A jester is a member of a profession that came into popularity in the Middle Ages. Jesters are always thought to have worn brightly colored clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern. Their hats were especially distinctive. Made of cloth, they were floppy with three points, each of which had a jingle bell at the end. The three points of the hat represent the donkey’s ears and tail worn by jesters in earlier times. 

The jester was a symbolic twin of the king. All jesters and fools in those days were thought of as special cases whom God had touched with a childlike madness; a gift, or perhaps a curse. Mentally handicapped people sometimes found employment by capering and behaving in an amusing way. In the harsh world of medieval Europe, people who might not be able to survive any other way thus found a social niche.

In societies where freedom of speech was not recognized as a right, the jester could speak frankly on controversial issues in a way in which anyone else would have been severely punished, and monarchs understood the usefulness of having such a person at their side. Still, even the jester was not entirely immune from punishment, and he needed to walk a thin line and exercise careful judgment in how far he might go, which required him to be far from a fool in the modern sense.

In Tarot, The Fool card represents the Spirit, God, and Absolute Being. The depiction includes a man juggling unconcernedly or otherwise distracted with a dog at his heels. This image represents a number of human conditions such as innocence, truth, confidence, freedom from earthly desires or passions but also perversity. Some versions of the dog on most interpretations of the card depict him biting at The Fool. The dog symbolizes the natural world, a path to knowledge and a valuable ally. The Fool is often shown walking off a cliff. This raises the question of whether The Fool is making a mistake or a leap of faith.

The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool’s wisdom and exuberance. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. 

I’ve started doing this thing where I imagine what people looked like when they were children. When I’m with a group of people and we are socializing, or any time I’m with someone I’m talking to, I try to see what they looked like when they were five years old. This seems to work for anyone at any age. It’s an interesting thing to do and reveals a lot about the person’s behavior and life.

Everyone has retains the same bone structure and patterning from when they were very young. It’s easy to think back to the time when they were a child and try to deduce the way they looked from long ago. In fact, it’s easy to imagine what they will look like in 20 years, or what their relatives looked like, or just about anything about what they’ve been through or what is about to happen to them.

What is most fascinating about this process is that I start to envision the behavior of the person as a five year old, and how they interacted with others during that time. It turns out to be not so different from the way they operate now in adult life. Most of the ways we learn to associate with others are gathered during childhood, and they don’t really change very much as we age.

It’s easy to think of these current situations as groups of children in a playground and how they might interact with one other. One person may require more attention than any of the others, and another one might need special attention. Some are on the verge of a tantrum and others are feeling a little hungry or tired. These adults operate the same way they did many years ago, including me!

But what really strikes me about this little game is how I am brought back to the state of innocence that resides within each one of us. Essentially, we are all perfect and beautiful children, as pure and complete as we were at the very beginning. No matter how hard we try to be responsible and dependable adults, we are always these little treasures, these wonderful little gifts from God.

And when we accept this as our role the universe, we are transported to a state of full potential and possibility. The innocence of us as children is the fundamental state from which all things have originated in our lives. When we realize this we can understand so much more about ourselves and everyone around us. We can take this concept into our lives and allow it to become the perfect beginning state of everything we do.

So, try it sometime! Maybe it won’t be the same for you, but it’s worth putting some effort into. It’s quite amusing at first, as the scenario shifts to become a little party of tiny toddlers. But what is really amazing is how a person’s face will change to that original state of innocence they were gifted with. A perfect state of existence that lives with us from long before we were born and forever after we are gone.