"Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough"

"Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also - if you love them enough."

George Washington Carver
US horticulturist (1864 - 1943)

Reading this quote today made me think about Tarot and AT. Do you think that the Tarot will give up its secrets if you love it enough?

I believe he says 'love' not in a romantic way, but as 'paying attention' to the little details. And the little things are the ones who give away secrets. A person can lie to you, but if you see in the small tensions of their expression that they are lying, you won't fully believe them.

Think when you fall in love. You pay attention to every detail (although sometimes we skip the bad ones, but eventually we get to know those too) - the way your love moves, walks, smiles, the shape of their eyebrows, their lips, their nose, the small marks in their bodies, the scar on the back of their neck...

Tarot...you have to read, practice, and observe. I believe that if you love it - that's it, if you pay attention to it's little things, to what you feel when looking at a picture, to what it affects you in the smallet ways - then, yes, it'll give up it's secrets.

My opinion

~YUKO

I tend to agree with Miss_Yuko...

I looked up the word "love" at www.dictionary.com

And one meaning jumped out at me: strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything

I would assume based on the context that this is the definition that GWC meant.

Very cool quote, Glass Owl. Ya gotta love the man who invented peanut butter.

T

Maybe "love" in the sense of the deepest compassion, deepest sympathy as if you are taking the other as yourself.

This is easy to mock:
"Be here now. BE the peanut."
"I am trying, Master."
"There is hope for you yet, Grasshopper."
etc.

but it is true.

I love peanut butter.

I totally think tarot applies. Like my one deck, the Vargo, hates to read in person. Still, I kept trying and trying. I pleaded and begged. Then one day I enlisted her help for an online reading in a chat room. I never gave up on that deck and now I know she has stage fright! Poor little thing was too afraid to tell me. But I showed her I loved her and cared for her and I never gave up! It's such a shame considering she is so beautiful and has such a talent for divining. Now she is the only one I read with online. And how lucky am I that I am the only one who gets to see her beauty! She saves it just for me...

I think love is all about paying attention. Like my love, he has tons of little things that make him happy. It just takes paying attention to see that certain smile, or the way their eyes light up, to show you all the secrets in their heart.

That is a very thoughtful message. Often enough in real life I do not pay careful enough attention, but using tarot has taught me that playing the closest attention, in a gentle way (which I guess could be construed as loving it) allows you to enter so much deeper.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful quote Glass Owl. I agree with Mr. Carver 100%, and would include the tarot. In fact, I'm not sure I knew just how much I enjoyed tarot until I read this quote!

Bodhran

Glass Owl said:

"Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also - if you love them enough."

George Washington Carver
US horticulturist (1864 - 1943)

Reading this quote today made me think about Tarot and AT. Do you think that the Tarot will give up its secrets if you love it enough?

Click to expand...

Certainly, but not all at once. It gives up its secrets gradually. As far as Tarot goes, there are almost an infinite number of secrets. We just could not process it all if it came too quickly. But the more you love it (or the more you love a particular deck) the more readily it will divulge its secrets.

Babs

Loving any subject is a good foundation to learning, but only loving it will not gain you access to its secrets. You need in site and understanding too.

Great quote...a good point, and completely applicable to tarot, IMO.