Good Guidance

From the Tarot of Pagan Cats, the King of Swords; from Brownie Wisdom, Good Works:

          That is one icy landscape on the King of Sword's mountain. He is known as a fair and just judge, therefore his emotions can't affect his ability to be objective. But is his heart frozen too? There was a tough love movement years ago that basically taught people to lay down harsh consequences for bad behavior. Yet there was no real love there, because that particular sword required a detachment from all emotion. It was basically Skinner's Behaviorism 101. Al-Anon came out with the phrase "detach with love," which started out the same but evolved into something different. It realized the person laying down the law is often just trying to control others and ends up reacting out of fear or anger to force a change. Simply look at the prison system here in the States for how well this works. Instead, the "detach with love" idea allows a person to deal with the natural consequences of their behavior (while protecting the innocents within his or her circle). While we don't take the challenge of learning to be responsible away from them, they are offered options to help themselves. Here's where the Brownie Wisdom card comes into play. You would think people should innately know how to change their lives for the better, but people who've lived only to survive don't have a clue. They must be shown by example.

All happiness comes from altruism and all suffering from selfishness. 

~ Karma Trinlay Rinpoche