The Analogy of the Water Tap

Turn on a tap just as much as to let the first drops of water drip out of the spout – a life like this has no flow, no continuity and no consistency; as the drops of water are pulled straight down by gravity this life is controlled by external influences and has little power and little presence.

Turn on the tap a little more – the water flows but its flow is turbulent, a mixture of a variety of little streams spiralling and wriggling their way downwards together with no clarity – a life like this has established continuity but the flow is erratic, there is no overall direction, little consistency and still no directed power.

Turn on the tap until the water flows out together as one smooth continuous ”laminar” flow – a life like this flows smoothly, is seen as clear and unified, it flows with one unified direction and has power and single focus and direction.

Turn on the tap still more until the flow of water again becomes turbulent – a life like this has too much unbalanced internal force and conflict, it loses its power and direction, it loses its clarity and consistency; it has gone past the point of balance.

The Tarot cards of the Major Arcana can be seen as The Fool  plus three sequences of seven cards about learning to balance life and let it flow in a laminar rather than turbulent way. Each sequence is one of seven stages of “Potential”, “Rigidity”, “Yielding”, “Austerity”, “Humility”, “Unification” and “Achievement” designed to bring us to balance.