by Jennifer Marbley

Created on: December 17, 2009

Magic finds its home in the playground of perception. The invented idea of an adult world or the concept of normality only exists in our minds and can be seen as a form of magic in itself. We have culturally created this dream in which straight lines and conclusions exist. Magic lies in those dark, scarcely explored cracks between map and territory. Submerged in our comfortable viewpoints, we are often unconscious of how the very language we use shapes our thoughts, our reality and our very being. To an extent, we are all fish, unaware of the water we are immersed in.

You could think of magic as an occurrence that defies a given framework of reality. In that case, it’s clear why most of us learn to deny magical existence. Systems of any kind, by their very nature, need parameters to function. The magical experience laughs at parameters and strips away expectations until we become like children again, lost in wonder, awe, and possibly fear. What happens if we realize the world is more mysterious than we once believed? What happens when we begin to see the gulf between map and territory? The implication is that our perception of reality and ourselves is fundamentally flawed. I believe this is the case. To accept magic is to accept the mystery that reveals control and normality to be the illusions. As they say, true is stranger than fiction.

In truth, we are children clinging to our notions like a baby clinging to a blanket. We are continuously embedded in profound mysteries! Do you ever reflect upon the fact that you possess the masterpiece of nature within your skull? Do you still allow yourself ask big questions? Do you still wonder about who you are? Who determines the rational from the irrational? In my experience, the worlds of wonder and magic are open to anyone willing to see.

One afternoon I found myself standing at a stoplight, on my way to my apartment. I’d just gotten back from visiting my family for the Fourth of July. It had cost me exactly $22 for the train trip which left me basically broke. Standing at the stoplight, I got this very strong intuitive urge to take a completely different route home. Some might call this your “inner voice.” Experience has taught me to follow this guidance, so I just listened. It directed me exactly where to turn, what street to take and which side of the sidewalk to go on. I had no conscious idea of why I was doing this. Then I saw it. I stopped dead in my tracts. Lying in the middle of the deserted sidewalk was exactly twenty-two dollars.

These peculiar experiences do not fit the cultural framework of our society so they are often dismissed or marginalized. People who accept magic are often accused of living in a different world, and in a way, I believe this is true. I live in a world where Carl Jung, one of the most influential psychologists of all time spoke to invisible beings. I live in a world where nobody really understands what light is. I live in a world where the average American lives greater than kings once did. What world do you live in?

The fact that we live in this extraordinary reality and most adults still drag themselves out of bed, to act out their drudgeries in The Real World is magic to me, even if it is black.

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