Challenging the Inevitable: Morality, Awareness, and Integration

As we search out our own, individual paths in life there are certain inevitabilities. When we begin to think for ourselves, it is inevitable that we will be challenged.

Remember, this is a good thing, as it leads us to reconsider our stances and evolve our awareness into something more expansive, inclusive, and well thought out.

When it comes to using tarot cards as an archetypal mirror for my own and others' self-expression there are also inevitable reactions. One involves the "Oh what a fruity weirdo!" and "Where's your crystal ball?" reaction. The other bases itself on the unfortunate premise that the tarot is evil and somehow anti-god. I accept and actually embrace both of these, as I have had these reactions myself, and they remind me, as a mirror does, of my personal growth over these past 34 years.

The card above is Morality from the Osho deck. It warns us of the dichotomy of a rigid morality, one that works as restriction instead of expansion, and reacts with criticism instead of curiosity and a quest for knowledge.

We all grow up with a certain form of morality. It helps the young, developing mind delve into the meanings of right and wrong, and allows us a foundation for future decision making.

Morality is the consequence of our conditioning. This becomes vivid for those of us lucky enough to travel and spend time in a utterly, foreign culture. As we would not judge another culture's dress and traditional customs according to our 'upbringing,' so we must temper Morality with Awareness.

When Morality, applied to ourselves or others, hampers our ability to learn about other traditions and beliefs without simply seeing them as either sinful or virtuous, we lose our innate ability to experience the multi-faceted beauty of the world. Morality is seeing the world through a certain lens.

Awareness (the card below) is taking off the glasses, or 'shades,' that we wear and attempting to see the world through our own eyes.

Although this is not an easy quest, we each have to find our own truth in this world. We must each write and claim our own history. We must create a tradition of our own, one that suits us individually, and is based on a knowledge of and respect for our predecessors' attempts.

Unfortunately many people can only understand their truth only by pointing out what they do not agree with in another person's. This is not awareness. Awareness allows us to pull the veil of illusion from our eyes. Beneath it we see a buddha with the face of a child.

A friend of mine has been posting the incredible things that come out of his son's mouths. They are 'incredible' because children are blessed with an unbiased and curious awareness. They see things without the lens of dichotomy distoring their vision into the segmentation of either/or.

 

As we each strive for Awareness again, later in life, we find that we have become segmented. We have become divided into strange little boxes of good and bad, of work and life and home and all the bullshit and memory and experience in-between. It is then that we may sit with our Awareness and Integrate our experiences and knowledge with our understanding of truth.

Integration (the card directly above) symbolizes the perfect equilibrium of the "middle path" in Buddhist philosophy. It is the unification of everything that was once perceived as oppositional. It is a blossoming awareness that allows one to see that each half of the assumed dichotomy is not a division but is merely an expression of true wholeness. Through Integration we understand that shadow is only seen with light and that light is only seen with shadow. Integration allows us to move past the limitations of dichotomy and Morality, through our Awareness. Joseph Campbell's writings on religious traditions across cultures and times are excellent examples of integrative thought.

Integration played a huge part in my experience of the holiday season this year as I struggled with my annual alchemy of Jewish, Buddhist, Pagan, and Christian traditions. After reading posts and articles rife with conflict and negativity, like children fighting over presents under the tree, I found my own truth and my own tradition.

For me it was the simple realization that we all light our candles. We may give them different names but whether they are in a Menorah or an Advent wreath, whether they are arranged according the ancient Pagan customs or the newly renovated Kwanza traditions, we all light our candles. We all yearn for warmth, light, and the connectedness of family and community during those long December nights.

So how can you embrace your experience with Morality?

How do you find and exist within that place of lucid Awareness?

And how can you Integrate everything in this plenum-world with your own experience and come to the enlightenment of union over segmentation?

I exist as I am, that is enough,

If no other in the world be aware I sit content,

And if each and all be aware I sit content.

                                                  - Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"

The Osho Zen Tarot is based on the teachings of Osho and is published by St. Martin's Press. It's a great deck for your inner Buddhist. I find this deck is utterly amazing for looking deeper into our motivations and a great encouragement for wholeness in times of division.