I have been fascinated by the concept of the fool and the Fool for most of my life.  I was born on April 1, 1949 – April Fool’s Day.  I have a blog, which I use for posting these missives, called, Another Fool for Christ https://anotherfoolforchrist.blogspot.com/.  This is based on the bible passage from 1 Cor 4:10, “We are fools for the sake of Christ.”  One interesting factoid regarding the day of my birth is that Newfoundland was supposed to enter confederation on that very day.  However, Joey Smallwood, who would be the first premier of the new province and the latest Father of Confederation, decided to change the day to March 31, 1949, to prevent the province from becoming a perpetual April Fool’s joke.  So, as a result the province of Newfoundland is one day older than I, and being the very mature age of 73, I qualify for both aspects of the expression, there’s no fool like an old fool being old and I hope, a Fool.

Now, you might be asking yourself, why am I writing this today rather than on or close to my birthday as it would be a good subject for an April Fool’s News and Views?  Well, perhaps I am doing it today because it is a foolish thing to do and not wait until next April thereby giving credence to my qualification as an old fool.  However, I have decided to delve into this foolishness because I have just finished reading a book given to me by a friend on the subject of the capital F Fool, To Play the Fool, by Laurie R. King.  The book is a murder mystery but it explores the concept of the Fool archetype.  Coincidentally, I have also finished rereading The Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore which also delves a  bit into the concept of the Fool.

The Fool appears in many guises throughout history from the Trickster in the Tarot which has the number zero and appears in spaces vacated by the other cards, to the fool in the king’s court who speaks the truth to the king or ruler and reminds them that they are fallible humans.  Here are some quotes from To Play the Fool which give a taste of this complex, counter intuitive character:

The Fool seeks to save his community by appearing to threaten it.  The essential ministry of a Fool is to undermine beliefs, to seek doubts, to shock people into seeing truth.

The Holy Fool speaks a language of symbols and of Divinity… They (children) believe in the possibility of magic, the reality of Saints, and would not be surprised at the existence of miracles.  The Fool is their representative, their mediator, their friend.

Foolishness is a hazardous business, and not only to one’s mind and spirit. After all, one of the Fools main activities is to make a fool out of others, to throw doubt on cherished wisdoms and accept behaviours: in other word, to shock.

Christianity is, by its nature, more akin to folly than it is to the Pope’s massive corporation.  The central dictate of the Christian doctrine is humility, imitation of Christ’s ultimate self-humbling.

As you see from these quotes, the concept of the Fool is not an easy one to grasp and hold onto.  It is like trying to contain water in a sieve or getting a reflection of yourself in a pool of rippling water – it keeps changing.  However, it is one I believe is important to keep in our awareness (consciousness) and reflect on when we react to things which annoy us, or push our buttons.  Let me close with a quote from Care of the Soul:

The path of soul is also the path of the fool, the one without pretense of self-knowledge or individuation or certainly perfection…You will have the spiritual radiance of the holy fool who has dared to live life as it presents itself and to unfold personality with its heavy yet creative dose of imperfection.

May you be blessed to embrace your inner Fool on your journey.  

I acknowledge that we are on Turtle Island, the original homelands of the many Indigenous Nations who have lived since time immemorial in Canada or as many First and other Indigenous Nations All of the lands in Canada are the subject of up to one hundred Treaties signed by the Crown in the right of Canada with these Nations.