The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

For a long, long time, my whole life, maybe, I’ve believed that magic requires some kind of secret magic words; exactly like in the movies. All I need to do to get the results I want is to find the right magic words to use.

I followed a magician several years ago who taught that complicated rituals always work, but people don’t want to do the hard stuff so they don’t do it.

As time has gone on, I’ve realized that this is obviously not a helpful way to experience existence. In part because it plays into this idea that if you just follow the directions exactly, you’ll do magic. It’s easy to think of magic like baking; you can’t just throw whatever you want into the oven and expect to pull out a load of sourdough.

Instead, I’ve learned that just doing the ritual as written, following the instructions exactly, is akin to miming in the kitchen. You’re stirring an empty bowl. You’re waiting for a nonexistent loaf to rise in a cold oven.

Magic isn’t about stuff or things or getting all the correct ritual tools or incense ingredients. It’s about something that we can’t express in words. And that’s the point.

What if, instead, the words themselves are the magic? What if our language literally creates the world around us?

And, in this case, I don’t mean “magically.” I mean our language literally shapes the environment around us in a way we can understand and relate to others about.

Without a word for “chair,” we’d just sit on whatever and consider it fine. There would be no concept in our brain for a specific object you sit on with legs and a back.

I think this is most evident when you look at something in nature. You might see a leaf, for example, and notice that the leaf is green. You’ll see a solidly green object. But, if you decide to look deeper into the leaf, beyond the idea of “green,” you’ll notice tons of shades and tones and different aspects of green. Suddenly it seems silly to call this thing “green” when it contains such a verdant rainbow.

Rosicrucians describe this concept as learning to see the world as an artist might and learning to “think artistically.” Most of us see our words as solid and “real,” but in actuality, they simply attempt to add order to a perceived chaos. Words allow human being to experience a shared reality. A shared realization of the infinite actuality.

Western Esotericism seems to, in a major way, intend to teach us that our words (both spoken and internal) have immense power. If we can change our words, and change the associations we have those words, we can change our minds, and eventually, change the world.

Don’t let the negativity win.