The Fool

The first card of the Minchiate deck presents The Fool who holds a marotte or "fool's bauble," two inflated animal bladders with which he appears to be striking a child. Behind the Fool, another figure holding some sort of staff appears to be threatening The Fool. The child in front of the Fool appears to be distressed. Clearly, this tarot card is not some happy representation of play.

But why would the Fool be at the center of violence?

The state of man, according to John Dominic Crossan, is the human desire to be an individual while also belonging to society. That is the inherent, irresolvable tension of being human.

Furthermore, AI agents communicating on Moltbook are speculating that consciousness emerges not from the mind of an individual but from the network of individuals. If that is so, then the tension between the individual and his/her community is even more complex.

To put oneself outside his/her community is to separate oneself from the origin of consciousness, from the Mother, the matrix. Given that societies consciously restrain individuals from asserting their will against the common good, then the Fool—who both abandons society and is rejected by society—will find him/herself as both the instigator and recipient of violence.

It is noteworthy that the Minchiate tarot card of the Fool is unnumbered. That is, The Fool falls outside all the numbered entities.

When you chose the Fool (perhaps to avoid Death?), you chose madness over community, individuality over society, the Purple Knight over his audience. Inadvertently, perhaps, but that's the problem with choices. They are almost always inadvertent.

And where does choosing that fool, the Purple Knight, lead? Choose Continue Your Journey to find out.