Message #12840 - Metaphysical (Magicknet) Date : 28-Oct-90 12:09 From : The Bard To : All Subject : The Holy Fool Part Two ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:6f65 155c6132 HOLY FOOL: part tooth Banks Island: Clat Micronesia: Nareau England: Puck, Black Jack Davy Christianity: "Doubting" Thomas, and The Christ Himself, in many ways....and Judas, too. 20th Cent. North American: Bugs Bunny, The Joker, Mr. Mxyzpltk, Murphy, ("And Pooh is a -good- example, too!" said Eeyore) Neo-Paganism: Discordians 18th thru 20th Cent. Appalachian: Jack (from British Isles) 18th and 19th Cent. N.A. Black: Br'er Rabbit, Long John, &c. German: Tyl Eulenspiegel Italy: Harlequin (check out Agatha Christie's stories about "Harley Quinn." VERY interesting!) Islamic: Juha, Abu Nawwas, Mullah Nasruddin, Nasreddin Khoja, Nasreddin Hodja Japanese: Fox, Hotei, and the whole concept of Zen...... And the many, many instances of the Hero figure and his Friend in most people's mythology....Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Robin Hood and Little John, the Mythic Hollywood Western Hero and his ridiculous sidekick, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.....and many times you see the recurrent theme of the Great Betrayal of the Hero, which leads to His death...and to His Resurrection! One immediately sees that the Fool is a universal constant in folk belief, just as the Goddess and God are! (NB: I have not gotten more specific for two reasons: one, for limitations of space, and two, to encourage others to do a little reading on their own!) As most things, the Fool is Personified in three basic Aspects that (of course) overlap with each other and with the God and Goddess. The first is that of the Saviour God, the Prometheus, the Culture Hero, who brings Knowledge (and -occasionally- Wisdom) to Mankind. This Aspect loves Mankind with all His Being, and only wishes Good. His Good Intentions sometimes fall short of His (or Mankind's) expectations, however. The second is that of the Clown, the Nerd, the Jerk, that teaches by his own mistakes (and who usually comes out ahead because of His own Innocence.) This Aspect is mostly neutral, and is how He seems to mostly manifest Himself. But let us not forget the third, and darker, side of the Fool, best exemplified by Jack Nicholson's portrayal of The Joker in the film version of "Batman." Just as the Goddess has Her Dark side (the Crone, the Morrigan, &c) and the God has His (Odin as Death-God) so does the Fool have a terrifying Aspect (at least, from the human point of view): Chaos Personified. *more* --- * Origin: (Opus 1:114/29)