More Magic Please
I heard a saying recently that stuck with me: “A knife only gets sharpened by another knife.”
While my literal self finds flaws with this quote (you can actually sharpen a knife with many things,) I have since learned that many quotes in this country are not to be taken literally. Funnily enough, I actually used to sell Cutco knives for a brief period my freshman year of college. I sort of fell into it, as you often do with these things, but it was no accident. I find knives to be fascinating, and was immediately drawn to the unique nature of the product. Mainly, I wanted to sell them because I really wanted to buy them. Maybe a knife is a common instrument to most people, but to me, it is a sacred tool. You can do almost anything with a knife. You can cook, open boxes, heck you could kill someone. You could also protect yourself. The raw power of it is astounding. Personally, I use my knives to feed myself every single day, and in that way, they are sacred.
This turning of the mundane into holy things is an ongoing goal of mine. The goal behind the goal being to inject more magic into my life. And believe me, it is these everyday, seemingly ordinary things that are the most magical of all. Because these are the things that leave a lasting mark on you. Like a scar, but a good one.
Liz Gilbert is one of my all-time favorite authors, not just because of the way she writes but because of the way she lives. She describes her theories about inspiration and creative living in her book Big Magic, which is basically a blueprint for how I want to live my life. I want the kind of magic that happens where there is a mystical yet perfectly fitting symmetry amidst the chaos, a kind of strange balance that can only happen when intricate and delicately curved edges somehow align, like puzzle pieces.
Living in Israel sort of feels like that, like there’s divine forces lingering behind every street corner. Nothing feels random here, even the bus you end up on. It might sound crazy, but I know for certain that there is a force here beyond explanation, a divine and powerful one that cannot be seen or heard, but can be felt. Call it God. Call it magic. Call it energy. It’s whatever you want it to be. But it’s real and it’s deep and once you open up to it, you simply cannot ignore it.
The thing is, this kind of magic is granted, not acquired. It has to be earned. I’m a big believer that the energy you put out into the world is what you will get back. And so begin the tests. As humans, we are constantly being tested. If your soul incarnated into this world, it is for a reason. Mark Twain said it best:
“The two most important days of your life are the day you’re born and the day you find out why.”
The way I see it, every negative experience is a test, an opportunity for growth, a lesson. So by nature, bad things that happen are also divine. Because happiness cannot be felt if not distinguished from sadness. Whether or not you uplift the world around you (the main message of the whole Torah), this will determine how much magic is around you.
The truth is we are all the magicians. We have the capacity and the power to harness divine forces anytime we want to. Hell, we live on a rock floating in space!!! From where I sit, everything is a miracle. If you can’t tap into the wonder and appreciation and utter disbelief of the nature of the universe, you might have an internal power outage. But that’s ok, because you can always tap in if you really believe. At the end of the day, what you believe will create the world you live in.
I of course choose to believe in magic…;)