There's philosophy; full of its ideals, values and theories of the world in which we live, or at least suppose we live. Then there's the Tarot; chock full of Archetypes and big picture 'stuff'. Seems like a match made in ...
So the challenge I'm setting myself is to work through the major arcana starting with (I) The Magician. I'm skipping The Fool, for now, because it is unnumbered (zero is just a placeholder between positive and negative numbers and it doesn't count anything. But, let's not fall down that rabbit hole). Don't worry though, The Fool will be back.
I The Magician
Chosen Card: Ghosts and Spirits Tarot by Lisa Hunt
Archetype: The Magician "is the skilled and cunning master of all he surveys. He represents an individual in control of life's tools and techniques" (Kenner, 2009).
Keywords: I'm not suggesting these are the meanings of the card, they are just a few keywords that have stuck with me. Willpower, Concentration, Manifestation, Alchemy, Power, Creation.
The number 1: A start, an initiation, the first step.
Musing: Selecting a matching philosopher really didn't take that long. I was looking for a philosopher with the concentration and pure willpower to tear down all of reality and then re-manifest, re-create, through an act of mental alchemy, to take all that could be doubted and take a first step in rebuilding a world of surety and certainty.
Have I given it away? The Magician of Philosophy is
I René Descartes (1596–1650)
In his 'Meditations', Descartes tore down everything of which he could not be certain. Knowledge, memories, perceptions, all fell to Cartesian doubt*.
How can the senses be trusted? How can you be certain you are currently awake? "There exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can ever be distinguished from sleep" (Descartes). The base premise of the Matrix is based on Cartesian doubt "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?" (Morpheus from The Matrix)
Descartes also questions how we can trust our own memories? Could these not be forced upon us by an evil genius? Likewise, how do we know that maths or any of our thoughts hold true? Perhaps, "Some evil genius not less powerful than deceitful, has employed his whole energies in deceiving me; I shall consider that the heavens, the earth, colours, figures, sound, and all other external things are nought but the illusions and dreams of which this genius has availed himself in order to lay traps for my credulity; I shall consider myself as having no hands, no eyes, no flesh, no blood, nor any senses, yet falsely believing myself to possess all these things; I shall remain obstinately attached to this idea, and if by this means it is not in my power to arrive at the knowledge of any truth, I may at least do what is in my power and with firm purpose avoid giving credence to any false thing, or being imposed upon by this arch deceiver, however powerful and deceptive he may be.” (Descartes). This premise was examined in the movie Dark City in which an alien race controls everything that individuals "remember" and can change those memories, and thereby what an individual believes to be facts, at will. "I know this is gonna sound crazy, but what if we never knew each other before now... and everything you remember, and everything that I'm supposed to remember, never really happened, someone just wants us to think it did?" (John Murdock from Dark City)
But, like a true alchemist magician, Descartes found bedrock. A belief that could not be shaken. A certainty from which everything else could be built
Cogito ergo sum
Descartes argued that there could be no doubt in the statement "I think therefore I am". An absolute surety from which he could rebuild the world. There is a lot more to Descartes' argument and a good summary can be found at Sparknotes.
It is not the success of the Meditations but Descartes' methods that are of specific interest here.
I The Magician Philosopher
The Magician Philosopher (Archetype) is, as Kenner notes, the "master of all he surveys", but here this mastery takes the form of an ability to doubt everything. However, and of utmost importance, this doubt is not negative it is simply the first necessary step in the Magician Philosopher's mental alchemy. It is only through doubt that the process of building a truth, free from the biases that flood our senses and memories, can be initiated.
The first step in (this) Philosopher Journey through the Tarot is to tear down everything which lacks certainty. To begin without bias or preconception and take the very first step in building (XXI) The World.
In the next Blog entry we'll muse the next step, as represented by II The High Priestess.
I hope you will be back.
Dr.T
Notes:
* Named after Descartes "Cartesian doubt is methodological. It uses doubt as a route to certain knowledge by identifying what can't be doubted. The fallibility of sense data in particular is a subject of Cartesian doubt." - Wikipedia
References:
Portrait of Descartes From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Dark City (1998), Directed by Alex Proyas.
The Matrix (1999), Directed by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski.
Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy, 2nd Edition, Translated and Edited by John Cottingham, Cambridge Texts In The History Of Philosophy
Hunt, Lisa (2012), Ghosts and Spirits tarot, US Games Systems Inc.
Kenner, Connie (2009), Tarot Archetypes of the Major Arcana, https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/1951
Commentaires