What is it about magic that seems to draw out hope, or at least attention, from even the very most ‘serious minded’ of people? I don’t know. But let’s put it this way: while women have the power to turn necks and heads-magic can straighten both; show someone a feat that appears to be magical and their neck stiffens, their jaws tighten while their eyes narrow. Magic seems to make one wish to peer through the unknown into a consciousness of revelation. I’m thinking our interest in magic mirrors a hope within us to believe we are a People who ‘know’. And, in many ways, magic does mirror the truth, as it may currently best be defined, about our existence as a people on a world within the universe. Our existence is as awesome to think about as it is impossible to truly understand-indeed, it’s magical.
It’s not just the sleight of hand, pull the cards or count the numbers trick I’m writing about when referring to ‘magic’. It is also ‘bumping’ in to the friend we haven’t seen in twenty years on the very day we were for the first time in along time thinking about them; it’s about finding the very thing you will need before you even know you will need it. In fact, many moments in life may be thought of as being magical: a three day sky of rain breaks with a rainbow for a ceremony; money arrives when it is most needed; a friend pats you on the back when yours is sore from stress and worry; a heart turns your way and you realize they love you too; a lost kitten is found; a friend is o.k.; your loved ones arrive; a baby is born. And the best part of life’s magic is it is free for the viewing-we just have to take time to notice when it happens.
Disney may have had it right after all? Remember Snow White talking to the animals? Well, the more we learn the more we understand birds do recognize us and know who we are, the trees do communicate to one another through the use of pheromones, hearts do change lives and courage does build bridges between people, if not pumpkin coaches to ride to castles in. Simply, Disney’s’ ‘pitch’ on our magical universe turns out to be much like the ‘curve ball’ our reality is made of. Cartoon characters often remind us the ‘art’ of communication, of loving and living is to understand the magic in it all. We all know any internal fear we feel waits to be freed from worry and washed in certainty. So, as a people we should never meet a stranger; in our world we should never meet anything and think it ‘strange’.
Sure, that beetle or even that rock may look strange but both have, as much as any person, place or thing has, a time, a space and a place of their own. In this way, magically, everything has a Life, of sorts, of its own: our Native American brothers have known this forever; the Tao wrote it so. It’s this magical presence which should bind us together as like parts of our planet. And this binding time of ours, this time now, is a theatre of magic.
O.K.-so I’m not saying you need to run out into our yard, dig up a worm and start talking to it. You could wait a long time for a reply. Talking to lampposts, trees, rocks, mountains, lakes-none of that stuff works. I’ve tried it. And don’t go ask your dog how they like your report unless you’ve left peanut butter prints on it. Is magic limited then? No, not really. Magic is only limited to the extent our understanding of it is. And, it’s important to note, our understandings are always changing. Think of magic as being much like our Universe or like our notion of Time-all three being infinite in their possibilities. Why is this important? It is important because this is Christmas. This is the time of stories about magic and a time of many questions too.
I’m asking here the next time you hear someone ask about Santa from eyes that do not know what you know, please, before you answer, think about what you really do know? First off, on the face of it, we all agree Santa doesn’t exist. Heck, I’ve been wrapping gifts long enough to feel pretty certain about this. But then again, Santa does exist in many ways. Certainly more has been written about Santa than will be written about, say, the life you or I will live. More people will believe in Santa sometime during their lifetime than people will believe in most any of us during ours. Santa moves in our collective consciences more hearts to hope, more spirits to rise, more joy to spring forth than, again, most any one ‘real’ person could ever hope to make do so. Santa has, after all, at least as much presence in our lives as a forest, waterfall or mountain range we have never seen and never expect to visit.
Can’t you just hear the jolly guy laughing ‘HOHOHO’ as he asks: “First tell what existence is and lets see if I ‘fit’ the bill?” If we were to balance everything that Santa can’t do with all the belief in his spirit provides, to which side would this scale tip? No, we may not be able to touch Santa, but you know what-more than likely, he has ‘touched’ you. Is Santa real? In so many ways, the ‘real’ answer is “Yes”.
Merry Christmas.
(Note): This is the last post in this blog for 2009. May Peace be with us all and may we all have a joyful time throughout all of our following years. Remember-watch for magic!
Franque


