Smile When You Say That

"People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion".

~ Albert Einstein

Mage Music 79

It’s not just people who believe in physics who get what it's all about. People who live the tenets of Magick and apply them in life also understand that the only moment when change is possible is the now.

Now is when/where life happens.
Now is where the power is.

But how do you stay in the now when there are so many pressures of the past and future distracting you?

The fallacy of the string of beads

There's too much to overcome. 
I can’t make any changes until I fix this other thing first. 
I can’t create a new reality because my past makes things have to be the way they are.

These are the kinds of things people tell themselves to explain why they are where they are and why their lives aren't changing.  We all do it.  But unfortunately, these are the thoughts that block Magick and the possibility of change. 

These thoughts are fallacies based on the idea that time is like a string of beads, that one moment in existence follows the next in an order that cannot be changed.  But time is not a string of beads. Time is not one moment after the next in an inevitable sequence. Time is a dimension, a physical property of the Universe like length, width and height are. And like these other dimensions, time just is - all at once.

The illusion of past, present and future is a product of human perception, which is finite and cannot ordinarily embrace the fullness of all that is. The default human perception is to sample reality in finite and discrete units - a sequence of events, a string of beads - but the Mage understands that this limited perception is not the way it has to be.

Because all dimensions exist all the time within time, anything can move or be moved from one condition in reality to another by choice and through the rituals (actions) of one who has the desire and will to do so. It is a matter of not letting the weight of perceived past or future influence the moment that is now.

Breaking free of the weight and influence of past and future is key. You need a reliable method to interrupt who you have been being in order to transition to the new reality you choose to manifest. How do you do that?

The confounded bridge

In music the bridge is often used to contrast with and prepare for moving from one musical passage to another. It is not intrusive – it fits with the whole – but it is different enough that it is a clear message that what was is done and something different is coming. It can be a note, a pause, a key change or a combination of several musical elements, but its function is to enable connection with a different place.

A Mage must have a reliable bridge to the now, the only moment of power - a bridge that is strong enough to clear the perception of an inevitable past-future sequence and allow for a new direction. It might surprise you to know that the simplest tool to accomplish this is the lowly smile.

Smile when you think that thing

Human (and some other animal’s) facial expressions reflect the output of the part of the brain called the limbic system (a.k.a. the paleomammalian brain or the reptile brain).  The limbic system is the oldest part of the brain (in terms of evolution) and is the most primitive. This part of the brain works on automatic responses, not intellectual decisions. It’s where emotions and immediate reaction to danger is handled and where memory is processed. It’s where “social processing”, including the evaluation of faces, occurs.  It's why you smile or frown without even being aware you're doing it.

When you’re feeling sad or mad or happy the emotions are reflected on your face automatically by the limbic system. The emotions don’t even have to be current – the memory of past sadness, anger or happiness and the anticipation of them in the future can elicit the facial expressions just as well. But what’s more important for Magick is that this is a two-way street. 

" The moment you change your perception is the moment you rewrite the chemistry of your body. "
~ Dr Bruce H. Lipton.

Beliefs are the lenses through which perceptions of the world are filtered. As with any good lens, beliefs are transparent, that is, they seem invisible and you are mostly unaware of them. Emotions are shaped by the lenses of beliefs. Unchecked, emotions rule a person and take the place of conscious choice.

No Magick for you when you live unconsciously because then you can make no choices.

Here's the usual string of beads of unconscious living:  Memory (limbic system) leads to emotion leads to physical results - one of which is the expression on your face. It's simple chemistry. Positive emotions cause the body to produce certain chemicals (e.g. dopamine and serotonin) and these in turn provide energy and growth and give people a feeling of connection with the world. Negative emotions cause the body to produce totally different chemicals (e.g. cortisol and epinephrine). These chemicals shut down your body, protectively disconnect you from the world to prepare you for fight or flight. Enough of these chemicals and you no longer have conscious control, meaning you can no longer make choices.  No Magick for you.

The simple smile - a tool you  have with you at all times if you only choose to use it - is the bridge that interrupts the flow and influence of memory and connects with the now. It is the reverse string of beads. The smile tells the body that a positive emotion is in play and the limbic system - which is so primitive it can be fooled this way - says okay, things must be good. The limbic system backs off and suddenly you are in the now.

The simple smile - it puts you in the NOW.  Try one on and see.

Burning Up

The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.

~Alexander Graham Bell.

Mage Music 64

Magick requires that the Mage maintain a deep-set knowing that a desire will manifest in reality.  This knowing is beyond belief and beyond thought. It is a surrender, a giving of self to the idea that the process of Magick absolutely will result in the desire made manifest.  

Not so easy when the Magick involves something the Mage has never done before, or perhaps something that has never existed before. Or even something the Mage has tried before and failed at.

 
It’s no sweat to manifest when the path is well-worn. In fact, it is so easy that Magick doesn't need to be involved at all. Almost anyone can make a meal out of raw ingredients using a tried and proven process – why bother with Magick to cook those ribs when the BBQ will work?

Dedication of time and energy and fully giving of self to an end that has never existed before is a whole other kettle of fish, particularly when the events out there in the world seem so out of control. 

 
Yet the biggest Works are those that seem the most impossible, the ones that manifest in the midst of apparent chaos. These are the Works of a Mage that exude such an excess of energy that the rest of us can bask in the glow of the Magick.

Boldly going where…

Imagine being blindfolded, earplugs cutting off all sound, wearing boxing gloves so you can’t feel anything - and then stepping off a platform trusting that the guy on the trapeze will grab your hands before you plunge to the hard ground below. Imagine believing so powerfully that you are able to walk across a bed of hot coals without burning your feet. A Mage uses the energy of the Universe itself to change reality, which is a kind of miracle, actually, since manifesting the smallest atom of anything that did not exist in this time/space before makes messing with trapezes and hot coals easy in comparison - although they do have a lot in common. Trapeze artist, fire walker and Mage all must hold an unwavering belief and trust, a steady desire and will that admit to no hint of failure, no moment of doubt of the outcome.  

Imagine, however, that you have tried and failed before. How much harder, then, to hold the necessary state of pure and intense trust that will result in manifestation, to know success in spite of the past? 

 
The past can't, of course, be unknown. A Mage must rather dwell in a state where the past has never existed.

No foolin’

A Mage can’t fake the level of belief and trust needed for Magick. It isn't a matter of logic or words - it is a matter of creating a change at the seat of emotion in the brain, such that the body and guts and mind already know the new state of reality.  A Mage creates within himself a new state that exists in the Universe already - so that which will be manifested in the outer world is already manifest in the Mage.

Impeccable preparation, the patience that allows time to stand still, and performance of the perfect ritual provide a means for the Mage to focus on the desired manifestation and keeps pressure, doubt and memory of failure out of the process. The Mage steps outside of the current state of reality into a transitional space where the new conditions can replace the old.  Magick then burns a new path in this world.

♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Albert Lee Burn Up 1967
Page/Plant Burning Up  1998