The Choice

[Shin'Ar]

"The Choice" is not between this or that, us or them, black or white, good or bad, right or wrong, STS or STO, or any other dualistic construction. The Choice is whether to consciously grow beyond that dualistic scaffolding which is provided for by nature. This is why Ra advised the card be placed at the end of the sequence, rather than the beginning.

I submit: The 21 Archetypes of the Tarot represent those forces of nature which unconsciously shape our experience. Like waves crashing upon the shore, they are swift, they are powerful, and they are relentless. But they are also distortions, and thus "not in any case necessary."

Even the most pig-headed, doltish, closed-hearted "Fool" will evolve to some small degree during the course of an incarnation, based upon the deterministic effects of the archetypes upon their consciousness. There is no such thing as devolution, or even standing still. In this, there is no Choice; there is no true "free will" as one may only "choose" from a pre-programmed set of experiences, as in a role-playing game. Within the rules of the game, one may choose to go chop wood, or sell potions, or fight dragons, or heal their comrades in battle. But one may not seek new forms of life, or invent their own magic spells, or become a dragon and burn down a whole village, or slay their own comrades in battle. The choice is limited to whatever the programmers decided to write into the code, and in the end, it is all just a bunch of zeroes and ones electronically encoded on a memory device. (You didn't really think it made you "better than" another player by choosing to be a Druid Healer over a Dread Mage, did you? )

If one goes to the ice cream store, and is presented with two options- chocolate or vanilla- is there really a Choice? What if one would prefer strawberry? Or to invent a new flavor altogether? And is it really all that impressive of an accomplishment if one decides ahead of time that they will always take the vanilla option over the chocolate? That sounds to me like taking what little choice there was in the matter, and reducing it down to zero. Is that really the point of incarnation? To become utterly predictable in one's behavior?

INTERPRETATION: In order to acquire Choice, one must look beyond the outer appearances of duality (sun and moon), and take up the burden of one's own balancing, thus freeing oneself from the need to incarnate within an archetypal field generated by a Logos.

(HINT: Why is this man and the world in which he lives, moves, and has his being, depicted as being inside a picture frame?)

Because if the card didn't have any edges it wouldn't fit on the table top?

I'll have to pass on the last question TN.

But with regard to your comparing duality to choosing between ice cream flavors I am probably going to get in trouble with the mods again because I am supposed to try to keep my thoughts on this in that one thread they had me start called eyes of a stranger in life on planet earth. If you want to get further into it we do it there.

but in brief and I hope they allow this, i think there is a problem with how you interpret duality as being a choice.

I see duality as the natural state of the universe and unaffected by our choices. You are right that the burden of balance is on our shoulders which is exactly what the picture represents.

I am a little confused by your suggestion that having only black and white to choose from somehow decreases the glory of creation. I might be wrong but it seems as though you are implying that there is no right or wrong choice, and then in the same breath pointing out that choice involves much more than simply picking one of two options.

There just seems to be a little confusion on your grounding. Can you elaborate a little further?

I am curious about your definition of duality, and then how that constitutes the basis of your thoughts on choice.