What two questions would you ask to get the most information about who a person truly is?

[Diana]

What two questions would you ask to get the most information about who a person truly is?

Cards drawn from the Convos Tarot of Marseilles. I was hoping for more exciting cards than these, but will have to make do with what I got. They didn't inspire me much - and nothing deep from inside came, just more banalaties. But I don't want to waste a reading so will post it anyway :

1) Four of Deniers
2) Two of Cups

Four of Deniers. I consider here the swan emblem in the middle to represent the person being asked the question. And I want to ask : what do you give back to the world ? It is full and complete around you – the top and bottom represent spirituality and materiality, the right and left represent the past and the future. The flowers are blossoming and others ready to blossom. The earth and its fullness have been given to you, they are your inheritance (4 coins). But taking without giving back and sharing, this may end up by the world becoming depleted. So what’s the return ? Do you grab it all for yourself ? Or do you go out with your riches and replenish the earth ?

Two of Cups. From the concrete to emotions and feelings. And duality of course, due to the number two and the clear separation of the two cups both being filled however by the same source. I am thinking here of how you think it best to resolve conflicts and confrontations. Always we will come face to face with something that disturbs us, that creates strong feelings and these are dealt with clumsily and angrily, can even lead to war, or with wisdom and love and a desire for peace. What is your way ?

Earth (coins) needs water (cups) more than water needs earth I think. Do you ever think about this ?

[Aoife]

4 of Deniers.... boundaries... what are your limits... what binds you? Leading to question what would happen / who would you be if you broke free?
At a local lake the pen has recently died. The rangers have introduced a young female but the cob keeps driving her away. The five yearlings stay close to their father. People say swans pair for life. Maybe I'm anthropomorphising, but I wish the rangers had given the family more time to grieve. It's awful to see the young swan alone.
I wonder whether the male will eventually accept her. Maybe in the spring when primal urges arise.
Far in excess of the two questions, I know... but something about 'change'... about flexibility... about 'non-negotiables'... about binding oaths and commitments?

2 of Cups.
This is a purely personal take, arising from experience.... and maybe it's at the far continuum of 'meanings', but I don't get the oft-cited love [most times]. I'm much more likely to see separation... division... the less positive aspects of duality. So I'd ask something along the lines of - where do you seek solace? Akin to the Jungian introvert/extrovert tendencies... but also to include a spiritual dimension.

[Diana]

Ah, the sweet sounds of Aoife who I have missed so much. It's like hearing a lark singing its birdsong at dawn, a sound not heard for a long time but yearned for.

And she has come to correct my uninspired reading. So all is right again in the world.

4 of Deniers.... boundaries... what are your limits... what binds you? Leading to question what would happen / who would you be if you broke free?
At a local lake the pen has recently died. The rangers have introduced a young female but the cob keeps driving her away. The five yearlings stay close to their father. People say swans pair for life. Maybe I'm anthropomorphising, but I wish the rangers had given the family more time to grieve. It's awful to see the young swan alone.
I wonder whether the male will eventually accept her. Maybe in the spring when primal urges arise.
Far in excess of the two questions, I know... but something about 'change'... about flexibility... about 'non-negotiables'... about binding oaths and commitments?

Yes, this is it. who would you be if you broke free? What is binding you to the earth? Where do you put your faith maybe? Are you trustful or do you hide in your sense of security. What is beyond those walls that you have constructed ?

2 of Cups.
This is a purely personal take, arising from experience.... and maybe it's at the far continuum of 'meanings', but I don't get the oft-cited love [most times]. I'm much more likely to see separation... division... the less positive aspects of duality. So I'd ask something along the lines of - where do you seek solace? Akin to the Jungian introvert/extrovert tendencies... but also to include a spiritual dimension.

Where do you seek solace ? Would this not be more of the realm of the Queen of Cups ? Or perhaps the Ace ?

[Aoife]

Diana!
Such a joy to find you again! Oh how I've missed your wisdom and inspiration!

Where do you seek solace ? Would this not be more of the realm of the Queen of Cups ? Or perhaps the Ace ?

So sorry, I'm so out of practice at organising my thoughts, finding the words and putting them in the right order.
I think what I was getting at was...
I think humans are social creatures, and the search for connection a primal drive. We move from the image of perfect [albeit a divine kinda] love in the Ace, to the barrier inherent in duality. How someone responds to that separation tells me a lot about them, and possibly a lot about the damage incurred along the way. Are they inclined to draw on inner strength because they've found a way to negotiate the separation from other, or are they so wounded they won't risk an attempt to scale the division that separates? Solace... self-soothing... how a person deals with pain?

[Diana]

I think humans are social creatures, and the search for connection a primal drive. We move from the image of perfect [albeit a divine kinda] love in the Ace, to the barrier inherent in duality. How someone responds to that separation tells me a lot about them, and possibly a lot about the damage incurred along the way. Are they inclined to draw on inner strength because they've found a way to negotiate the separation from other, or are they so wounded they won't risk an attempt to scale the division that separates? Solace... self-soothing... how a person deals with pain?

That makes a lot of sense.

This search for connection one sees it so often in the most common question that people seek answers from the Tarot, which can be summed up by "when will I meet my soul mate". So often there is a question "I met a guy/girl at a party/work. I think we have a connection. Is love in the air". I always get a sense of sadness when I read these questions. This idea that a handsome prince or a pretty princess will sweep them away and they will live happily ever after. All the times on forums you see this question, and professional tarot readers get it all the time too.

But it also I know has a deeper meaning. This search for connection. This longing to not be alone anymore. Loneliness is not something people relish.

When I learned French at secondary school, our French teacher let us listen to a song by Georges Mustaki, La Solitude. And when I heard the line "Je ne suis jamais seul avec ma solitude" - I'm never alone with my solitude - something in my heart woke up. I remember it like yesterday. And I sat there in wonder and I said to myself "I make the decision now to never feel alone with my solitude. To make it my friend and my companion if it crosses my path and we meet some day." Only once have I floundered. That's not a bad percentage.

To get back to your interpretation. I think you've hit a nail on the head. How does one deal with pain ? The answer to that, if one answers sincerely, could be a moment of great revelation. Could really help someone get up from their knees and decide to go walking again. One has to learn something from our bitter experiences, otherwise one has to resign to being helpless. And I don't think God wants man to cry.