Living Magically

Café-Salon Philosophique #32

March 6, 1999

No. of Participants: 15

Host and Moderator for this event is Samuel Avital, one of the world's greatest mime artist and "Provocateur Extraordinaire"

The evening's topic: "Living in the Magical Universe"

Samuel began the evening by describing how Café-Salon gatherings offer people the opportunity to "think out loud" in a relaxed, comfortable environment and provides a platform from which participants can "speak freely" on the chosen topic of the evening.

Just what is,"Living in a magical universe? What makes life magical?" Joseph defined life as being "multi-dimensional, with various energies interacting." So many sometimes, the "scope of these energetics seems to be way beyond our limited way of thinking."

Life not only exists as physical, visible space, but also as invisible space. The cultures and societies of our world tend to depress and oppress human consciousness and intelligence. Humans are not taught to function beyond limited thinking of the visible, tangible, physical world.

We learn to function in a "competitive world, not a creative one." Seeking knowledge of the invisible world is neglected. Creative energies and the imagination are forgotten. We forget "how to play" in the world with each other and our surroundings.

Individual egos keep one obsessed with the self and what's happening in our own little worlds, rather than discovering and learning about the whole world that surrounds us. We learn to abuse words and neglect silence, opting for a noisy and chaotic world.

We must remember that we are not only physical, but also have spiritual and mental components that need attention. Integration of the three needs to occur in order for a human being to function as a "whole." In the whole, is where we discover the infinite.

Because we live from the limited mindset of the physical world and function from "adult seriousness," we tend to loose touch with the magic of the moment. What happens or where does this magical child-like quality go as we age? Why do we loose our innocence and awareness of being? Where lies the hidden treasures of our inner magic? How do we recapture this state?

We must learn to think anew. Embody new ideas and concepts. Discover a new way of being. The body and mind must be retrained. (See, What is BodySpeak™?) Creative energies must be channeled. Retraining the body through the art of mime stimulates the imagination and can get one in touch with the magical side we tend to forget.

One of the reasons we hold the Café philosophical gatherings is to help people clarify reality and raise the level of consciousness for living life and sharing worldly concerns. In our world, people do not want to take the time or put out the effort to be responsible for seeking inner self honesty. Many don't care about changing their lives or dare to even question their existence.

Samuel then asked participants to share, "What is magic?" Reinhardt began by describing how "our ancestors thought of the universe as being magical." Primordial man was fascinated with mystical magic. Life centered around dance, ritual, costumes, primitive paintings, etc. Jeff, who is a scientist and astronomer said "he didn't really know what it means to live magically." To him, "the world seems fictional." He says he has noticed and observed how some groups of people "succumb to living in altered states in order to deal with living in Society." He mentioned Alzheimer's as an example.

Joseph said, "we are not here to live in an altered state, but rather to strive for balance and harmony." What exists at the moment is the attempt to reach balance and harmony. People learn to balance and harmonize with them selves and the world by solving problems and learning through life experiences.

Eve asked Samuel if he has balance and harmony in his life? Samuel responded with the metaphor, "weakness must be expressed in strength." One needs to welcome both in order to experience balance and harmony. Allan stated, "one needs to realize that they don't know, in order to learn that they know." "One needs to surrender to humaness." Carla stated that "this was a Zen principle - To know and not know the self." Joseph stated "But, Zen does not acknowledge the mind and the body, it's based on spirituality only."

Another human dilemma is allowing outside "experts and authorities" to tell us who we are, how we should live, and what we should learn.The group then continued with defining "meanings of magic." MiKayla finds magic in "nature and animals." Alessandra believes magic is having "a sense of wonder like a child" in exploring and discovering the self and world around you."

Lester thinks magic is "deceptive" because, "things happen that he can't explain." Jeff "has a hard time" distinguishing between magic and mystery. He wonders sometimes why "there is so much of everything in the world instead of just a little or nothing at all."

Magic is "using your own imagination," Joseph said. "It is finding and using the edge between the visible and invisible. The area and space between polarities."

Miriam finds magic in "nature, walks, animals (dogs, horses) and in scenery such as Long's Peak." Observing nature helps one to enjoy the "magic of perfection and imperfection in all things." Craig says, "there is a higher creative force that flows that you can't plant. This force is always circulating. Magic flows every moment and can create a kind of unfolding, if one is open and in tune with the energy."

He illustrated with a story about "three birds circling way up high in the sky which continued to circle and circle and then, all of a sudden, they disappeared up and out of sight into a beam of light." "That was truly magical."

Eve says that "magic exists because we learn from expectations and limitations. She believes, "these can trigger the positive aspects of our being." Carla thinks "magic is an illusion." It is a concept in words only." Samuel said, "people either kill the magic or become fascinated with it." Opportunities are available all the time to take notice, open doors, and go forward in discovering the magic. But the all important question is, Does one want to discover the magic of living?

Sandra believes "every moment in life is magical." "Miracles can occur when there is a conscious state of awareness and being. It is a choice for an individual to be open to themselves in discovering the "miracles in experiences."

Howard finds magic when "instant solutions appear out of nowhere" to problems. The solutions seem like small "mini wonders." "How does this happen?" He asked. A couple of participants offered that this was a "process of the subconscious making something conscious." Joseph called this phenomenon a "time lag" of information being sent from the subconscious to the conscious.

Carla then became "cerebral" in her way of thinking in trying to define what magic is. She chose not to listen or learn from the other participant's experiences, and reduced the discussion to an arena of arguing, projecting and blaming others while they were trying to interact and engage in conversation with her on the topic of magic.

Lester and other participants commented on the fact that, "the discussion had gotten completely off of the topic." Samuel reinforced that "Café gatherings are not for psychotherapy. General personal opinions and feelings should be avoided in order to maintain a high quality level of discussion."

MiKayla was disappointed that we had "lost the magic" of discovering "what is magical" about life. On a final note, Joseph conveyed how, "we lose the magic" because we do not learn to develop a dialogue between our left and right brains. We remain predominantly "left-brained" and use "frontal lobe thinking."

Because of this limited thinking, we lose the child-like perception of "innocence, newness, exploring and playfulness in life." We choose to continue to "keep up with the Joneses, be "joe average or settle for a mediocre existence. Life is "carried on as usual."

Do you find your life magical? What things make it so? What would you change to make life more meaningful and magical? (Just a few considerations from the writer on this topic)

The next Café meeting will be held Saturday, March 20, 1999, at the Troubadour Bookstore located at 1638 Pearl St. in Boulder, CO. Start time is 6:30 p.m. Hope to see you there! Invite your friends. Also, don't forget, Saturday, March 27, 1999 which is "An Evening with Samuel Avital." Learn more about his work, What is BodySpeak™? Start time for this event is also 6:30 p.m.