The Watcher Listens.

Let's focus on the Watcher of Life. This aspect of ourselves does not look inward, although that is just as important, but rather observes the goings on around us. Most importantly, it involves the ability to listen. The primary prayer in Judaism, the Shema, addresses one’s faith and love of God and begins with the call for the community of Israel to listen to God. “Shema Israel" or "Hear O Israel.” In his article for Jewish Magazine, author Dan Brooks reminds us of this important detail when he states, “Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah, teaches us that not only are we shomrei adamah for tikkun olam, partners in the creation, healing, and transforming of the world, but that we continually re-create the world and can continually receive its wonders, wildness, and wisdom each moment. We can read and study the Written Law (Torah) and the Oral Law (Talmud), but we have to receive and listen to the Silent Law (kabbalah). If we are receptive to it, the Silent Torah teaches that a way of wisdom is listening to ourselves as well as others and that wisdom is a way to peace. The opposite of listening, Rabbi Arthur Waskow teaches, is arrogance.”

An arrogant person is one who is consumed with their self-importance and pompous around people they deem inferior and least likely to listen to. A biblical example of haughtiness provides “a pretext for sinners who think the blessed Holy One does not know their thoughts and fantasies. So their stupidity must be exposed.” - Zohar 1:10a. The divine directive to bring to light the irrational conduct and conceit of others, especially our leaders is mandated for all of us. When you recognize the distinction and understand the consequences, it is imperative to expose those decision-makers whose arrogant ways and bad judgments will harm far too many people. The time is Now.

However, we must right ourselves first. An engaged observer is one who listens and learns. Criticism coming from others is helpful if the emphasis is to constructively correct something that’s amiss and not to put someone down in order to feel good. That is a sickness. Listen and watch. Don’t get gaslighted or continually lied to by other people. Believe what's happening before your very eyes, and what you hear, not what powerful people want you to see and understand. Authoritarians get a foothold into your life and dictate your lifestyle when you do not trust yourself.

Of course, it is necessary to change if you’re “dead in the head” from a distorted point of view. Stubbornness is obviously a barrier to growth, while a sudden paradigmatic shift may begin the initial practice of the Spiritual Initiate, or Wisdom Seekers. There are many different paths ways to sagacity and there is always something new to learn, to read, to study along the way. It never seems to end. You want to be a person of action to get to where you need to go, to be a Somebody, but first you might have to be a Nobody to make sure your bearings are just right. To that end, it is imperative to take a few minutes off in your day-to-day doings and focus on what’s around you. Remember, to listen is a verb.

I am reminded of the tarot card, The Hanged Man, which is not about a crucifixion or a suicide. It is usually depicted by a fully dressed man hung from a tree upside-down by one leg. The other is crossed over it to make the shape of the number 4, which is symbolic for logic and the rational mind. Despite a particularly torturous position, the man appears relaxed. Certainly, he represents a master of self-deception, or, at best a spiritual initiate about to transform. Traditionally numbered 12 in the Suit of Trump, this card explicitly addresses the need to get a new perspective on life by breaking old patterns. Frankly, it demands a deeper, more meaningful way to look at and be in the world. The man’s head is pointed towards the earth, and Hell if you go further down. When this card is pulled in a reading its symbolism suggests a clueless, materialistic person or, at worse, a smart person who obtains things through thievery and fraud. This card demands the individual move away from the superficial, self indulgent or even criminal conduct, and set themselves right-side up. Now called to a higher purpose it is necessary they become more socially and spiritually productive, symbolized by the upright position where the crown of the head is directed towards the sky and heaven, the precise position for homo erectus and those physically capable.

In a traditional deck the Trumps are numbered 0-21, however I prefer the tarot’s association to the Hebrew alphabet that goes from 1-22. The 13th letter is Mem, which symbolizes water and the subconscious mind. The primordial state of Creation was “water intermingled with water”. See Tanhuma, Vayaqhel 6, an ancient midrash or commentary on the Torah. On the second day of creation these waters where separated and a distinction was created between the upper and lower. A distinction can give us perspective but it can also bring about divergences. Due to the potential for harmful conflict, and even evil when differences are taken to the extreme, on this 2nd day of creation the Torah does not say it was good. However, the phrase was stated twice on the third day when the dry land appeared to mediate the potential for dangerous disputes.

As you listen and watch the brilliance and also the stupidity of humanity it’s easy to get personal directions all mixed up. I've been there; situationally upside down, and feeling low, indeed. When one's self confidence is gone, it is hard to think rationally since anxiety is such a distortion-maker. The quest is for new patterns of behavior, and a new paradigm. Each person takes a different road on the journey of self discovery. Some people use affirmation, some get a hobby, some know how to put themselves in the way of luck or make their own, others pray and a few go shopping or change their hair color to hopefully transform their lives. How we see and hear the world translates into how we treat others, ourselves, and the earth. It may be a personal struggle as the road is not always paved and can get bumpy.

As Rudyard Kipling said, “Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right.”

Street Tarot