Things Are Not as They Appear

From the Touchstone Tarot, Strength; from the John Waterhouse Oracle, I am Half-Sick of Shadows, said the Lady of Shalott:

          This lady of Strength looks so deeply with the lion's mouth, she could be his dentist. What is she looking for? The tarot card complements the Lady of Shalott card, an illustration based on a poem by Alfred Tennyson. It describes a cursed woman who must use a mirror to see the world instead of looking directly at it (and then weaves the images onto her loom). These draws imply there is a glimmer in my peripheral field or a reflection that is not quite showing the whole reality of truth. The pair made me think of Buddhism's four 'near enemies' of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. Unlike the far enemies which are the direct opposites (hatred, cruelty, envy and bias), the near enemies are sneaky and may masquerade as the real virtues unless a closer look is taken. The near enemy of loving-kindness is attachment; it is revealed as insecure clinging, the desire to control and conditional love. The near enemy of compassion may be cloaked in pity (keeping us at a distance from someone's suffering) or self-absorbed grief (we drown in the feeling); neither side allows us to take any helpful action. The near enemy of sympathetic joy is comparison; our joy for others is tainted by trying to identify if we have more, less or the same as the other person. Equanimity's near enemy is indifference; instead of accepting reality with calm awareness, we simply withdraw or numb ourselves. Both these cards suggest I look deeply within; things may not be as they appear.