The Magic That Is True

One day, in the checkout line of an organic food shop, stood a small girl—three or four years old perhaps. Beside her, two adults were speaking, likely her mother and a friend.

The girl kept waving her hand, tracing semicircles in the air. She'd pause for a few seconds, glance at the people around her, then wave again. To an outside observer, it seemed as though she were caught in some invisible play.

The true mystery revealed itself moments later. As the automatic doors opened in response to the shoppers' approach, the girl believed—with absolute certainty—that it was her hand that opened them. Her hand, in her mind, was a magic wand. She was delighted, beaming with joy.

When it came time to leave, they deliberately stopped at a distance where the sensors wouldn't trigger the doors. The girl looked toward her mother, who gestured toward the doors. The child immediately waved her "magic wand," and the doors swung open.

Stepping through, the girl turned back with a regal bearing, like a proud empress. Her mother and friend bowed their heads in gratitude. The girl was overcome with happiness.

In this small incident lay revealed something profound—that the magic of life dwells entirely in seeing with wonder, in the faith of a child, where every moment astonishes, and every sight fills the heart with indescribable joy.

But the question remains: where did this magic disappear to? Why, as we grew, did we lose that sense of wonder?

We were lifted from the enchanted realm of childhood and seated on the benches of schools, later in the square rooms of offices and careers. "Be quiet." "Pay attention." "That's foolish." "Don't do that." And so on, endlessly.

Thus the innate sense of wonder was stolen away, replaced by artificial illusions—pulling rabbits from hats, the trick of sawing a woman in a box, and the greatest sleight of hand of all—being compelled to accept only logic and proof as truth.

Yet the question persists: can the real magic be recovered? Yes, it can.

That magic is the rediscovery of the whole self, the awakening of that naturally illuminated being which every human carries from birth.

Meditation is the ticket to that magic. Its price is a deep longing within. A longing to return—to that garden of joy, where every moment shimmers with magic, and every breath is filled with wonder.

When such a call is heard—whether in the crimson sunrise of dawn or in the silent voice of the heart—the door opens again. The call to journey sounds: Step right up… Come back to the true magic of life.