Trancing the Fool: Walking Into Hypnosis with a Beginner’s Mind

"In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind, there are few."

-Shunryū Suzuki

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It's easy to feel overwhelmed when first meeting a deck of tarot cards.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed when first encountering a new idea or new experience.

But - contrary to what you might think - that is something we want to emulate, not repress.

It's complicated to talk about tarot definitively, since it is such a subjective experience; however, there are a few things that we can assume about almost every deck of tarot cards.

For example, the subject of our blog post today: The Fool.

In the traditional esoteric tarot deck, the first card is The Fool, a card signifying new beginnings, trust in the future, idealism, and adventure.

That "fresh" new beginning feeling, that "new car smell" moment, knowing that you're experiencing something new for the first time, and getting to savor the experience of novelty.

New beginnings are beautiful, and so very full of potential.

The power of a new beginning...

The power of an open world before The Fool, the endless possibilities that exist for them beyond their first step.

The Fool brings with them the concept of approaching things with an unassuming mind, without preconceptions of the journey or destination.

Shunryū Suzuki, a Zen Buddhist monk known for being the founder of the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside of Asia, also brought with him the concept of shoshin, or "beginner's mind."

Beginner's mind, or the idea of approaching everything with an open mind, ready to learn with eagerness and a willing perspective.

According to Suzuki, one should approach studying and meditation with the mind of a "beginner", or the mind of someone without preconceived notions or ideas that stand in the way of new information being absorbed.

You can take Suzuki's teachings, though, and apply them to so much more than studying and meditation.

You've had oranges before, and I'm sure you've enjoyed them.

But have you enjoyed an orange like it was your first time encountering everything about it for the first time?

Have you taken yourself out of your past experiences and immersed yourself in the now of the fruit in your hand? In your mouth?

I'd like to ask you a favor: The next time you pick up an orange, the next time you peel it, and pull apart the sections...

I want you to look at it- really look at it.

Look at it and see how Nature has formed it with sections divided into sections.

Taste it, bite it, and feel the fruit escape all of those tiny sections, merging together to become juice in your mouth.

Put yourself in beginner's mind.

Remove yourself from all of your past experiences, all of that clouded memory, all of the comparisons your subconscious mind is making to other oranges you've tasted.

Just take a bite.

Close your eyes.

Embrace the moment.

Embrace the now.

Beginner's mind is removing yourself from your past knowledge, your past experiences, leaving yourself open to seeing the world as a fresh experience, every moment.

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You know, when I first started exploring Tarot back in January of this year, I was struck by a question: Why is the archetypal figure for beginnings a "fool"?

Why is the word "fool" used, when it's usually reserved for people who are naive or ignoring consequences?

Well... We can answer that with beginner's mind.

A beginner doesn't know anything, and a person using beginner's mind allows theselves to feel like they don't know anything. To see like they don't know anything.

The Fool, as they begin their journey...

The Fool willingly embraces the unknown. The Fool embraces all of the potential a moment brings, in their "not knowing" of what is to come.

If you use the word literally, it's "Fool-ish" to ignore your past experiences, but does that mean it's bad to be Fool-ish?

Sometimes being a fool... Sometimes, The Fool is something to emulate.

Starting a journey with beginner's mind, even a journey you've taken every single day for the entirety of your life...

When you eat that orange with beginner's mind, you're being Fool-ish. You're willfully ignoring the experiences you've had up until this point, those oranges that have built up the space in your mind for your experience eating the orange today.

And.

And to tie this all into the title, to tie this all into the fact that this blog post exists on a hypnosis website: Beginner's mind is one of the keys to deepening your hypnotic trance.

If you could set aside your experiences up until the moment you close your eyes and listen...

If you could let your subconscious mind walk alongside you as you let go of your cares...

If you could let your subconscious mind become the dog on the card, warning The Fool in case they get too close to the edge...

If you could let yourself go.

Then maybe...

Maybe you can touch beginner's mind, become a little Fool-ish, walk into life with total mindfulness, and enjoy the orange.