Being a wizard

When I was a kid, every day had a subconscious undercurrent of excitement that I was going to discover something magic. I believed that there was magic waiting to be found in unused places, just beyond the edge of my vision, waiting to be discovered. I’m not entirely sure why I believed in magic; maybe it was the books, TV and movies. Maybe it was something innate that hungered for the inexplicable. Of course, I eventually became disillusioned with magic and succumbed to the what-you-see-is-what-you-get mentality that seems to be the barricade against disappointment in adult life.

Last weekend, while watching The Half-Blood Prince, I felt that old tug from my childhood toward magic. It occurred to me that it is a sad existence without magic. Everything has been discovered and can be explained by some unmagical, rational process. Everything is commonplace. Nothing is really special or truly different. But life is still exciting to me, as if magic still exists somewhere in the world. When I asked myself why — what is magic for the adult me — the answer came readily.

My mind went back to a fun and challenging discussion I had with my brothers-in-law last week in the wee hours of the morning. The ideas were flying. And I realized that ideas are magic. They don’t exist in the tangible world, yet they change the world: people are changed; societies are changed; the face of the planet is changed; problems are solved; healing occurs; fortunes are built; obsessions are manufactured and consumed… Ideas are born in the mind and grow through interaction. They are transferred from person to person to the world at large. And, because they are not physically embodied, they are like nothing else.

I can intentionally, sanely pursue magic as an adult by creating and exchanging ideas. This requires interaction, so I am going to seek out more and more interaction. 15 years ago when I took the Myers-Briggs Personality Test, the result came back as INFP. I was a strong introvert. Throughout my young life I felt I was drastically different from everyone else — I struggled to find connections and mistrusted all but a few that I found. Pardoxically enough, 12 years ago I got into the field of marketing, which entails making connections, understanding people and creating ideas that resonate with them. Now I test as an ENFP in Myers-Briggs. I love people. I’m energized by interactions. I seek and find connections.

Marketing is made of ideas, so marketing is a form of magic. So I’m a professional wizard. You’re a wizard too — to be human is to have ideas. What magic will you make today?