The Charmed Life (Oversoul Seven Trilogy)

The Charmed Life (Oversoul Seven Trilogy)From one of Oversoul Seven's books The Charmed Life, from theOversoul Seven Trilogy (The Further Education of Oversoul Seven) byJane Roberts.Each life is charmed, yours and everyone else's, and you must neverforget it. The instant you're born, you're charmed, because lifeitself is a charm.Each being is charmed into existence itself, and given everything itneeds to operate in the environment. Your body is charmed, too: it'sa magic part of everything else, springing up from all the things yousee about you.Atoms and molecules go singing through the miraculous air, formingthemselves into rocks and trees and dogs and cats, people too. Youare magic. You charm the air so that it thickens into your bodywherever you are.When you want to move, you think the air ahead of you into becomingyour body, and the air behind you then stops being you body ... allvery magical indeed. You move your arm just one inch to the right,and the air to the left one inch stops being part of your arm. But itall happens so quickly, your snatching of the air and making it turninto your body, that you never notice it at all, and take it quitefor granted. which is why it works so well, you see.But your life is charmed. And there is a secret, a very simple one.Really, it's not a secret. But you have to remember that your life ischarmed. People who forget can't use their magic nearly as well asthey did before, and they have a tendency to get angry at those whocan. So, often, they pretend that no magic exists at all. Then theyevolve great philosophies to prove it, which is itself magical, ofcourse. But they can't see that, because they're so convinced thatmagic doesn't exist.And many people forget how simple and natural magic is, so theyevolve long theories, and methods that are supposed to make it work,when you and I know, and everyone else really knows, that magichappens by itself, because that's what magic is.But people are also very creative - magic again! - so they make upgods of this and that, and realms and spheres, and maps to chart outin advance where magic might be taking them so the don't getsurprised, which is silly because magic goes where it wants to, whichis everywhere. And when you try to map it out in advance, your reallycut yourself short.Because a characteristic of magic is that it automatically turns intowhatever you want it to be. You create your own reality with it, sowhatever maps you make are real. And if you forget what magic is,then you're liable to think that your map is the only real one, andall others are false. You get in a terrible bind, fighting over whichway is right,which road or map, while all the time magic is whatmakes the maps. And a great variety of maps can appear in thetwinkling of an eye!Particularly when you grow up, many people will tell you that thereis no magic. If you believe them, then you'll forget too, and you'llact as if you aren't charmed and bring unmagic into your life - whichis magic too, you see, but magic that doesn't know itself. Thenyou'll create things that go with unmagic, like sorrow or sickness,and you'll have to deal with them at that level until you rememberthat your life is charmed again.So in the meantime you'll feel nasty and unloved and angry, waybeyond what is natural, and have to worry about sad or fearfulemotions and what to do with them, when magically, you'd know. They'djust come and go exuberantly like summer storms. But anger and hateand sorrow are all magic too, and left alone, they'd lead you back tothe knowledge that your life is charmed. Because hate is love lookingfor itself every place but where love is, and love is what you feelfor yourself when you know that you are where you're supposed to bein the universe, and that you're lovely just because youare, and of course, charmed.Not only that, but you're also the magic maker; the inner living partof you that forms your life. But consciously you have to know this,accept and acknowledge it, and let the magic of yourself happen. Thatway, you're directing the magic of yourself.But it's even more fun just to let the magic happen as it wants to,because it's your magic, and that way it keeps telling you more andmore about your magical self. Then the magic flows through you withunimpeded delight. If you keep saying, "I want it this way and noother," then you may be limiting your physical experience, becausethere's no doubt that your magical self knows more about yourpotentials than you do. And it will tell you quite clearly, if youonly listen.To many adults, all of this sounds too simple and unintellectual,because unfortunately many of them think that the mind is justsomething to say 'no' with, and to keep out magic. Nothing could befurther from the truth.But if you use your mind to say no to magic, then it's like closingdoors to your own charmed existence, and refusing to use the fullpower of your life.Everyone works with magic, whether they realise it or not. Beliefsare magic, too, you see. Many people think that one particular beliefmakes everything right; or makes magic happen. And as long as theybelieve that, they're all right for a while. But if they startdoubting that belief, and don't find another one to replace it, thenthey think that they've losttheir magic, or that life has. Instead,of course, the magic is there all along.But people love systems, so they use all kinds of beliefs - some ofthem quite handy - as aids. And they travel through belief systems,sometimes going to considerable trouble to do so, when all theyreally have to remember is that they are magic themselves, and theirlives are charmed without their having to do anything about it at all.And your conscious mind is magic, too. Its workings are mysteriousand complicated, and simple and clear at once, like air is. Yourconscious mind looks out through your eyes, and knows parcels of airas its body, and smiles through cheeks and skin the same way that themoon shines through the wide skin of the heavens. See how clear andmysterious it all is? So,in a way, it's silly for the conscious mindto question magic, because - well, it's so magical itself.But systems of magic are silly, too, and all of them are really basedupon doubt. Magic is considered so tenuous that someone has to be atit all the time, making spells or paying someone else to do it. Andthe spells all have to be done right, so people concentrate on how todo this spell or another. This gets very complicated, and many adultbooks deal with the subject.But everything is a spell. Your words and thoughts are spells.Science is just another system that tries to discover what certainspells cause certain effects. Usually, of course, scientists don'tunderstand magic any more than priests do; and they all get caught upin their own complicated methods.There isn't much basic difference between muttering a lot ofdifferent phrases or drawing magic circles to protect yourselfagainst illness, and taking handfuls of pills given to you bydoctors. Both methods work if you believe in them, though thepractitioners of one method will never agree that the other way worksat all, of course. And unfortunately, neither side really understandsmagic, which is behind all of the spell and methods and formulas.Spells work if you believe in them; only you don�t need spells atall. Everything happens by itself. You happen by yourself, so does theworld. And the principle behind all is magic. And magic is thebeingness within and behind all things