fat tuesday

If you don’t follow your dream, who will?

If we wish to come to the spirit for the healing of our wounds, let us come in peace and with spontaneous joy…The Science of Mind, pg 447

Wherever the two weeks or so leading up to Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday,” are winding up, there is nothing to compare. At days end, Mass will be celebrated for the Catholic faithful, and throughout Christendom, Lent will begin. But prior to Lent’s season of deep and prayerful introspection and the sacrifice of superficiality, Mardi Gras is a time of foolishness in its most literal connotation.

In royal courts of long ago, “fools” (or jesters) were kept close by for more than mere fun. The fools were folklorists, commentators on the common people’s lot, and in-your-face reminders of the irrepressible human spirit – their counterparts today might be something like prancing, juggling web bloggers.

A year ago in the Mardi Gras capital, things were naturally not the business of play as usual. Sadness and longing for the city that had been in large part washed away was mixed with the hopefulness, anger, pride, defiance, joy, and astonishment at the range of feelings anyone could have. There was debate – was it an insult to the dead and the displaced to go ahead with the revelry? The decision to proceed was in support of healing hearts and rebuilding homes, as the fools of old would surely have counseled their sovereigns.

With all our gravity and intensity, our prayerful and meditative demeanor, comes another side of the self no less valid. This is the unbounded joy that we seek, the very reason we solemnly do the spiritual work. Winter is nearly done, and we come out of our homes en masque to dance in the streets till the bells of midnight.

Today I allow elation to over take me. My inner “fool” frolics through-out my day and I rejoice in my freedom to be just who I am.