I believe in Magic.
It’s all around us.
You, me and 7 billion others are alive and thriving on a rotating rock, hurtling through limitless space at a 100,000 Km/hr, while simultaneously revolving around a giant ball of fire that's been lit for the past 4.5 billion years.
I initially mistook the image above for a futuristic city. It’s the most advanced model to date of a human cell using x-ray, nuclear magnetic resonance and cryoelectron microscopy.
Trillions such cells are self-coordinating themselves via complex mechanisms/processes in your body at this very moment so you can comfortably read my ramblings about Magic. Much remains unknown about the underlying intelligence in our bodies that brings everything together into a coherent whole.
Similarly with nature. From a blade of grass, to a butterfly, to trees, to the sky to mountains, to oceans, to the moon, everything has a purpose and an underlying magical essence, if you just tap in to “see” with your heart.
You can’t see this with the logical mind. The mind is a wonderful tool. But it filters out Magic.
You see a river, your mind immediately labels it “river”, and wants you to move on. Nothing to see here. Efficient.
Magic may not be as efficient, but life is way more colorful with it. It is more alive. Just ask or observe how a child sees the same river.
You can bring this same sense of wonder to your work.
Most have the knowledge, skill, frameworks and mental models to do their jobs well.
Adding Magic leaves the door open for something unexpected, something more. It opens you to be endlessly curious, to be slightly less efficient, less logical. It will propel you to ask more questions, probe deeper, not settle or comfort yourself with the usual analyses or strategies.
Eventually, this openness and curious wonder will reward you. With wonderful and unexpected insights + clarity (on whatever your focus - your business, your product, your market, your customers, etc.).
Like you just pulled a rabbit out of a hat.
(No wonder most of our most important advances in science have been serendipitous.)
This is also why very few truly make an impact in what they do. They don’t believe there is something unexpected, something more, a wonderful insight waiting to be discovered.
They don’t believe in Magic.
“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”
— Roald Dahl, novelist
Have a wonderful and magical weekend,
-Amit
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