Coincidence, intuition or something we can’t quite explain? Dr Airdre Grant wonders whether there’s still room for a little magic in how we make sense of the world.
Do you believe that there is mystery in the world? A friend told me how she went to Brisbane, hoping to see her 25-year-old son, with whom she had fallen out of contact for some months. She was worried sick about him. She knew he had played around with some of the darker aspects of life. Ones that start out with the sparkly gloss of fun, like party drugs. She didn’t know where he lived or how he was supporting himself. He was lost to her and her anxiety levels were sky high.
Following a persistent nudging from her psyche, she drove to Brisbane. ‘I just needed to be closer to him, somehow and I got a great urge to drive up the coast’. She went right into the city and walked down Queen Street Mall. ‘It was crazy,’ she said. ‘I had no idea where he was in the whole of that big city. But I went anyway. I just had to try. The mall was packed with students and shoppers then suddenly, halfway down, the crowds parted and there he was, walking toward me. He was as surprised as I was. We went and had coffee. We talked.’
I’d like to write it all was happily ever after for the two of them. It wasn’t, of course. There was so much going on. But hearts were eased and promises were made to stay connected. The interesting part is, why was he in the mall at the exact same time she was? Both confessed they rarely went there.
That is, in my view, a tale about the magical element in life. I related this story to a scientist friend who immediately pooh-poohed the notion of mystery. ‘There’s no such thing!’ he crowed. ‘That is all magical thinking, stuff people make up to make themselves feel better. It’s utter twaddle. That wasn’t magic! That was a happy coincidence. She made up a story to make herself feel better.’
When somebody dismisses a concept so firmly, I find it wise to reroute the conversation onto safer planes. When a person has a fixed position, there is usually no budging them and that includes me with my belief in the ephemeral aspect of life. But I would hate to live a life with my back turned away from the possibility of enchantment and of higher forces about which we know little.
Why does somebody you’ve been thinking about ring you, out of the blue? You long for a certain item like a hat or somesuch, and there it is for sale in the window. You dream about getting a new car and you are offered one at a price you can afford. What do the hard-line scientists think of that?
People have different mechanisms they use to understand the world. A Buddhist friend told me how she listens keenly to the pulse of the world. ‘When I go out, there are signs. If all the lights are green, the parking is easy, the service is smooth and I complete my tasks easily, then I know I am in the flow. But some days, the toast burns, the milk is sour, I mislay my keys several times, the car won’t start, the parking is hard … then I know this is a day to keep things simple. To not force things. I always observe the signs. I call it taking the pulse of the day.’
The questions are, what mechanisms do you use to help you navigate an uncertain world? Do you believe in magic? Do you take the pulse of the day, consciously or unconsciously? Do you carry talismans, offer prayers, follow data? What are your tools? We all need them to reassure ourselves that we have a tiny measure of control in this mad, beautiful world.