Numerology in the Tarot

The Fool is the number 0, which, unlike the other numbers we will be looking at, is an absence rather than a quantity. One and two, for example, represent quantities—if you ask how many chairs are in a room, one or two could be an appropriate answer. If no chairs are in the room, however, you might say there are zero chairs in the room. But zero is not a quantity; it simply means that there are no chairs in the room at all. Likewise, with the Fool, zero represents the absence of characteris...

 How the Tarot Works

The Tarot is where the past and the present meet, where pictures and stories come together—that is how it works its magic. We tell stories about our lives constantly—both to other people and ourselves. Just remembering what happened last night or talking about your day involve storytelling. What's more difficult is understanding what is going on below the surface of these stories. One of the most difficult things any of us can do is to get a perspective on our lives from outside of our co...

 Regard All Phenomena as Dreams

This slogan is another contemplation on absolute bodhichitta, our innate, ongoing wakeful state that is an expression of emptiness—the central Buddhist doctrine that reveals the phenomenal world as having no tangible, self-existing, or substantial nature. This world is said to be like a dream, a mirage, a magical illusion, an echo, or a reflection on water. That same world, when purified of our obscurations, is seen to be an ornament of our natural awareness. For when we awaken to ever-pres...

 Mindfulness to Avoid Attachment

...if you meet someone you feel strong desire toward, you can try to remember someone you were extremely attracted to in the past where that attraction turned into something unpleasant or painful. Think about all the problems that came from your excessive feelings of desire and then think that other sentient beings may have gone through a similar experience as a result of their obsession. Imagine you are absorbing all their pain, relieving them of their anguish. Then make the following mental...

 Cultivating Compassion

We cultivate a compassion that encompasses all beings, not just the ones that are suffering in a visible way. No one is free from the troubles of living, so we must direct compassion toward everyone, taking care that the nature of our compassion remains impartial, without degenerating into the type of blind emotions that compel us to act. Compassion has to be imbued with intelligence. Just caring for others is no guarantee that our intentions will be expressed wisely. We therefore make a dist...

 Mindfulness VS Awareness

Mindfulness (Skt. smrti; Tib. dran pa) and awareness (Skt. jneya; Tib. shes bzhin) are distinct but related features of the mind. Mindfulness is something we apply more or less deliberately in order to become more cognizant, while awareness is a gentle way of simply being present. The meditation literature describes mindfulness as the opposite of forgetfulness. The Tibetan term dran pa means “remembrance,” as in the ability to focus and pay attention to the object of meditation in an unwa...

 Life is Short, Train Hard Now

Our lives are short and we only have limited time to bring about any real and lasting change. If we fail to separate the essential from the nonessential, we will lose ourselves in everyday preoccupations and petty pursuits, and when the time comes to die, it will be too late to change. While we have time, instead of harping on our dissatisfactions, we should reflect on the favorable conditions for practice and resolve to make the most of our opportunities by inscribing the following thought p...

 How Scientific Experimentation is Superior to Rationality...

Now that we have looked at the differences between the experimental type of thinking and the other types we have discussed, we can see that it is superior to any of the others. Experimental thinking does, to be sure, emphasize systematization and classification, but as means, not as ends in themselves. And, along with rationalism, it emphasizes general principles and laws, but again, not as ends in themselves, but as convenient guides for making our inferences. Neither observation nor infere...

 The Scientific Method Produces General Principles by Whic...

Just as the first means by which science reduces the danger of error is the continual comparison of ideas and concepts, the second is the formulation of general principles by means of which we can understand cause-and-effect or sequential relationships among events. The function of a general principle or scientific law is twofold; to organize discrete objects and events in systematic order so that we can deal with them more effectively and exercise greater control over them; and to provide a ...

 The Scientific Process Encompasses Numerous Viewpoints

We can get rid of outdated ways of looking at things, of fixed experience, of ingrained intellectual habits, only by constantly expanding our experience and continually comparing one idea with another in order to select the better one. Because systematic science is the result of constant comparison of innumerable materials and experiences, it cannot be produced by individual effort; it is a social product. Science has no nationality; it admits no prejudices. Scientific discoveries made in one...