Post by Nakor on Apr 12, 2010 2:57:34 GMT -5
Okay, this post is going to hurt a bit to think about. I'm going to try to pin down a few things first so that everyone knows exactly where I'm coming from. So for starters:
Why mention atheism?
Because this post is going to be about tarot from the perspective of someone who does not believe in the existence of magic, god(s), or the supernatural. If you believe in magic or the supernatural and relate the cards to those, then this thread might be of interest, but mainly it's intended as a point of interest for fellow atheists (or really anyone who doubts there is a supernatural aspect of the cards) to debate the value of tarot in a world that we believe to be absent of magic or the supernatural.
Try not to be too confused about how I'm going to fit tarot into that world yet... I need to lay a little more groundwork first.
What is, and what is not, intuition?
Tarot readers have tonnes of differing opinions on tarot, how they are best used, what decks are best, when it's okay to use them, what it takes to use them, and so forth. There are two things that in my experience tarotists tend to agree on. One is that everyone has their own method, and that everyone should use whatever works for them. The other is that it takes a great level of intuition to use the tarot. So what is 'intuition'?
Mirriam-Webster defines intuition thus:
1 : quick and ready insight
2 a : immediate apprehension or cognition b : knowledge or conviction gained by intuition c : the power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference
It's 2c that people often attribute to spirituality of some sort, but that's a bit of a misinterpretation of what intuition actually means. Intuition is coming to an answer without apparent thought on the matter -- not with no thought at all. If I were to show you the problem 3+7, you would probably think of the answer as 10 right away. You did not have to count 3 out, and then count 7 more out to get to it, because you've probably seen a lot of simple math in your time, and you simply know it by now. That is the most basic form of intuition -- knowing something from experience without having to actually think through it -- and doesn't require the supernatural to explain.
Now, basic or not, that level of intuition is vital, or we'd never be able to solve high level problems because we'd be too slow working through the simple stuff, but it's still not the most important aspect of intuition. There are many problems in our lives that do not have a simple answer like that. For example, there's the problem "I need a job, but where should I put out resumes." Or, "where did I forget my keys?!" Sometimes you think about these and get nowhere. And then you see or hear something that triggers a memory or a new, original thought and you have an answer that seems to come from nowhere. This subconscious process of the brain is intuition.
The religious may make the argument that intuition is related to a spirit or soul or some such; frankly I think there is enough evidence otherwise. Regardless, for the purposes of this thread, since I am attempting to argue a potential value to tarot absent any supernatural influence, I will define intuition as subconscious processes of the brain that result in sudden cognition without apparent conscious thought.
In short, intuition is when something suddenly 'clicks' in your mind. You overcome a hurdle and finally get it, whatever it is at the time.
What tarot isn't good for.
As is clear to anyone following my comments on the astrology thread, I think very little of divination. I would love if magic existed in our world (seriously I would), but it does not. So why am I bringing up tarot all of a sudden? Well, let me first start off by explaining what I don't think it's good for.
- It won't predict the future.
- It won't tell you things you have no way of knowing.
- It won't help you read minds.
- It won't help you contact spirits.
- In fact, it won't help you with anything that you were incapable of doing or knowing on your own.
Tarot cards are pretty pictures on cardboard backing. There is nothing magical about them.
Then what the heck good are they?
Remember earlier when I said that intuition could often be triggered by noticing something, a certain thought or sight or even something someone mentions? Well, tarot serves as inspiration. It's something that won't work for everyone, and certainly won't work the same for everyone, and won't work every time for someone who finds it useful. But when you're stuck in a rut thinking something over and you need to think outside the box, a little inspiration can help.
Personally, I don't use the cards that often. Most of the time when I do use them, it's actually to help me come up with ideas for fictional stories I'm writing -- a task for which I find them incredibly useful. But I have on occasion pulled them out when I had a real-world conundrum to think through, and laid out spreads to gather my thoughts and see if the patterns of the cards made me think of any ideas I hadn't already thought of myself. They serve as a handy form of inspiration when you're stumped on something in life and need an outside-the-box idea. Sometimes any sort of spark will get the brain plugging away like you were hoping.
Alternatives to tarot range from reading a book to going for a walk. Anything that might trigger inspiration that helps you get over the stumbling block you're working on can serve quite effectively for helping you find the answer to whatever one of life's problems you're stuck on. But I find that tarot is rather well built to the task. It has an ordered fashion that's designed with 'life's problems' sort of problems in mind. Even if a spread happens to be totally wrong from an observation perspective or even if a deck has cards that are vague and could fit to any circumstance and always seem right, when combined with what you know about your situation or problem, it can sometimes trigger a thought that helps you reach an answer.
So in what one might call a bit of 'weird atheism', I assert that tarot, if used with reason and not expected to provide magical results, can have benefits even if there is no true spiritual or magical effect to it at all. Specifically it can help to inspire thoughts one may not have come up with absent the inspiration, provided one's intuition is strong enough and suited to the sort of inspiration tarot provides. Even if it is nothing but pretty pictures on cardboard, the ability to inspire thoughts and stimulate intuition in the mind of the reader can allow us to come up with answers that we hadn't previously thought of or considered by forcing us to think outside the box.
Also, it's really good for writing fiction. It's blown me through writer's block on many occasions.
Thoughts?
Why mention atheism?
Because this post is going to be about tarot from the perspective of someone who does not believe in the existence of magic, god(s), or the supernatural. If you believe in magic or the supernatural and relate the cards to those, then this thread might be of interest, but mainly it's intended as a point of interest for fellow atheists (or really anyone who doubts there is a supernatural aspect of the cards) to debate the value of tarot in a world that we believe to be absent of magic or the supernatural.
Try not to be too confused about how I'm going to fit tarot into that world yet... I need to lay a little more groundwork first.
What is, and what is not, intuition?
Tarot readers have tonnes of differing opinions on tarot, how they are best used, what decks are best, when it's okay to use them, what it takes to use them, and so forth. There are two things that in my experience tarotists tend to agree on. One is that everyone has their own method, and that everyone should use whatever works for them. The other is that it takes a great level of intuition to use the tarot. So what is 'intuition'?
Mirriam-Webster defines intuition thus:
1 : quick and ready insight
2 a : immediate apprehension or cognition b : knowledge or conviction gained by intuition c : the power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference
It's 2c that people often attribute to spirituality of some sort, but that's a bit of a misinterpretation of what intuition actually means. Intuition is coming to an answer without apparent thought on the matter -- not with no thought at all. If I were to show you the problem 3+7, you would probably think of the answer as 10 right away. You did not have to count 3 out, and then count 7 more out to get to it, because you've probably seen a lot of simple math in your time, and you simply know it by now. That is the most basic form of intuition -- knowing something from experience without having to actually think through it -- and doesn't require the supernatural to explain.
Now, basic or not, that level of intuition is vital, or we'd never be able to solve high level problems because we'd be too slow working through the simple stuff, but it's still not the most important aspect of intuition. There are many problems in our lives that do not have a simple answer like that. For example, there's the problem "I need a job, but where should I put out resumes." Or, "where did I forget my keys?!" Sometimes you think about these and get nowhere. And then you see or hear something that triggers a memory or a new, original thought and you have an answer that seems to come from nowhere. This subconscious process of the brain is intuition.
The religious may make the argument that intuition is related to a spirit or soul or some such; frankly I think there is enough evidence otherwise. Regardless, for the purposes of this thread, since I am attempting to argue a potential value to tarot absent any supernatural influence, I will define intuition as subconscious processes of the brain that result in sudden cognition without apparent conscious thought.
In short, intuition is when something suddenly 'clicks' in your mind. You overcome a hurdle and finally get it, whatever it is at the time.
What tarot isn't good for.
As is clear to anyone following my comments on the astrology thread, I think very little of divination. I would love if magic existed in our world (seriously I would), but it does not. So why am I bringing up tarot all of a sudden? Well, let me first start off by explaining what I don't think it's good for.
- It won't predict the future.
- It won't tell you things you have no way of knowing.
- It won't help you read minds.
- It won't help you contact spirits.
- In fact, it won't help you with anything that you were incapable of doing or knowing on your own.
Tarot cards are pretty pictures on cardboard backing. There is nothing magical about them.
Then what the heck good are they?
Remember earlier when I said that intuition could often be triggered by noticing something, a certain thought or sight or even something someone mentions? Well, tarot serves as inspiration. It's something that won't work for everyone, and certainly won't work the same for everyone, and won't work every time for someone who finds it useful. But when you're stuck in a rut thinking something over and you need to think outside the box, a little inspiration can help.
Personally, I don't use the cards that often. Most of the time when I do use them, it's actually to help me come up with ideas for fictional stories I'm writing -- a task for which I find them incredibly useful. But I have on occasion pulled them out when I had a real-world conundrum to think through, and laid out spreads to gather my thoughts and see if the patterns of the cards made me think of any ideas I hadn't already thought of myself. They serve as a handy form of inspiration when you're stumped on something in life and need an outside-the-box idea. Sometimes any sort of spark will get the brain plugging away like you were hoping.
Alternatives to tarot range from reading a book to going for a walk. Anything that might trigger inspiration that helps you get over the stumbling block you're working on can serve quite effectively for helping you find the answer to whatever one of life's problems you're stuck on. But I find that tarot is rather well built to the task. It has an ordered fashion that's designed with 'life's problems' sort of problems in mind. Even if a spread happens to be totally wrong from an observation perspective or even if a deck has cards that are vague and could fit to any circumstance and always seem right, when combined with what you know about your situation or problem, it can sometimes trigger a thought that helps you reach an answer.
So in what one might call a bit of 'weird atheism', I assert that tarot, if used with reason and not expected to provide magical results, can have benefits even if there is no true spiritual or magical effect to it at all. Specifically it can help to inspire thoughts one may not have come up with absent the inspiration, provided one's intuition is strong enough and suited to the sort of inspiration tarot provides. Even if it is nothing but pretty pictures on cardboard, the ability to inspire thoughts and stimulate intuition in the mind of the reader can allow us to come up with answers that we hadn't previously thought of or considered by forcing us to think outside the box.
Also, it's really good for writing fiction. It's blown me through writer's block on many occasions.
Thoughts?
