This month's theme--My Writing Dreams Come True--instantly made me think of magic. Because the fulfillment of any of my dreams: authoring a bestseller, having one of my books scripted for the big screen, or simply having a reader say, "I enjoyed the read," would indeed be magical.
Only... Do I believe in magic?
Do you?
If you’re
geekishly inclined (like moi), you might want to pause before you respond with
a resounding “NO.” While we hardcore logical types tend to mistrust anything we
can’t reduce to an equation, I ask you to consider the following:
Soundwaves: Most of us have some understanding of
the principles of sound. We agree our cellphones can transmit data, voice and
images across the country because of science. But exactly why do soundwaves (radio
waves, microwaves, etc., etc.) exist? Why do they work the way they do? One
could successfully argue that the existence of this phenomenon is, in itself, magical.
The Reproductive Process:
An egg is fertilized,
cells start to divide and grow. For humans, a new member of our species is delivered
nine-plus months later. Pure science,
right? But exactly what drives that cell to divide? For that matter, what
drives mankind to reproduce in the first place? We call it the “miracle of
birth” for a reason.
Our Habitable Planet:
We can explain, in
scientific terms, what makes life possible on Earth, but think about the exact
combination of factors that must exist for humanoid life:
** We must be the right distance from the sun.
** A magnet field is required to protect us from
deadly radiation.
** Water (and carbon, and a host of other stuff)
must be in plentiful supply.
**
An atmosphere is essential.
**
We need rock; not to mention our planet must be the right size, with a molten
core, and tectonic plates.
**
A moon, rotating at the appropriate distance from the planet. The big, shiny object in the night sky is
directly responsible for the Earth's orbital tilt angle, and thus responsible for our climate and tides. Without the Moon, the Earth would wander in
response to the gravitational pulls of the sun and Jupiter. Translation, no
more life as we know it. In other words, we’d be Mars.
**
Etc., etc., etc. While all the reasons for our planet’s habitability can
be explained scientifically, the combination of unique factors that must
coexist to constitute our living planet is mind-boggling. Perhaps our uniqueness id the reason we’ve found no
other signs of humanoid life in this vast universe.
Falling in Love: Enough said.
Dictionary.com defines magic as:
“the art of
producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various
other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies
or the forces of nature.” If you substitute “invention” or “industry” for the
word “incantation,” isn’t that also a definition for science?
Until we magically get the answer (to this question and a plethora of other philosophical ones), I will simply "hope" your dreams come true.
Happy reading!
Robin
