Knight of Swords

Air of Air ~ Mental Adventurer ~ The Idealist

Personality. The knight of swords has thought long and hard and found for himself a philosophy of the world that is logical, comprehensive, and moral. He has claimed the high ground, and few follow him there. He has no interest in aggression for the sake of aggression, but in service to his vision of truth he is unrelenting, and he takes no prisoners.

He prides himself on his open mind and his willingness to learn, but he seldom has opportunity to engage others who are his intellectual equals, so he tends to presume that he already knows the answers to questions others still struggle with. In practice, then, his open-mindedness is not always in evidence. He is not empathic, nor is he conciliatory. Only the most rigorous of arguments can convince him to modify his theories.

Even having thus distanced himself from human collaboration, he still continues uphill, seeking ever more abstract and powerful truths. He is a persistent researcher, a creative explorer into new intellectual territory.

He hopes to put his theories into practice for the benefit of all, but he does not appreciate the inertia of society and readiness with which others prefer familiarity to logic. For others to benefit from his great insights, he must learn to temper his reason with common sense and sensitivity.

Role. The knight of swords is the clever debater, the writer of brilliant manifestos, the political activist. He has little patience with management, compromise, and small talk, so is unsuited to long-term leadership. His natural role is as an idealistic prophet, the lone voice in the wilderness calling attention to error and pointing the way to a world of clarity and consistency. Some of his ideas will be espoused by others, and ultimately change the world. In his own time, though, he may be frustrated by his lack of power to persuade. The card may indicate a need to stick to principles, even when doing so makes it difficult to get along.

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Copyright © 1998 Tom Tadfor Little