lies we tell ourselves

We tend to think that we read cards, art, or visual texts in general because of inspiration. We like to imagine what it’s like to open up to alternative worlds of being and doing things. But often we just read cards because we like to try an emotion we haven’t tired lately or before, or one that we don’t want to acknowledge we have.

But when the cards are mean, they tell us something about the mythology of authenticity, identity, and uniqueness. That is to say, the cards can tell us that whether we acknowledge an emotion or not, the emotion is there such as it is, existing also independently of what we make of it; like the feeling of being let down, or the feeling of futility. No matter what effort we make and how much we can wait for the good things to happen, the cards can still give us a blasted tower. They can also tell us that the devil crowns our efforts to naught. We can apologize for creating a conflict, take a raft down the river of memory and then drink from the cup of reconciliation. And then what? So what?

The hardest emotion to deal with is connected with this question, so what, as this question has a way of slapping us hard in our most so-called authentic expression. Life is not about what is boring what is not, but rather about how we survive the lies we tell ourselves.

Cards: David Sheridan Tarot, 1972.

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Emotions and the art of busting them

Two books of mine that deal specifically we emotions and constructed feelings are What is Not and Tarot for Romeo and Juliet, each making their own loud and quiet statement.