Magic and the Ghost of Information

Some humans turn intensely angry, others grow intensely curious.

Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash

Some humans turn intensely angry when they believe something bad has happened. Others grow intensely curious. I’m in the second camp and want you to join me… for the rest of your life. Our existence will begin to improve, in every measurable way, when more of us reject turning angry together, and embrace growing curious together. From the wisest old woman on a mountain top, to the newest, most clueless little boy in a crib — we can all learn something from another human. When bad things happen to good people, choose curiosity, not anger. Anger blinds. Curiosity let’s you see.

There’s something really important that I’d like you to see, too. You might say it’s the crisis none of us is aware of. There is a monster lurking all around us, a potentially toxic presence few of us can detect. If you reject anger and choose curiosity, I think you’ll be able to see this monster, and save yourself, others, and any idea that you love. Because even your most cherished ideas aren’t safe from this entity, the ghost of information.

Anger isn’t all bad. It is a useful signal or landmark in your travels. Know that you travel through your life constantly building a map in your mind. The map is not the territory. The map is a tool. It gives you a sense of the journey’s beginning, the ground you’ve already traveled, and the ground you’d like to travel someday, and even an eventual end to your journey, though you don’t like to think about that much. Always study your map, every morning, and when you encounter anger on your adventure, recognize it as a raging river and mark it on the map. Very much be aware of it, pay the closest attention to it, but don’t stand close enough for it to pull you in. The current has greater reach than you realize. And never, ever willingly swim in its rapids. You’d be making your struggle through existence much harder than it needs to be. And, more importantly, you’d be wasting all your magic.

I’m likely older than you, but my proximity to the end of life is not the reason I choose to swim in the river of curiosity and never again set a toe in the raging rapids of anger. Age is always too simple an explanation, lazily selected. If you dare pick fruit from The Tree of Knowledge (a most brave act with enormous consequences) then always reach for a real treasure. Never waste a moment by thoughtlessly selecting the lowest hanging fruit on The Tree. Reach higher. Climb even. There is always greater treasure to be found. We eventually fall from The Tree forever, or, at least, we always fall from this particular Tree forever. Make the most of your time near it. It’s not that scary to climb, I’ll try to prove that too.

Mental energy is the greatest of all magic in the universe. We aren’t always comfortable using that word, magic, but we should be. Magic is easy to connect to. There’s a reason you intuitively understand “magic”, and a reason why humans have always used it as an explanation for the world. It feels right. It feels true. (Because it is.) “Mystery” feels separate from our lives. “Unknown” is neutral. “Magic” gets me out of bed every morning, thrilled to experience another day powered by, you guessed it, magic. It’s everywhere you look. I’ll try to prove that as well.

Magic

Magic is around us all the time. Energy is magic. Again, call it mystery if you want, but it’s inside you. It is a force and it’s part of you. If you would like to conclude that some aspects of you are a mystery, unknowable in many ways to yourself, then you’re free to do so. If this could truly go either way in your mind, you could consider both answers “correct”, then why not choose the one that puts a smile on your face.

Let’s test. Say each sentence out loud:

I am mystery.

I am magic.

Which read was a better experience for you? If you prefer experience 1, “I am mystery,” well, you’re welcome to keep reading, but I can’t relate to you, which makes it less likely you’ll be able to relate to me. (But do please test me on that and keep reading!)

If you preferred experience 2, “I am magic,” well, then we’re kindred spirits. What are spirits? Magic. See how liberating this can be? It acknowledges the “something” while also not getting weighed down in the infinite unknowable details (everything around you comprises infinite unknowable details) wasting your precious time as a conscious human being. A conscious human being is magic. I am magic. You are magic.

Energy is magic. Gravity is magic. We talk about these things all the time and couldn’t survive without either ‘force’, but science has no idea what either one really is. Energy and Gravity are turtles all the way down. We understand “wind”, which can be sensed but not seen. We do not understand “gravity” in the same way. Because we can all use the magic of mental energy to consider the magic of energy and gravity, well, that’s why I conclude that mental energy is the greatest magic in the universe. It’s in you. It’s in every human.

Is the magic of mental energy infinite? There is an undeniable chance that it just might be. We’ll never know. We do know we will someday be without a human mind, and unable to comprehend what we currently are able to comprehend. Think about it — we can comprehend the magic of energy, gravity, and infinity. People who believe in God say that someday, if we join him, we’ll be able to comprehend Him. That might be so. But, that is certainly a different mental state than what we currently know. So the magic of human mental energy, which we currently possess, will likely disappear on us forever someday.

So, why avoid anger? Because anger burns magic wastefully. Again, this is your choice, but knowing the magic will end for you some day, would you rather waste it, or use it to create new beginnings in your life? Anger burns. Curiosity builds.

The Ghost of Information

Like magic, which you sense, but can’t see, information is all around you. Information might even be you. That’s the next post. I would like to convince you that you are magic and information.

Let’s aim the magic of your mind at curious and wonder, where is she going with all this?

Totally fair question. Two more stops before we find out: Salem, Massachusetts, May 1692, and Anywhere, USA, May 1992. They have something in common that embodies magic and information. You know them as witches.

💙♾💙