Magic & Adventure.. Can they coexist?
Having taken the decision to watch the Avengers movie despite neither having watched any of its previous editions nor having understood any of its characters’ details, I believed to be a proud possessor of one of the most important virtues of life- Courage. Honestly, the downside wasn’t much except 170 minutes of randomness but still I would label it as Courage. Others termed it stupidity, for having missed the earlier ones while the brutal ones termed me a pseudo-intellectual. Well, the terminology didn’t bother me much. What was ringing in my temple of intellect or pseudo-intellect were the bells of curiosity, signaling to my wandering anxiety to return back. My anxiety to unravel the content everyone is raving about! How could I miss it? More so because the Avengers series relies on ambiguities in human perception. It celebrates super heroes and their supernatural powers. It had elements wondrously unexpected and inexpiable. Something which happens once in a blue moon. It was after all magic in the movie.
Magic — the word itself is so magical. Everyone wants a slice of it- slice is what you get and that’s why it’s magical else it would be something challenging yet doable. That’s how we have been made to perceive magic. Magic unveils the world of astonishment, generally on a positive side. Could we in the next moment land in Mars and see the life there in a fizz? Could animals speak in human language? Something which is impossible to do in the first thought. An airplane seemed magical in childhood. And typically it evolves. Mind you, magic is very delusional. Often on the shores of tomorrow, we send hopes into exile. We let the cycle of our belief rust in our backyard of acceptance & routine- Welcome ‘pseudo reality’ wrapped in a colorful glossy paper called magic- ephemeral- like a bottle of wine — drowning our modesty & enabling the dreamy stuff to shine. One of my very close friends who triggered this thought in my mind said ‘Foundation for magic is dangerous. You dream, the next day it comes true, you love it. The next moment it’s over. Doesn’t happen again & again. Magic is there in our subconscious. In reality we engage in adventure, experiencing the twists and turns. Atleast we experience it for long’. The thought was intriguing.
My sense of adventure is the will to take risk, along with the courage to make some sacrifice. If one doesn’t take a risk of real nature, repairable or potentially irreparable, it’s not an adventure. Embarking into something which is uncertain with equal probabilities of substantial gain or loss, forms the cornerstone of adventure. Falling in love, falling out of it, joining a new job, quitting it and getting into a new one- all form slices of adventure. Adventure is what we engage with mostly in life.
So is there no space for magic in our practical life? Is magic camouflaged as figments of our crazy dreams and should be abandoned? Here is the trickery of magic. It is inherently powerful. While adventure sparks thoughts, magic ignites the fire. While adventure sustains hope in life’s marathon, magic nudges to cross the finishing line. It makes you believe that nothing is unattainable. We often restrict ourselves and think of magic to be limited to actions and events. But magic embraces much more. It’s embedded in emotions and feelings. Being a mother is magical- the purity and unexplainable dynamic curve of emotions vis-à-vis efforts is nothing short of magic. Giving birth and making a choice to have a baby is adventure, but after a child’s birth is pure magic. The earth is magical. It gives flowers of different colors and at the same time it grows thorns. It holds strong trees, hides rivers, absorbs sand- it’s all magic. People’s miraculous escape & steely resolve to fight a disease are magic. There is for sure a space for magic in our life. Come to think of it, magicians do not have supernatural powers, rather they are amazing to leverage the nuances of human perception, attention & awareness. And hence our mind is magical. It’s often clouded with many hidden pockets attached. We just need to unravel these pockets. Where the drops of pure rain are? Where are the brave hailstorms hidden? Where are the innovative drums of lightening? Which is the thread stitching the gusty gust of wind? We just need to nudge the magician. And then see the magic unfolding through the power of our minds. Magic is infact the juxtaposition of science and belief. And both magic and adventure can certainly coexist in our life!
Someone asked me, ‘What is the theme around Salman Khan’s movie- adventure or magic?’ I replied, ‘It has both, the script is adventurous while the persona is magical’. After all, it’s about Being Human. Isn’t it?
