Hello again, friends, and happy April Fools’ Day,

Strange as it may seem, I like to think of myself as a fool. Whenever I remember my essential foolish nature I immediately relax, usually with a smile on my face. Knowing I’m a fool, I no longer have to live up to some grand idea of myself. I can just be me, someone a little weak of will, just now caught up in the mundane dramas of my life and times; someone who often believes in the illusion of a self that, even if it were real, is certainly not ideal. Knowing I’m a fool, I can also take comfort in the observation of the Taoist rascal Chuang Tzu, who says, “Those who know they are fools are not the biggest fools.”

Recognizing myself as a fool is usually accompanied by a sense of forgiveness and compassion, I feel clear about who and what I am dealing with in this life and no longer have to try so hard at perfection, no longer trying to turn water into wine.

A simple exercise in foolish realism is to look at yourself in the mirror, not with an eye to grooming, but with an eye to seeing who’s there. First check out your personality: “Give us a smile, then. And how about one of those looks of gravitas that you can put on at a minute’s notice?” After looking at myself like this for a few minutes, I almost always start to laugh, no matter what expression I am assuming. They all look like masks.

Next I look beneath the personality and check out the self-conscious primate, not that far from the jungle really, still driven by barely conscious instincts, so full of purpose and importance, and trying hard to look dignified in spite of my protruding ears and nose.  Then I look even closer and notice the outline of my skull, waiting to make its appearance as soon as the wind blows my face away.

I have long ago convinced myself of my own foolishness, but if there is anything I’ve learned from meditation, it is not to take myself too personally. I am not my fault. What it comes down to is that I am foolish just because I’m human, and the truth is that we are a species of fools.

For instance, looking back through history we find that every few centuries all that we know about the world gets overturned, and yet we continue to believe that our latest facts and stories are the final word. Once upon a time everybody knew that the Earth was flat and stationary. Isn’t it still obvious from where you are sitting right now? And how many humans prayed fervently to Isis or Zeus or Jupiter with the unshakable faith that these gods not only existed but cared deeply about us?

How many human generations did it take before a few of us looked at the apes and asked, “Could we possibly be related?” Don’t you wonder which of our postmodern stories about ourselves and the world will be overturned in the near future? As the folks at the Firesign Theatre once said, “Everything you know is wrong.” As the Tibetan yogi Thaganapa says, going even deeper, “To see truth, contemplate all phenomena as a lie.”

Considering the situation, I think the best thing for all humanity would be to admit our foolishness. Our most important holiday would then be April Fool’s Day, one of the few festivals that invites everyone to celebrate, regardless of race, religion, nationality or political persuasion. Just imagine how good it would feel if we all got together in large public gatherings and admitted that we don’t know what this universe is all about or why we are alive.

Here’s a very simple Fool’s Day ceremony that can be performed in local communities or with groups of friends. It’s the TV cartoon dad Homer Simpson’s forehead-slapping ritual, accompanied by a loud, collective “D’oh!” This ritual is somewhat reminiscent of the one that Jews perform on Yom Kippur, when everybody beats their breast and confesses to everybody else that they have sinned. Only here we would be confessing our foolishness to each other.

Let’s practice, okay? Everybody get the palm of your hand ready. Okay, now everyone who thought that maybe Donald Trump wouldn’t be that bad.….slap that forehead and say, “D’oh!” Okay, now anyone who thought the internet and computers and cell phones would make life easier — slap that hard drive “D’oh!” Okay, everyone who thought that doing yoga or meditation would solve all of their problems — slap that third eye- “D’oh!” Okay, now anyone who thinks that someday they will get it all together- “D’oh!.”

Now doesn’t that feel good? Embracing our foolishness, whether collectively or individually, is a practice of liberation. Don’t think of it as defeat or in any way demeaning or mean-spirited, but rather as a bemused acceptance of our predicament. On the fool’s path (headed for the cliff, of course) you are free to stick out your tongue at the gods, let your hair grow wild, speak in rhyme, and stumble along without any idea of where you are going. Feel the freedom? It’s a fool’s paradise, and at the very least, you are fool enough to know it.

In honor of April Fools’ Day, I offer some musings from my own fool’s path.

Be sure to check us out next month for our special Earth Day edition.

And if you don’t like the news go out and make some of your own. 

Much love,

Wes