Asking About Life
Here's a little story from my life that happened recently. I had an
incident where I lost my temper at someone at work who was goading me.
Losing my temper is a rare thing for me. And when I was discussing it
with a friend they asked me if it had felt good at the time. And I had
not felt anything like that. And then they told me my moral values were
too strict...
And it got me thinking that yes there are some moral values that we need
to agree on as a society, eg crimes and things that can really hurt
others. But when it comes to the more subtle ones, that affect only us
for the most part, I've always felt that that is something we need to
decide for ourselves. To me, its about who and what you want to be in
the world. And no one can tell you what your personal values should be.
All this got me thinking about the moral values that we do choose for
ourselves, the ones about if you don't have to feel badly for hurting
someone if they hurt you first (or if it is still wrong), the ones that
dictate who we are inside and how we react to others around us in subtle
ways
So I thought I would stop and ask Tarot a couple of questions on that
this month, since it is on my mind. I will be using the Victorian
Romantic Tarot here, by Alex Ukolov and Karen Mahony. .....as you can
see, a very beautiful deck.
I asked:
1) What is it important to know when deciding on our personal moral
values as they relate to who we are and how we choose to feel and react
to others?
Card 1: 2 of Cups
Well this looks like a good place to start this answer. The 2 of Cups is
about the feelings between two people. It's about the interaction
between two people and in fact the 2 of Cups is the love card of the
deck and it about love itself.
What this says in relation to the question is that, well, we don't
live in a vacuum. What we do affects the others around us. The values
we choose will have an effect in the world around us and in the lives of
the people around us. So in effect, it's more than who we want to be as
individuals, it's about who we want to be in the relationships in our
lives and in our daily interactions with others,. It's more than about
the kind of person we want to be inside. It's also about who we are on
the :the ":outside":, who we are to the people and the world outside of
ourselves.
And as the image shows it's about how the way we choose to be touches
others and how that will lead them to touch us. And the latter is a
consideration too. As some ways of being will touch people in one way
and inspire them to act in one way towards us, and other ways of being
in the world will touch people in different ways and cause them to treat
us in different ways. So this advice of this card is about looking at
the big picture
And all the beautiful natural greenery in the image says, for one, that
it is about following what feels and is natural to you. And also what
will help things grow in your life in the way that you want then to. And
yes since this is the love card, it's about what leads to happiness and
optimism in you and in others around you, rather than the reverse.
Card 2: Ace of Pentacles (reversed)
The Pentacles, for me. are about our goals. And about how to best
achieve those goals. Its about your goals of who you want to be in this
world and how to best be that person. And a reversed Ace is about
fairness, equality, being impartial. taking all the aspects of the
situation into consideration, and yes your morals and ethics as well.
All this says that it is about thinking what is fair to all concerned.
Empathy, and imagining how you would feel in their position and how you
would want to be treated if you were. it's about thinking about how this
all effects who you want to be and how you want to be that in the world
around you.
This image,to me, says right now that it is about creating values for
yourself that you feel proud of and can openly share with the world.
Values that come from the heart of you and that you are so sure
represent you as you want to be in the world so that there is nothing to
hide.
Its about rising above what holds you back and feeling free to be the
you you are meant to be in this world. I am getting here that if you set
strong goals that come from a strong sense of who you actually are
inside, who you want to be, then your life will work with you to create
what you want in the best way, even sometimes by sending things you had
not expected or planned on.
2) What is it important to know about the role our personal values play
in our lives and how they affect what we do and are in the world around
us?
Card 1: Page of Swords (reversed)
This is a card from the suit of Swords, and Swords are about our
thoughts and our way of thinking. A reversed Page, for me, is about
something new happening to us that we have little or no experience with.
So the first part of this answer is that one important thing is that our
values affect how we react to new ways of thinking we come face to face
with. And what we do with coming face to face with a new way of
thinking about something can have a big effect on our lives.
What do we do when faced with someone who views a situation in a totally
different way from us? Who thinks very differently to us? Are we open
to it, or do we refuse to seriously consider points of view that differ
greatly from our own?
The way we react to this can change our lives in one way or
another. How open we are to trying to understand the other's viewpoint
and to see it from their eyes can make a real difference on our lives as
well as in theirs.. if we try we may learn something that could change
or improve our lives. If we are so sure that our way is the only way
that makes sense to us and don't try to see things through the other's
point of view,, we could lose the chance to learn something that may
benefit us. How good a listener we are and what the role of listening
is, are parts of the values we decide on. Listening can be not just
about hearing the words, but about trying to really understand and see
clearly what the other is saying.
Card 2: Knight of Pentacles (reversed)
This is another card from the suit of Pentacles, which is about our
goals and how to achieve them. A reversed Knight, the way I read, is
about the best possible experience of a situation possible, things
working out for the absolute best,. the best imaginable outcome.
This card is saying that it is our personal values that help us to
achieve our goals in the best possible way for us. And, in fact, it is
our values that tell us what the best way for us to achieve our goals
actually is. For example we may have a value that tells us that it is
very worthwhile to work hard and be patient when working on your goals
and that the results will be all the more gratifying for it. OR we may
want and value instant results. And that could lead you to not put in a
much work in the long-term and not reach the same heights.
To me, this is an image of a knight in shining armor and a bride. So
this hints that that our values affect our romantic relationships, and
how permanent they are. Whether people prefer one night stands or deep
long term relationships and why,. also stems from the values they choose
for themselves. And even the very nature of what romantic relationships
mean to you....stems from values you decided from in many ways. As well
as the level of respect you give to your partner (or unfortunately in
some cases choose not to give).
Card 3: 10 of Wands
This is a Wands card, about what we can and do create of our lives.And
it is a 10, about creating the most that we can with and from our lives.
To me, this image looks like one of hardship.. There is this woman
carrying a heavy load walking on rocky hard ground and looking none to
happy about it. ....more heavy loads on her back, like she just feels
like life is against her and wishes it would get off her back and leave
her alone.
This is NOT truth, but just a "value" or life belief that she has chosen
for herself. We have the choice in life what values we choose in this
area, and how we choose to view these things. There are values we each
personally choose for ourselves.
WE have that choice, We can choose to believe that life is against
us and we are carrying a heavy load and things will always be hard
because that is how things are. OR we can choose to believe that life is
working with us, that it is always on our side and that things only
happen that are ultimately in our best interests. And look forward to
each day in joy. In my experience, either becomes somewhat of a
self-fulfilling prophesy., Whatever we believe life to be, either way of
anything in between, we will see examples in our lives to validate any
viewpoint we choose. Our beliefs Things are funny that way, but
whatever we believe we look for. And when we look for examples any one
things and focus on that, we find them (and ignore examples to the
contrary that do not fit into our currently held beliefs and views).
How we view life, what we expect it to be, and how we expect it to
treat us are values we each personally choose. But you can imagine
which way of viewing things is most likely to let you achieve your
heights and deepest goals, the most that you can, and to be the most
that you can be. If you chose to believe that life is working beside you
to help you achieve what you most want to (and if you do you will see
examples of this if you look) you may well be likely to try a lot harder
and be less likely to give up then if you choose to tell yourself that
life is against you. And that will allow you to reach greater heights in
your life.
