Advice for Success

From the Gill Tarot, the Ten of Cups; from The Circle, Love:

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

~St. Francis of Assisi (E. Easwaran trans.)

The success of emotional fulfillment is a paradox, as St. Francis clearly laid out. The bedrock of contentment and joy is not found in self-cherishing, but in a mindset that gives, forgives and has no agenda for either action. These people take life lightly without clinging - as John S. Spong described, they 'love wastefully.' The Love card's symbolism is not so much a romantic fantasy as it is connection, belonging, affection and mutual support. Those are the side effects of taking St. Francis' and Spong's advice.