Trickster

I heard a story of a scientist talking to Buddhist monks about brain chemicals effecting mental states. The monks were perplexed and then they got it. ‘Oh’, they said…’She believes this is real’. We should all be very serious, and take nothing seriously. The joke of the divine trickster is that he’s serious. There is no deceit only paths to truth. When you see the lie you see the truth. You need not go to heaven, you are there now. You need not be enlightened, because you are deceived, and in being deceived you cannot be deceived.

“Lie to a liar, for lies are his coin; Steal from a thief, for that is easy; lay a trap for a trickster and catch him at first attempt, but beware of an honest man” Arab Proverb

“Many native traditions held clowns and tricksters as essential to any contact with the sacred. People could not pray until they had laughed, because laughter opens and frees from rigid preconception. Humans had to have tricksters within the most sacred ceremonies lest they forget the sacred comes through upset, reversal, surprise. The trickster in most native traditions is essential to creation, to birth.” Byrd Gibbens in Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin, 2001