I just have to blab how I've come across select parts of Paulo Coelho's The Pilgrimage which my older sister left here at home & kung kelan pa nabasa sa ulan saka ko lang binasa. This was the first entry that I chanced upon reading when I picked it up & opened it:
"Pity those who reduce the cosmos to an explanation, God to a magic potion, & humanity to beings with basic needs that must be satisfied, because they never hear the music of the spheres. But have even more pity on those who have blind faith, & who in their laboratories transform mercury into gold, & those who are surrounded by their books about the secrets of the TAROT & the power of pyramids. Neither of these kinds of people know thy law that says, 'Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.'"
Wow, ahahaha, PUTANGINANG YAN. I'll post everything else under Personal Vices later. For now...
"But today you are going to confront a different type of enemy, an unreal enemy that may destroy you or may turn out to be your best friend: DEATH.
"Human beings are the only ones in nature who are aware that they will die. For that reason & only for that reason, I have profound respect for the human race, & I believe that its future is much going to be better than its present. Even knowing that their days are numbered & that everything will end when they least expect it, people make of their lives a battle that is worthy of a being with eternal life. What people regard as vanity — leaving great works, having children, acting in such a way as to prevent one's name from being forgotten — I regard as the highest expression of human dignity.
"Still being fragile creatures, humans always try to hide from themselves the certainty that they will die. They do not see that it is death itself that motivates them to do the best things in their lives. They are afraid to step into the dark, afraid of the unknown, & their only way of conquering that fear is to ignore the fact that their days are numbered. They do not see that with an awareness of death, they would be able to be even more daring, to go much further in their daily conquests, because then they would have nothing to lose — for death is inevitable.
"Death is our constant companion, & it is death that gives each person's life its true meaning. But in order to see the real face of death, we first have to know all of the anxieties & terrors that the simple mention of its name is able to evoke in any human being."
Oo nga, tama, let's die until we live.
If you think I was just going to accept the first excerpt easily without any countervalidation, here's something from the same book to justify my soothsaying trip:
"On the road of our lives, we always run into problems that are hard to solve — like, for example, passing through a waterfall without letting it make us fall. So you have to allow the Creative Imagination do its work. In your case, the waterfall was a life-&-death situation, & there wasn't time to consider its options; agape showed you the only way.
"But there are problems in our lives that require us to choose between one way or another. Everyday problems, like a business decision, the breakup of a relationship, a social obligation. Each of these small decisions we have to make, throughout our lives, might represent a choice between life & death. When you leave the house in the morning on your way to work, you might choose one means of transportation that will drop you off safe & sound or another that is going to crash & kill its passengers. This is a radical example of how a simple decision may affect us for the rest of our lives.
"The only way to make the right decision is to KNOW WHAT THE WRONG DECISION IS. You have to examine the other path, without fear & without being morbid, & then decide."
That, my folks, is what I think tarot reading is all about — just a guide, pretty much like those Choose Your Adventure books I was into in high school, only better, as it consists the elements of our own lives in the depicted story through the cards lain out at the moment. Our future isn't fixed or desperately fated — we have the power to change it, while taking our present conditions & past experiences into consideration. I may be able to time certain events or pinpoint suggested colors to watch out for or to wear, hehe, but I do not make my querents believe that whatever happens to them is out of their control, & they ought to beware of those who say that their fates are sealed. Karma does exist, yes, but we should be held responsible for our actions. & while the goddamn universe may not seem to conspire with events to give us our hearts' desire, we have to move on with our lives, not missing out on anything if ever possible. The trick is to go with the flow, not against it, so it is taught. Like what Cloud Strife declared in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, there is nothing that is not important. That's pretty relative, though, but it's up to you to figure that out — what is important or useless, anyway. For me, my soothsaying is staunchly vital to me, & nothing (& nobody) will ever stand in my way.
Hmm, kung ako kaya ang magpakamatay, sino ang sisisihin nyo?
