Hierophant Wisdom Reading

Hierophant Wisdom Question:  What time-worn, clichéd truism should we take a closer look at?

Let’s get right to the clichés!

 

9-Hermit-Fluorite on the Ace of Disks.  Love of money is the root of all evil.  A hermit withdraws from normal, everyday concerns for a spiritual purpose.  That includes worries about material things and work for income to get hold of material things.  He not only avoids worry and claims on his time, he also avoids the temptation to value possessions over more important things, like people, learning and spiritual pursuits, and even his/her own health.  We householders walk a narrower line:  We have to get and have enough to live on and to provide for our families without letting the getting and spending take over our lives.  Yes, in our minds we know that money is just a means to an end, but a sense of security is oh so seductive!  And some of us go even further, to a taste for (dare we say love of?) status symbols, luxury, and all the rest.  And then who is really in charge, the person or the money?  A deep root of evil indeed!

10-Wheel-Botswana Agate.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  We always hear about how things are so different these days, and how everything is changing so fast, but, as I get older, I’m more and more struck with the fact that human nature is human nature.  Our circumstances change, but our responses to them stay in a pretty narrow rut throughout our lives, and throughout the range of humanity.  It takes a strong will and great energy to break out of “the way we’ve always done it.”  We just need to figure out which new circumstances require the old tried and true, and which need a whole new approach!

4-Emperor-Carnelian.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.  I’m glad the Emperor is here again, because I so wanted to use this cliché in the previous post, but I couldn’t work it in!  I’m one of those poor innocents who is always shocked when I see examples of people doing anything, and I mean anything, to get some power, and, most of all, to keep whatever power they have.  Sometimes when watching the news, or reading history, for that matter, I get the feeling that the concepts of public service and personal integrity are just sad jokes perpetrated on the gullible.  Buddhism’s three poisons can be updated for the 21st century to be greed, lust for power, and an unlimited power for self-deception.  (Actually, these are the three poisons--craving, hatred, and ignorance!)

Well, we took a closer look!  I’m sure everyone knows these things, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that the well-known truth doesn’t cease being true!