The Mystic and the Magician
In Jethro Tull’s song Thick as a Brick, Ian Anderson wrote “The do-er and the thinker: no allowance for the other.” My friend, the doer, the entrepreneur and builder, tends to be an optimistic soul, singing the successes of president Obama and of the promises of solar power that are just around the corner. I come off pessimistic in our discussions, finding Obama’s revolving door policy a sign of his loyalty to the oligarchy and solar power a way for the affluent billion to keep the lights on in their houses and the fuel in their travels. Although the intersection of the Venn Diagrams of our paradigms is large, we seem irreconcilably at odds in these moments.
Of course, we also understand that these are not cases of either/or. Our disagreements are due to differing perspectives. I am a thinker, a mystic. I want to know the truth of the matter. Beliefs, I find, create the limits to our possibilities. They are the sides of the box that we will need to think ourselves out of. As soon as we believe something we have just created the next box we will have to “think” our way out of. To get the truth of the matter, we need to eschew beliefs.
My friend, on the other hand, is a doer, a magician. To act, to engage with this world and to change it in a way that we deem better, then belief, we will find, is an incredibly powerful ally. Belief focuses our attention onto the direction of our path. Our efforts are more efficient and effective. Without belief, we are standing still in the complexity of existence, trying to make sense of paradox, of apparent dualism, discerning patterns in the chaos. Belief gives us the kind of certainty we need to be passionate about our course of action, granting us confidence in the face of adversity and resolve when feeling frustrated. It helps us get up out of bed in the morning to fight the good fight; it fuels our discipline and good habits.
My friend sees the glass half full. I see the glass half empty. The truth is that the glass is both half full and half empty. He is, by his nature, a very thoughtful person who acts in the world. He is a magician. I am a person who acts in the world and yet spends far more time in contemplation. I am more a mystic. I see the problems. He sees the solutions. I am the one who sees the problems with his solutions. He is the one who then refines his solutions. The do-er and the thinker, the magician and the mystic, the optimist and the pessimist: these are dualisms that can become lovingly resolved in the real.
