We do not have the possibility to escape being responsible
for ourselves. Sad, but true.
The question above cited, formulated in a nobler way,
would be the question until which point life in general follows an
authoritarian and autonomous mechanism, which is fatalistic of the point of
view of the individuals. Depending on that explanation or vision of our
existence, there are subsequently different concepts in relation to what we
call future.
There are the two extremes of idealism or materialism, and
in between there are hundreds of beliefs, philosophies, theories and also
desires. The idealism claims conscience as a base of the existence, of the
being. The materialism defines the conscience as an effect of the being.
There is no right or wrong in that, everything is to be
proven.
I personally think that life does not follow any theory of
any human being, but that all theories explain some parts and aspects of the
world, but never all of it. I believe that to understand life we in fact
will have to die. Anyway, while that is not the case, we will only have some
fascinating mosaic pieces, multicoloured and in part logical to play with
and to construct whatever we consider able to make our existence more
understandable and also easier.
So, to come back to the subject of the fatalistic future
or not, I decided to believe the following:
The difference between the past, the present and the
future is only in our perspective.
The past from our point of view seems to be static, fixed
and immovable.
The present is a great mystery that moves at highest speed
and that gets more mysterious the more we try to understand it.
The future then is the great vacuum, the all-that-could-be
and the what-never-will-be.
Future is the unknown potential of our lives, evolving
itself constantly. Being that, it is a dynamic form, in contrast of the
past.
The central question then would be of what, which sources,
the evolution of the future nourishes itself. I think that there are three
sources that make the great river of future:
- Our present acts, independent and individual, that we
decide to make consciously.
- Our personal Karma.
- Our collective Karma of which we are only a small part.
(I leave aside the planetary and cosmic Karma, that would
be the fourth and fifth source)
The third source is absolutely beyond our reach and the
more we would try, we would never achieve to change its route or its
quality. The power of this source in fact is fatalistic for us.
The second source of personal Karma being much stronger
than us, even though sometimes we manage to influence it. Difficult, but
possible.
The first one then, is the one that interests more,
because this we can really influence.
It is possible to see in the cards the actual force that
is behind certain future effects or currents.
The cards can tell us how and where our present will turn
into future.
So very rarely the forces in our life are ones of the
collective Karma. (If this is the case then we, as card readers, will have
to be psychologists in the way of telling the client, in the case of a
disagreeable future, of course.)
Normally the majority of the information concerning the
future which we obtain through the cards is a mixture of personal Karma and
the effects of the present acts. This is not fatalistic.
Trends, more or less strong, are shown, but mostly they
are not inevitable. Almost always we can (shall I say we could?) improve or
make worse what it is coming.
What we see normally in the cards is what will come to
existence if we continue being what and how we are. With this, wanting to
change our future, we will have to change ourselves.
Tarot cards do not live our life. Simply they can help us
to live it, give advice, hints, suggestions, warnings or affirmation; indeed
nothing less or more than a very good friend can do, who knows us better
than we ourselves do.
We have with the cards an open window to the panorama of
our lives.
Who wants to stay seated can do that, but he will never
know what it is like to be the main actor in his own film. Tarot, far of
being the script of our life, is much more the explanation of its symbols
and meanings.
And we can be good or bad actors.
But even the worse actor gets more than the spectator.
