Inspiration
Articles to inspire authentic living on the topics of resilience, spirituality, and self-growth with touches of storytelling, depth, and humor.
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Of Science vs Magic and tribal encounters
There is a saying that states “find your tribe, and love them hard.” If they make me think deeply, raise my spirit and make me laugh, they are my kind of people. I do not take for granted each of our encounters. This was a weekend full of beautiful get-togethers. Last night, our very diverse “tribe” got together for our annual Christmas celebration. I won’t deny that a few Tito’s and homemade coquitos later we were having lots of fun. I know it because my eyes started crying the way they do when I am laughing hard. In this particular group there are doctors, lawyers, artists, agnostics, religious followers and low-key “witches”, which helps transform every conversation into a diverse ground of interesting ideas and points of view. In a split of a second, the conversation turned from rules for our gift exchange to a deep topic: Science vs. Magic.
Being raised in a house by doctors, researchers and a self-taught computer coder, science was discussed regularly. However, my parents could discuss medical findings during Sunday lunch with the same passion that they shared holistic techniques and the power of believing in the extraordinary. That was a perfect ground to allow my analytical brain to reconcile with my highly intuitive, artistic soul. In other words, growing up we never had to favor one above the other, something I am beyond grateful for.
The Wizard of Us
How do you react when somebody mentions one of your favorite books of all times in the most random circumstances? Where does your mind go considering that is one of the most spiritual enlightening books you have ever read? What if this story let’s you confront your own ideas about magic?
I am not talking about potions and bewitching spells. Rather, I am referring to the magical encounters that give us goosebumps, to the synchronicities, to the sparks that begin with a kiss, in the rejoice found in the perfection of watching a baby sleep, in a stranger’s smile in the moment you must need it. I have always believed in magic and cherish it, not as a way to avoid reality but to elevate our existence by believing there is something greater than ourselves that we can’t explain and that its only mission could be to make ours lives brighter and fuller.
So came the casual reference today to the Wizard of Oz. It was not about the search for courage, heart, brain or home; it was about the moment the curtains opened up and revealed the big Wizard of Oz, the one expected to solve everybody’s problems with his gigantic, powerful skills, was actually a big fraud.
I wished upon a star....and I discovered magic
Looking at the stars: one of the favorite pastimes of my childhood. There was something always so incredible enchanting about it. That sense of us being so little among the universe, the fact that it always changed and at the same time remained eternal and universal. I could not even count the amount of hours I spent looking for a shooting star or a comet with the sole intention of making a wish, because it seemed that that rare appearance could only symbolize that something special was about to happen. Growing up we lived in a hill on the outskirts of a big city with the gorgeous view of The Avila, a mountain that at approximately 9 thousand feet high offered constant Kodak opportunities. But the best part of our location is that the altitude and the fact that it was far from commercial areas or highways offered a privilege point of view of the celestial map.
One day my mother brought home an astronomy book that I took possession of without even asking. I loved learning from the constellations, started recognizing the patterns. By learning the names of some of the stars I got intrigued by their mythological origins and that is how my love for Greek Mythology was born. Now that I think about it in retrospect, what drawn me into Mythology were the stories, the characters how it showed something universal about our human nature in a very magical setting.
Although long gone are the days when I though I needed to write a compilation of Greek mythology books and I don’t look at the stars with the same frequency, there is something still so incredibly moving when I look into the sky and see that stars in all of its glory. It is almost like a call to forget my mundane existence and blend with the universe.