{"id":18178,"date":"2019-03-21T19:24:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T17:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/?p=18178"},"modified":"2019-03-21T19:24:26","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T17:24:26","slug":"not-the-flaming-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"NOT THE FLAMING HEART"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
I Tarocchini by Mitelli, Dal Negro (Photo: Camelia Elias)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I confess I have a nasty character trait \u2013 maybe several, but let\u2019s name this one: I tend to block out any conversation that starts with the words: \u2018I believe\u2026\u2019 I simply cannot take any person using this phrase seriously, even though the person in question may be earnest, may have something valuable to offer, or, which is bad in itself already and deserves dismissing, the person I\u2019m talking to doesn\u2019t really mean anything by invoking belief, as it\u2019s just something one says.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may, I hear the words, \u2018I believe,\u2019 I go to Jupiter. Any other fantasy is better than the fantasy of believing things.<\/p>\n

Why this resistance? It has many roots, some more practical than others, but let\u2019s invoke the pragmatic aspect of this phrase and its implications:<\/p>\n

I believe in being happy.
\nI believe in serving my country.
\nI believe in following Jesus.
\nI believe I\u2019m a witch.
\nI believe in my partner.
\nI believe I\u2019m responsible for my children.
\nI believe in our common cause against poverty.
\nI believe that my argument is strong.<\/p>\n

From these beliefs to \u2018I believe Trump can make America great again\u2019 there isn\u2019t a lot of debatable room.<\/p>\n

So many beliefs, too little action, or indeed, too much action. When the Christians acted upon their beliefs, they went all the way to Japan. They didn\u2019t have much luck there as the Zen people don\u2019t dig beliefs, but they made an impact elsewhere.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t go into a dissertation on belief, but I wondered today about what would happen if we dropped the phrase from our vocabulary and replaced it instead with \u2018the art of\u2019.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take the top example, and replace \u2018I believe in being happy\u2019 with \u2018The art of being happy\u2019. The ancient Greeks called this eudaimonia,<\/em> and developed a whole set of principles anchored in making the right decisions.<\/p>\n

When we think of something as art, something that we can cultivate, rather than receive, which is the case with beliefs \u2013 whether beliefs are transmitted or experienced through personal gnosis \u2013 we train invariably our discerning nerve. Who wants to cultivate that whose purpose is not clear in our heads?<\/p>\n

The art of being happy, the art of serving the country, the art of following Jesus, the art of being a witch, and so on, makes us think about the motivation behind cultivating a state of wellbeing, a cause, or an identity.<\/p>\n

The point I want to make is that it may pay off to see what shifts in you, if you were to think of your beliefs as something that needs replacing, making room in your head for seeing how living is an art that you not only participate in, but can refine.<\/p>\n

Not believing makes room for original thought.<\/p>\n

Now read your cards with this question in mind:<\/p>\n

How can I turn seeing what I see into an art?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please note that what I\u2019m presupposing here is dropping all belief, so that the premise for your question is based entirely on clarity, on the ability to see what is actually the case, not hearsay or wishes and fears, all primary ingredients in beliefs.<\/p>\n

My cards, I Tarocchini del Mitelli, say this today:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
I Tarocchini by Mitelli, Dal Negro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Page of Coins, 7 Batons, Cupid<\/strong><\/p>\n

However valuable, if you cannot discard your beliefs, you can at least try to bag them. Then work diligently on this reality:<\/p>\n

The blindfolded Cupid cannot possibly know what he\u2019s offering you, since he can\u2019t see it himself, but you can be sure that he\u2019ll convince you to believe that it\u2019s the flaming heart.<\/p>\n

You have two options: to check for yourself, or to be seduced into believing. Being seduced into anything makes you feel good, but it\u2019s been a while since science or anything else for that matter, from the occult to storytelling, \u2018believed\u2019 that \u2018feeling\u2019 a reality makes. It does not.<\/p>\n

Whatever we accomplish, from magic to cultural success, we accomplish it because of the power of suggestion. Cultivate that and you\u2019ll be able to move a few mountains.<\/p>\n

Keep a cool head, and turn your actions into art.<\/p>\n

\u2660<\/p>\n

Stay tuned<\/a> for cartomantic courses.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would happen if you replaced the phrase ‘I believe’ with ‘the art of’?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3058,"featured_media":18184,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[820,121,3,254,41,24,95,753,859,204],"class_list":["post-18178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-the-cartomancer","tag-belief","tag-camelia-elias","tag-cartomancy-2","tag-deconstruction","tag-divination","tag-fortunetelling","tag-language","tag-semiotics","tag-tarocchini","tag-zen"],"yoast_head":"\nNOT THE FLAMING HEART<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What would happen if you replaced the phrase 'I believe' with 'the art of'?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NOT THE FLAMING HEART\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What would happen if you replaced the phrase 'I believe' with 'the art of'?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"THE CARTOMANCER\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-21T17:24:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/812\/2019\/03\/HipstamaticPhoto-574880629.951790.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Camelia Elias\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Camelia Elias\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/\",\"name\":\"NOT THE FLAMING HEART\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-21T17:24:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-21T17:24:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#\/schema\/person\/a8639383d867f6d301d30ea941f1f9e4\"},\"description\":\"What would happen if you replaced the phrase 'I believe' with 'the art of'?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NOT THE FLAMING HEART\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/\",\"name\":\"THE CARTOMANCER\",\"description\":\"Read Like the Devil\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#\/schema\/person\/a8639383d867f6d301d30ea941f1f9e4\",\"name\":\"Camelia Elias\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00727f7fdf35677cd091d3ad8fede746?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00727f7fdf35677cd091d3ad8fede746?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Camelia Elias\"},\"description\":\"Writer, Cartomancer, Zen\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.cameliaelias.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/author\/cameliaelias\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NOT THE FLAMING HEART","description":"What would happen if you replaced the phrase 'I believe' with 'the art of'?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NOT THE FLAMING HEART","og_description":"What would happen if you replaced the phrase 'I believe' with 'the art of'?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/","og_site_name":"THE CARTOMANCER","article_published_time":"2019-03-21T17:24:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/812\/2019\/03\/HipstamaticPhoto-574880629.951790.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Camelia Elias","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Camelia Elias","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/","name":"NOT THE FLAMING HEART","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-03-21T17:24:26+00:00","dateModified":"2019-03-21T17:24:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#\/schema\/person\/a8639383d867f6d301d30ea941f1f9e4"},"description":"What would happen if you replaced the phrase 'I believe' with 'the art of'?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/2019\/03\/21\/not-the-flaming-heart\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NOT THE FLAMING HEART"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/","name":"THE CARTOMANCER","description":"Read Like the Devil","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#\/schema\/person\/a8639383d867f6d301d30ea941f1f9e4","name":"Camelia Elias","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00727f7fdf35677cd091d3ad8fede746?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00727f7fdf35677cd091d3ad8fede746?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Camelia Elias"},"description":"Writer, Cartomancer, Zen","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.cameliaelias.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/author\/cameliaelias\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3058"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cartomancer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}