Magic in the World Around Us

Since I write speculative fiction, I’m always dreaming up some magical world or a world where science is pushed a little beyond it’s current limits. Sometimes while I’m thinking up superheros, angels, and human clones, I get detached from the real world and forget the magical things that surround me — in real life!

For example:

This past summer, I changed my branding to have the northern lights in the background. This phenomenon makes me wonder where science and magic come together.

Stare into the night sky. How is it possible that the galaxy goes on forever? Each of those stars is the equivalent of our sun…and is there other life out there? The concept alone is magical…not to mention how many stars are in the sky.

The bumble bee. Really, any animal in flight impresses me, but just look at the aerodynamics of this little creature. I think I read somewhere that by pure physics, their flight shouldn’t be possible.

A simple light bulb. It’s more of the electricity it represents. How is it possible for these little electrons to flow through wiring and do so much for us? And when you’re not using it, it sits in the wires, waiting.

Okay, okay. You’re telling me none of this is magic — it’s science, but I think science is pretty cool. We humans only know a tiny fraction about what surrounds us. Even the human brain is amazing and not understood. To me, it’s magical…

As I thought more and more about this topic, I asked my newsletter subscribers what they find magical and a little different perspective was neat to hear. Here is what they had to say.

“Serendipitous coincidences!  If you read about a coincidence in a book, it seems contrived, darn it!  But in real life, they usually spell love or a new job or something delicious.”

“A word is so much more than just the combination of its letters (it has a meaning, which might be quite powerful) and a book (or any text that makes sense; it might just be a “simple” question) is more than all its individual words (I knew all the words before, but when you combine them, you are creating something new). Of course, some words and some books are more magical to me, but the idea that you can create all that (a powerful tool, which can change those who read it) with just the right combination of letters (just a finite set of characters, already known to all)… That’s magic!”

“The beginning of life, both the emergence of life on earth in the distant past and the beginning of a new life in the present. Suddenly, something or someone is there that wasn’t there before. Magic!”

So, I’d love to hear.

What do you find magical in the world around you?

Simply post in the comments below.