INTENSITY KNIGHT OF FIRE: MASTERY OF ACTION
INNER VOICE MAJOR ARCANA II	SCHIZOPHRENIA 2 OF CLOUDS	BEYOND ILLUSION MAJOR ARCANA XX
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MIND PAGE OF CLOUDS: MASTERY OF MIND   REVERSE

INTENSITY

The figure in this card has taken on the shape of an arrow, moving with the singel-pointed focus of one who knows precisely where he is going. He is moving so fast that he has become almost pure energy. But his intesity should not be mistaken for the manic energy that makes people drive thier cars at top speed to get from point A to poin B. That kind of intensity belongs to the horizontal world of space and time. The intesity represented by the Knight of Fire belongs to the vertical world of the present moment - a recognition that now is the only moment there is, and here is the only space.
When you act with the intensity of the Knight of Fire it is likely to create ripples in the waters around you. Some will feel uplifted and refreshed by your presence, others may feel threatend or annoyed. But the opinions of other matter little; nothing can hold you back right now.


ZEN SAYS: Think of all the great words and great teachings as your deadly enemy. Avoid them, because you have to find your own source.
You have not to be a follower, an imitator. You have to be an original individual; you have to find your innermost core on your own, with no guide, no guiding scriptures. It is a dark night, but with the intense fire of inquiry you are bound to come to the sunrise. Everybody who has burned with intense inquiry has found the sunrise. Others only believe. Those who believe are not religious, they are simply avoiding the great adventure of religion by believing

INNER VOICE

The Inner Voice speaks not in words but in the wordless language of the heart. It is like an oracle who only speaks the truth. If it had a face, it would be like the face at the center of this card - alert, watchful, and able to accept both the dark and the light, symbolized by the two hands holding the crystal. The crystal itself represents the clarity that comes from transcending all dualities. The Inner Voice can also be playful, as it dives deep into the emotions and emerges again to soar towards the sky, like two dolphins dancing in the waters of life. It is connected with the cosmos, through the crescent-moon crown, and the earth, as represented by the green leaves on the figure's kimono.
There are times in our lives when too many voices seem to be pulling us this way and that. Our very confusion in such situations is a reminder to seek silence and centering within. Only then are we able to hear our truth.


If you have found your truth within yourself there is nothing more in this whole existence to find. Truth is functioning through you. When you open your eyes, it is truth opening his eyes. When you close your eyes, it is truth who is closing its eyes.
This is a tremendous meditation. If you can simply understand the device, you don't have to do anything; whatever you are doing is being done by truth. You are walking, it is truth; you are sleeping, it is truth resting; you are speaking, it is truth speaking; you are silent, it is truth that is silent.
This is one of the most simple mediation techniques. Slowly, slowly everything settles by this simple formula, and then there is no need for the technique.
When you are cured, you throw away the meditation, you throw away the medicine. Then you live as truth - alive, radiant, contented, blissful, a song unto yourself. Your whole life becomes a prayer without any words, or better to say a prayerfulness a grace, a beauty which does not belong to our mundane world, a ray of light coming from the beyond into the darkness of our world.

SCHIZOPHRENIA

The person on this card brings a new twist to the old idea of 'getting suck between a rock and a hard place'! But we are in precisely this sort of situation when we get stuck in the indecisive and dualistic aspect of the mind. Should I let my arms go and fall head-first, or let my legs go and fall feet-first? Should I go here or there? Should I say yes or no? And whatever decision we make, we will always wonder if we should have decided the other way.
The only way out of this dilemma is, unfortunately, is to let go of both at once. You can't work your way out of this one by solving it, making lists of pros and cons, or in any way working it out with your mind. Better to follow your heart, if you can find it. If you can't find it, just jump - you heart will start beating so fast there will be no mistake about where it is!


Man is split. Schizophrenia is a normal condition of man - at least now. It may not have been so in the primitive world, but centuries of conditioning, civilization, culture and religion have made man a crowd - divided, split, contradictory ... But because this split is against his nature, deep down somewhere hidden the unity still survives. Because the soul of man is one, all the conditionings at the most destroy the periphery of the man. But the center remains untouched - that's how man continues to live. But his life has become a hell. The whole effort of Zen is how to drop this schizophrenia, how to drop this split personality, how to drop the divided mind of man, how to become undivided, integrated, centered, crystallized.
The way you are, you cannot say that you are. You don't have a being. You are a marketplace - Many voices. If you want to say 'yes', immediately the 'no' is there. You cannot even utter a simple word 'yes' with totality ... In this way happiness is not possible; unhappiness is a natural consequence of a split personality.

BEYOND ILLUSION

The butterfly in this card represents the outer, that which is constantly moving and that whish is not real but an illusion. Behind the butterfly is the face of consciousness, looking inward to that which is eternal. the space between the two eyes has opened, revealing the lotus of spiritual unfoldment and the rising sun of awareness. Through the rising of the inner sun, meditation is born.
The card reminds us not to look outside for what is real, but to look within. When we focus on externals, we too often get caught up in judgments - this is good, this is bad, I want this, I don't want that. These judgements keep us trapped in our illusions, our sleepiness, our old habits and patterns. Drop your opinionated mind, and move inside. there, you can relax into your own deepest truth, where the difference between dreams and reality is already known.


This is the only distinction between the dream and the real: reality allows you to doubt, and the dream does not allow you doubt ...
To me, the capacity to doubt is one of the greatest blessings to humanity. The religions have been enemies because they have been cutting the very roots of doubt, and there is a reason why they have been doing that: because they want people to believe in certain illusions that they have been preaching ... Why have the people like Gautam Buddha been so insistent that the whole existence - except your witnessing self, except you awareness - is just ephemeral, made of the same stuff as dreams are made of? They are not saying that these trees are not there. they are not saying that these pillars are not there. Don't misunderstand because of the word 'illusion' ... It has been translated as illusion, but illusion is not the right word. Illusion does not exist. Reality exists. Maya is just in between - it almost exists. as far as day-to-day activities are concerned, it can be taken as reality. Only in the ultimate sense, from the peak of you illumination, it becomes unreal, illusory.

MIND

This is what happens when we forget that the mind is meant to be a servant, and start to allow it to run our lives. The head is filled with mechanisms, the mouth is ranting and raving, and the whole surrounding atmosphere is being polluted by this factory of arguments and opinions. "But wait," you say. "The mind is what makes us human, it's the source of all progress, all great truths." If you believe that, try an experiment: go into your room, shut the door, turn on a tape recorder, and give yourself total permission to say whatever is 'on your mind'. If you really allow it to all come out without any censorship or editing, you'll be amazed at the amount of rubbish that comes spewing forth.
The Page of Clouds is telling you that somebody, somewhere, is stuck in 'a head trip'. Take a look and make sure it isn't you.


This is the situation of your head: I see cycle-handles and pedals and strange things that you have gathered from everywhere. Such a small head ... and no space to live in! And that rubbish goes on moving in your head; your head goes on spinning and weaving - it keeps you occupied. Just think what kind of thoughts go on inside your mind.
One day just sit, close your doors, and write down for half an hour whatsoever is passing in your mind, and you will understand what I mean and you will be surprised what goes on inside your mind. It remains in the background, it is constantly there, it surrounds you like a cloud. With this cloud you cannot know reality; you cannot attain to spiritual perception. This cloud has to be dropped. And it is just with your decision to drop it that it will disappear. You are clinging to it - the cloud is not interested in you, remember it.