The Fool

Redeeming An Overlooked Archetype

In popular culture, being called a fool is an insult. Fools are not taken seriously and are often ostracized. Being foolish means to waste time on non-productive aims. In literature, fools like don Quixote are lampooned for ‘chasing at windmills.’ They misunderstand and are easily tricked.

But I argue that we dismiss the power and importance of the fool at our peril.

One can be a fool intellectually, buying into quaint notions of romanticism or stringent ethics. Fools often go against the grain, speaking up and out about government, business, when the mood of the society doesn’t reward such speech. A fool can be a culture’s bulwark against a slide into corruption or hedonism. Fools often see a problem coming before it manifests fully.

In a King’s Court in the Dark Ages in Europe, the fool was an important character. He provided entertainment for the court, often at his expense. Though he may have been tormented, he was granted the special privilege of challenging the King’s decrees and behaviors via his mockery. Since he was viewed as a simpleton, he was tacitly granted this quarter.

Mythologically and esoterically, the fool is an archetype with greater depth than our modern understanding would indicate. Often mentioned with the overlapping trickster archetype, the fool may help us see where we’ve been too serious, too certain, and too stuffy. The fool shows us where we have been blinded by our arrogance. When we reconnect with our humility and our purpose, we can look back in gratitude for our comeuppance.

The Fool is innocent, playful and childlike. Modern adults, often institutionalized by work, suppress these characteristics.

I have always wanted to write a treatise on this character and this short essay can’t do such an intriguing subject justice. My purpose today is to challenge my readers to reconsider the value and the meaning when a fool shows up in their day. Perhaps someone teases you, beguiles you. Maybe you feel like a fool for believing someone. We can chide ourselves for being a fool. We can believe in the ideals of our nation when others have capitulated to corruption. We can act with moral clarity when others are self-serving. We can honor our spiritual beliefs when challenging times come. We can feel fooled in love or friendship and feel exposed. Our instincts may be to shut down, to harden and to ‘Do as the Romans Do.’ But our foolishness is no curse. And to retreat from our child-like innocence means betraying our truth.

Perhaps greater discernment is in order, but being the fool means to try, to extend ourselves and to stay open. A fool believes and trusts and plays. A fool maintains his innocence while others choose cynicism and group think.

To be a called a fool in a culture that is sick and dying is an honor. A fool is steadfast and self-soothing. And often, a fool is doubted until his prognostications come true, and then he is lauded. If someone calls you a fool, thank them. Discernment means seeing ourselves and our true nature. Be willing to be wrong, to try and lose and to fail. This practice shows you who you are and what you want. This information is a blessing. The fool is here to help us individuate and rediscover ourselves: our meaning, our purpose, our essence and our value. The fool is the archetypal counterbalance to cynicism. Cynicism is the death of community, of spirituality, of trust, of faith and the social contract. Cynicism is a slow decline into soul-death. The fool is the antidote.