I Want to Feel Magical!

I had to think a little more before replying. I'm still sort of groping in the dark with this angle I'm taking, but I was hoping to get around how personal experiences might tie into it. I have no doubt that it's easier for children and optimists somehow, but I wonder if it's something stranger....

It's a weird tangent to how I first started considering this, but pretty much, I don't think magical feeling corresponds to power over the environment (or else conveniences should consistently lead to joy rather than boredom).

Instead, if I had to sum it up in one word, what if magic comes from interacting with others and the world in the form of "summoning"? So power that comes from dissecting and analyzing phenomena lacks that magical quality. Somehow, being able to just ask for and receive limited powers has this element of spiritual delight. That could match up with the bit about memory, wonder, and destiny all feeling magical; all of them are ways of interacting with time as if the world has given us a gift.

Obviously, that's still a rough sketch with a lot of unanswered details. It still hasn't led to results either so I can't say I'm sure it's correct, but my gut says it's promising.

muaddib wrote:...So power that comes from dissecting and analyzing phenomena lacks that magical quality.

As great as it may be, feeling "magical" is probably a subtlety. It's something that happens naturally. Like any thing serendipitous, it can't be forced. It just happens.

Dissecting and analyzing it is probably the worst thing you can do.

I'm telling you, "those who search for it won't find it either". If by any chance it sounded like it was meant as a joke, it wasn't. It's what it boils down to.

I don't think optimism (in the sense of expecting good things to happen as a rule) actually helps either, by the way. Magic is never the rule. It's the exception.

naps wrote:As great as it may be, feeling "magical" is probably a subtlety. It's something that happens naturally. Like any thing serendipitous, it can't be forced. It just happens.

Dissecting and analyzing it is probably the worst thing you can do.

Everything in life, everything worthwhile takes effort. If you want to master a complicated dish, or a piece of music, you're better off breaking it down in simpler tasks and master them through repetition. Happiness is no different to me.

What you don't want to do is rely on intellectualizing to much, as sometimes it can be away to keep your feelings at a distance, but if you want to both intellectualize and analyze + dissect your feelings, it's fine too.

emilionth wrote:I don't think optimism (in the sense of expecting good things to happen as a rule) actually helps either, by the way.

If it's neurotic optimism, that is a cover up for underlying despair and numbness, then that's probably not going to help. But thinking you're fine, and can handle whatever is coming your way, based on hard-won self-knowledge, sounds more reasonable to me.