I may have found an anwser - The Trickster

[tekla]

My minions study nuclear engineering.  And other sorted skills.

[RebeccaFog]

Tekla's minions have no useful skills.         

[tekla]

no, but they do have some rather nasty tricks.

[Jaimey]

I want minions. *kicks pebble*

"Teaching a dog to sit is a trick.  I've been sitting my whole life.  A dog has never looked at me as though I was tricky."

Kudos to anyone who knows who said it. 

[Eva Marie]

All of this tricky talk makes me think of tricky dick nixon.

And my dog won't sit 

[Shana A]

And my dog won't sit 

And your bird won't sing (Lennon-McCartney) 

Z

[Nicky]

I saw The Dark Knight a couple days ago. Being a trickster is not always a good thing.

[tekla]

And its often a very, very bad thing for those around them.

[Nicky]

Perhaps the power of the trickster is in the unease they create? They can't be the most comfortable peple to be around.

[RebeccaFog]

The way I read it, the Trickster isn't necessarily messing with peoples heads. We (speaking for me) find ways to help people connect to their spirituality and ways to help people heal. I basically blocked out any negatives I might have read there.

The trickster can fool others into finding the tools necessary to transcend their general issues and such.

I wouldn't equate the Trickster with The Joker.  The Joker is meant to reflect the utter blackness that an individual can be capable of and also serve as a unique adversary for the Batman.

Didn't you all read the parts about blessing food and war parties?   Blessings.  Not cursings.

[Nicky]

yes, but I think there is likely to be a flip side.

I doubt you would be a cut your own smile kind of trickster - more like the Androgynous fool from Robyn Hobbs books - miniputlating the catalyst to create change.

Eitherway, a lot of people are not comfortable around a trickster, takes them out of their comfort zones.

[Pica Pica]

i played feste the fool once in twelfth night, he sees everything in at least two ways if not more.

[mina.magpie]

I think the value of the trickster is that si sees the world differently from how other people do, and so reacts differently. The trickster shares that view of the world with others purely by being, and that's why people are uncomfortable, because they don't like their comfortable certainties challenged.

But let's be honest, the trickster can be a force for both creation and destruction, which are really just two sides of the same coin called change. I do think that the Joker could be equated with an aspect of the trickster, it's just that his vision of the world and how he lives that vision is pure destruction - think about some of the more vicious and cruel things Loki did. At the end of the day the Joker's whole plan in the movie was to show that people are animals by making them tear each other apart. And I'm not so sure that he was proven wrong. Individuals proved him wrong, but as a whole he had point.

Either way, whether positive or negative, tricksters are agents of change, agents of chaos. Which is important, because societies that do not change stagnate into dead, uniform entropy and die.

Mina.

[Pica Pica]

like france.

[Jaimey]

like france.

Nice. 

[RebeccaFog]

yes, but I think there is likely to be a flip side.

I doubt you would be a cut your own smile kind of trickster - more like the Androgynous fool from Robyn Hobbs books - miniputlating the catalyst to create change.

Eitherway, a lot of people are not comfortable around a trickster, takes them out of their comfort zones.

what if you replace the word 'trickster' with 'minister'?

[RebeccaFog]

like france.

Nice. 

Excellent, my dearies.   

[Jaimey]

yes, but I think there is likely to be a flip side.

I doubt you would be a cut your own smile kind of trickster - more like the Androgynous fool from Robyn Hobbs books - miniputlating the catalyst to create change.

Eitherway, a lot of people are not comfortable around a trickster, takes them out of their comfort zones.

what if you replace the word 'trickster' with 'minister'?

WOW.  hehe.  If I had been drinking something, it would now be all over my computer screen.

Is there a more uncomfortable statement than, "I'd like to talk to you about Jesus."  *squirm*

[tekla]

Is there a more uncomfortable statement than, "I'd like to talk to you about Jesus."  *squirm*

Sure, its the way my friend replied to that question once by saying - in his best 'exacerbated dad' voice - "Christ on a crutch, now what's he done?"  Poor girl, I'm sure they had to send her back to the church for a few days to get over that episode. 

[RebeccaFog]

I didn't mean 'minister' in a derogatory way. I meant 'one who tends to those in need'.

You can minister unto others and have a simple humanitarian cause.

The thing about tricksters being playful and sometimes causing pain to others should be thought of as causing pain to others while attempting to do the right thing. As a trickster, the pain I cause others is unintended.  And that's where wisdom comes into the equation.  The Trickster must gain the wisdom to keep from hurting others through blind action in response to a need. Sometimes the best intentions do not lead to the best results.

To me, causing others pain is always unintended.  The laughter is meant to lighten people's spirits and remind them that sometimes it is safe to just let go of some  of the feelings that become too serious.

I'm tired. I think I ruined my great revelation with stinky writing.