Jack

Game of Cards anyone?

Its the knave in a deck of cards.  And the card is positioned … after the 10 suite but before the Queen. Aficionados of the tarot … and other divinity interest … take to Jack … in a curious way. He's the only personality type … in a deck … that lends himself to identification with the common man. And regular gamblers … will no doubt identify with that … in a deck of 52 cards … about the way Jack … plays the game of chance with himself.

 

The name finds its way … into common expression with people … and when confronted with someone … in real life … whose intensity of issues clearly shoves issues in public … we hear the comment … ' Take it easy Jack.' But spend a day with Jack … and the man will come to many curious encounters with life itself … the way it takes place in real life. Certainly … Jack is the one … they also refer to as … ' Jack of all trades.'

 

To know Jack … is sometimes to know … ladyluck. And ladyluck is that fat lady at 8. And why is a man lucky with her … because she gives away everything of her's without being aware that she does. Certainly … a person must be careful about her sisters … the 8 spade … diamond … clubs. They don't understand what love is. But ladyluck at 8 of hearts … is a real sweetie … given to bouts of adoration of the man … and to share with him … the endowments of her life.

 

And where does a man in search of ladyluck go to. To town. Not just anywhere in town … but the very center of the metropolis … where the tendency for people who live there … is to view themselves … as the very fruit of the city … street savvy … an alley cat … perhaps run a commercial outlet … know the cab drivers … and create a fascination with faces … of the daily pedestrians … that's quite extraordinary.

 

Its here … in that upstairs room … above the sounds from the streets … that the man finds his ladyluck. Its the chance. And in the mind of the gambler … it represents the way the street is … by and large predictable … and on a normal day … he can almost … predict the bus about to turn the corner … that cab driver with the blond hair … that lady dressed in Halston … and that new Mercedes model … driving down the street.

 

It is possible because … in a given location … in the daily grind of repetition … a man becomes aware that … its not an infinite number of issues … unfolding … but a measured extent of possibilities. And as he orientates to the perception … he builds a sure sense … about what's happening … and views himself as having a degree of control over the occurrence of events. Certainly his life becomes a part of the experience … and whether he's trying to date that waitress … across the street … or the bartender … in the club at the corner … his fortunes mix with the way the street life moves.

 

Let's say … on a certain day … he encountered a pantomime … set himself up … at the pavement … and begin his act. What's that good for? Simple … it means … its the day … he can approach that waitress … with a bit more warmth … or a personal comment … with the anticipation that she'll respond. The man himself … in encountering the pantomime … made contact with his own … mute passions … that may now be persuaded into expression. And in feeling that … he conveys a true sense of his belief … and intent … when he tackles the waitress for a bite on the bait. She'll know he means it.

 

A good card player is therefore a lot of things … is a sport … is intuitive … and knows when to fold … or raise his opportunities in a timely way. However my interest in the man … has been on the basis of self management. Its the way he relates to the environment … as he identifies a point of contact with his passions and responds accordingly. In comparison … some folks … stumble around … in the sea of desires … dreams … thrust themselves suddenly on issues … and are unable to see it through … because they lack the conferring will of providence. Such a will of conferment is of course … the environment in which we live.

 

Our fathers of yore … picked up a curious awareness about luck and the man … and organized their notions around a deck of cards. Eventually it found its way into the halls of the psychic … who became quite adept … at understanding how a deck of cards relates to the world and the universe around us … based of course … on the life of Jack. Its a notion we find in ourselves today … even as we get trained on learning … and the civil society.

 

The hearts … in a deck of cards … is discouraged from gambling … for gambling is still the taboo of a life well lived. The spade … is the one who invites luck … and such luck he calls on … that persuades his mind that he is prepared to bet his life on it … in a lifetime of avoiding cares. The diamond is Jack the innocent … will believe anything … and brings a simple attitude to life and its many challenges. But the clubs … is a man destined for heights … that the world has not yet discovered. He is the pioneer of thought … the explorer … who paves new roads into the future.

 

They say God raised three children … two on his lap … and one on his knee. The one who kneeled … was eventually put on a rigorous learning scheme … to apply himself well to the dictates of life's continuity. That's the clubs. The kids on his lap … represent the spade and heart. God himself chose the diamond … as the rock of creation … that set out the vast universe. And that began the life of cards from one to ten … that Lewis Carroll brought out in … Alice … as a social comment.

 

It would differ from the Bible version. But God as the ace of diamonds … began as one and the all. And in peering into the darkness … saw himself as two. They had to get along … so they evolved a three … as a balance. Then came the proverbial death as four … who set them in stone … and the world was born. That raised the numbers to five … before six came along … and divided them according to gender. Then again they raised a 7 … as man … to study and understand their relations.

 

7 needed a companion to keep him company … so the fat lady was born at 8. She was real cute … and figured … she'll simply relate to the stars to know what's going on. So she referred to 9 as the constellations … and set the first known knowledge of man about himself. Then the managers … the swamys and holy men descended … and began their organization of society at 10. And Jack? That's the life of the being … travelling through space … with a notion of the once and future King … who began at one ... and the queen as his love interest. Wanna bet?

 

I hate gambling … I don't even play the lottery. I'm a clubs … and the spade is constantly after me to say … life is simply a gamble … stay out of it. He brings to me enough for life in the body … and creates these opportunities for learning … starting with the hearts and then the diamonds. And thereafter … I'm supposed to bring the understanding I've gained at 7 … and bust the game once and for all. Anybody for a game of scrabble?