The Lovers (Notes on a Zen Tarot)

July 24, 2010

As metaphor (if you will) in the ancient system of Indian chakras, we humans wander through our days - some due east or due west, others in a sinuous trail to all the compass points - with a multiplicity of selves, meeting each event with मूलाधार survival instinct, स्वाधिष्ठान creative drive, मणिपूर reaching willpower, अनाहत passion and love, विशुद्ध communication and connection, आज्ञा wisdom, and सहस्रार relationship to the divine.

We meet people in the same way, and our most complete relationships will be those where each of those selves, or each of those energies, finds echo in the Other. A physical relationship can satisfy basic bodily desires and needs, but as those needs and desires come and go, a solely physical connection will likely not be enough to sustain a relationship. We can meet one another with sweetness and love, yet without the fire of desire or the height of a spiritual aim, again, the connection is partial, and difficult to maintain. Even the loftiest connections might ignore our earthly manifestation… and may continue in gentle contact for years, but perhaps not deepen and come to earth, or bring forth new life.

The ancient Indian scholars differed on theory. Some found that these chakras pre-existed as energy centers in the body, roughly akin to the principal points of the Chinese meridians, and more recently identifiable in western medicine as well. For them, each center was tangible and “visible”. Others thought that the energies in each chakra would naturally occur as we grow and mature, through subconscious and then conscious attention; but that they were not physical objects, like bones, rather energy fields that could be sparked and cultivated through practice and awareness. For those who favored the belief in a “subtle body”, the lower survival chakras, which dealt with reproduction and physical survival, were most engaged from an early, earthly age; while the other higher centers were helped though practices of giving, compassion, and spirit, similar to the Buddhist or Christian ethos’ of charity, which over the centuries have developed into religious or humanistic practices.

Whichever is the case, pre-existing or cultivated, these “selves” are evident. In relationship, we watch - even if we don’t know we are watching - for complementary and supplementary echoes, for harmonies, in those we meet. We are drawn to him or her physically; we love his kindnesses, her fire; we are lifted up by his art or her mind. Whatever attracts will be the impulse to connect, and our attention should then gently run to the other “selves”, to meet who might be waiting there. Where there is little response, a couple who is paying attention can choose to grow together, without judgement and with intention and compassion… like learning to dance: studying alone can be laden with all the needs and goals for meeting and capturing a love, while studying together it can be the most eye-opening adventure, and the sweetest discovery.

Here are explanatory notes for a recent version of the European Tarot, infused with a bit of Zen, beautifully written:

“These three things are to be taken note of: the lowest love is sex - it is physical - and the highest refinement of love is compassion. Sex is below love, compassion is above love; love is exactly in the middle.
“Very few people know what love is. Ninety-nine percent of people, unfortunately, think sexuality is love - it is not. Sexuality is very animal; it certainly has the potential of growing into love, but it is not actual love, only a potential…
“If you become aware and alert, meditative, than sex can be transformed into love. And if your meditativeness becomes total, absolute, love can be transformed into compassion. Sex is the seed, love is the flower, compassion is the fragrance.
“The Buddha has defined compassion as ’love plus meditation’. When your love is not just a desire for the other, when your love is not only a need, when your love is a sharing, when your love is not that of a beggar but an emperor, when your love is not asking for something in return but is ready only to give - to give for the sheer joy of giving - then add meditation to it and the pure fragrance is released. That is compassion; compassion is the highest phenomenon.”
~ Osho