Is Magic Dying?

Something has been stolen from us.

Do you ever feel a longing? A nostalgia for something to come back? Like something very dear is missing but you can’t place your finger on what?

I do.

I wonder a lot about imagination. Something we’re all blessed with as children, whether you were a serious kid or not. Rain or sun, cooped up in the living room or dashing through the forest, we could play all day. Whether we had figures, dolls, sticks, or sports. We had no responsibilities as the vast universe of possibilities sprawled before us, allowing us to be shapeshifters, magicians, dancers, even home owners. We could have everything we ever wanted. As long as we could think it, we could play it.

But as time passes and we grow older, we imagine less and work more. We go to school and think about logical things like math, homework, and who did what that day. We sit in tight little desks, focusing for hours on end with no room for movement except for lunch breaks and sometimes, when we have jobs, even those breaks are forgone.

Is that what kills the magic? What kills imagination?

Because somewhere down the line, we forget how to pass through all those different worlds. We forget how content we were. And we worry. We worry about every single little detail because if we don’t, the crushing weight of responsibility will bear down on us, threatening to kick us out of our homes, jobs, or anything else. If we don’t worry, we’re in trouble.

I have to wonder though, if we never had to acclimate to society’s demands and if we could forever play, does imagination truly go away? We see losing touch with this part of ourselves as natural. We mature and grow up while children are deemed immature and innocent, yet to experience what life is like and what it holds.

But what if this wasn’t right?

What if what they tell you about imagination is a farce? What if we’re meant to have it all throughout our lives because human beings are naturally playful and curious beings? What if they lied to you so that you’d give up your freedom and your happiness?

I think back to when people lived in more violent times throughout history. Times like ancient Egypt where they were lucky to live past 20. Times like when North America was being settled and people were dying of disease. Back then, I wonder if their imaginations must have been forgotten fast in order to survive. They had much more pressing concerns than playing so perhaps it’s natural that, over time, we lose that connection. It could very well impede our survival, though this is just a speculation.

Then I think back to ancient tribes. Of course there was danger back then, but they were close knit groups and had the ways of the Earth to both take care of them and heal them. I wonder if those people were allowed to dream. Aside from when they were collecting food or building shelters or doing anything else necessary for their survival, did they play more? Did adults imagine alongside the children? Would they have looked at us in the present day in complete horror as magic leaks out of our veins, sucked out because it’s the unknowing price we pay for industrialized society?

I suppose my main question is, are human beings, at a core, soul level, meant to play?

I believe everyone enjoys having a project to work on or a goal to work towards, but on their own time. And that in and of itself becomes a form of play. I also think that magic is meant to stay with us throughout our lifetime. This is because I remember something key when I was watching my friend’s children. We would play make believe. I was 20 and enjoying myself, immersed in the story. I surprised myself by retaining the capability to lose myself in a ‘fake’ reality. And if I had that imagination in me, so must everyone else considering we all start out with it! At least, that’s my reflection. I recall eventually in my play with those girls, I would tire of the story, but they kept imagining their wondrous world. I wondered what had happened to mine.

Do you believe imagination and play is our natural state? Or are we meant to grow out of it?

As always, these are just my musings.

Gupta