Magical Thinking
Green Psychology — Saturday, September 4th, 2010
The practice of Green Psychology helps us to continually grow so that we replace outdated beliefs and behaviors with healthier ones. In doing so, we free ourselves to more consciously live our unique lives.
Along the way, we grow through different stages of development. Each stage includes various beliefs and particular ways of relating with other people. The one constant, at every stage of development, is that we adopt beliefs and behaviors (largely unconsciously) in an attempt to minimize our anxiety.
From a very young age, to a potentially old age, some of the beliefs we adopt are magical beliefs. Early in life, magical beliefs have a quality of fantasy—Santa Claus, and the tooth fairy. Later in life, magical beliefs manifest as personal rituals. We may carry these beliefs with us to our graves, or we may adopt other beliefs that help us minimize our anxiety. Do magical beliefs serve us well? Do we possibly limit ourselves with magical thinking? Do other people in our lives help themselves with our magical beliefs, or might they hurt themselves?
These are the questions we invite you to explore. From a Green Psychology perspective, there is no judgment that magical beliefs are good or bad. Our intention is to stimulate awareness, individual consideration, and responsible choices—remembering that what’s best for us isn’t necessarily what’s best for another. To begin, we’ll share our definition of magical thinking.
“Magic” and “mystery” are words we use to describe things that are inexplicable or un-provable or unpredictable. Typically, we consider things magical when there is a perceived gap between cause and effect. If we can’t understand how the effect was produced, or we can’t replicate it, we refer to the effect as magical or mysterious.
Within the spectrum of magical thinking, at one end we might find the skeptic, at the other end, the schizophrenic. In between, we have our superstitions, private rituals, prayers, and formulas equating positive thinking with positive results. We may comfort ourselves with prayer, or by knocking on wood, or lighting a candle to protect someone we love. We may believe that “we attract into our lives whatever we think about,” “we create our own reality,” “the universe presents us with challenges for the sake of our personal evolution.”
All of these are ways to minimize our anxiety—to comfort ourselves. We use magical thinking to convince ourselves that we live in a just world—that good begets good, to derive a sense of control while living in an uncertain world, to make ourselves feel special. Although in the short-term, magical thinking can reduce anxiety; our concern is that attachment to any belief may hinder individual development. Excessive reliance on magical thinking may lead to increased anxiety, a lack of compassion, self-recrimination, inaction, or troubling student/teacher relationships.
Increased anxiety can occur when, in the process of individuating (becoming our own person), we don’t fully assume responsibility for ourselves. As long as we consider others responsible for our lives—mom or dad, siblings, partners, spiritual teachers, therapists, guides, or the universe—we remain less than fully accountable. As we assume a greater degree of responsibility, we relinquish more and more of our magical thinking.
Why do we relinquish magical thinking as we assume more responsibility? Because the more responsibility we assume, the less comfort we find in the inexplicable. We need to know what is necessary in order for us to pay our mortgage. We need to know what we need to do in order to get a promotion, to safely care for our children, to find and to be a reliable partner. As we learn how to create these results, we minimize our anxiety, and therefore have less need for magical thinking.
Another concern we have about magical thinking—an inadvertent consequence—is an apparent lack of compassion. This occurs when we adopt beliefs, many of which are magical, that result in blaming-the-victim. We hear this when one person tells another, “you create your own reality,” or “you create your illness,” or “you attract into your life whatever you think about.”
Does this mean that people who contract cancer, who are in serious accidents, who died or are suffering as a result of the earthquake in Haiti, who are victims of violence, children raised by abusive parents, the five-hundred thousand women in the Congo who have been raped, are all responsible for their suffering?
Some people may rely on karma to explain such suffering. There are many different interpretations of “karma,” but the mostly widely used is that we reap the fruits of the seeds we sow. Karma is one way to fill in the perceived gap between cause and effect, and for people who believe in karma, our only suggestion is to be mindful about imposing your beliefs on other people.
We’re quite sure that people who adopt magical thinking don’t mean to be insensitive in any way—probably the opposite, most people who adopt magical beliefs are people of good intention. Yet, those of us who live privileged lives—lives in which we actually do have a high degree of choice—may not be demonstrating compassion when we espouse certain forms of magical thinking.
To promote compassion, Green Psychology encourages us to be very considered in our thinking—to consider the uniqueness of each person and their context. Some people live in contexts with limited choices due to their stage of development— physical, psychological, spiritual—or due to their environment. If we’re not highly considered in our thinking, we’re unlikely to be considerate in our actions.
We have also identified that self-recrimination might be another unintended result of magical thinking. Although magical thinking—when it works—contributes to feeling as if we’re special, when it doesn’t work, what does this say about us? If thoughts create reality, and our reality is one of suffering, in addition to our suffering, now we blame ourselves and feel guilty. But is it realistic to believe—regardless of the quality of our thoughts—that we can avoid all suffering?
Inaction can be another consequence of magical thinking. If we’re floundering in our lives while waiting for the universe to show us a sign, we may use magical thinking to justify inaction—not taking full responsibility to actually go out and do the things we need to do to create the results we want.
Finally, we concern ourselves with what we perceive as abuse of power in some student/teacher relationships. Magical thinking can contribute to abuse when it’s used to justify the teacher’s authority and power, while disempowering the student. Such relationships can be unhealthy re-recreations of a parent/child dynamic.
We also witness confusion as a result of teachers who promote the illusion that we can escape human frailties and human suffering by relying too heavily on positivistic thinking to address existential issues. In our experience—supported by research—such methods can be repressive, and the benefits short lived.
Green Psychology recognizes the value of magical thinking at certain stages of development and in certain contexts. Stepping into the world of Green Psychology, we can still use magical thinking, but with greater awareness that we are choosing to surrender some responsibility. With this awareness we are less likely to victimize ourselves and less likely to impose our beliefs on others, so we avoid the blame-the-victim dynamic. We are more likely to empower ourselves, to access our compassion, to accept our—and other’s—humanity, and to relate as adults, even with our teachers.
Green Psychology presents a developmental model, which suggests that beyond magical thinking is critical thinking. Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate one’s own thinking—to think about the ways in which we think. To ask, “do my beliefs, magical or otherwise, serve me?” “Is my life working?” If we continually evaluate our thinking and the results we get, we learn and grow. We are then able to access our own practical wisdom.
Within the Green Psychology community, we appreciate the power of thought (magical and critical), ritual, and prayer—while also acknowledging, “things happen.” Life includes loss, pain, suffering, accidents, the genetic and geographic lotteries—and we can’t control all of these things—no matter how well we think or pray. What we can do is take responsibility for how we respond to whatever happens in our lives. By doing so, we can improve our self-esteem, enjoy healthy relationships, find meaningful purpose in our lives, model mental and emotional health for our children, and we can gracefully witness our aging parents. At an even higher level of mastery, we can take responsibility for how we make meaning of the events in our lives. This is the essence of Green Psychology, which can best be learned by attending our retreats.
Tags: magical beliefs, Magical thinking, Videos
This essay on “magical thinking” represents a refreshing approach to a difficult topic. We get hooked on whatever our personal “magical-thinking” answer is, and largely refuse to be responsible for it, because to be responsible for it, is to take its “magical legitimacy” away. I need to reread the piece and ponder this some more.
After reading this essay on “magical thinking” (MT), I find myself looking at the parts of me that I calm myself with using “MT” (when I nervous me or when I stress me, etc.). I also notice how common I experience “MT” in the advise of others like “ignore it, and it will go away” (regarding a recent injury), which I have be a form or magical thinking (especially the use of the word it). I never really gave “MT” much thought until recently. Now I aware myself of the “MT” presence in me.
Another piece in the essay that I most intrigue myself with is the connection between “MT” and individuation. I perceive the process of individuation as being critical to our growth, yet I rarely experience discussions or teachings on individuation outside of the pathway of personal growth and therapy. I curious myself how many readers would welcome a similar style essay/discussion on the topic of individuation. I’d like to hear more from others on the world wide web (and the author) on the topic of individuation.
We are going to start offering a free workshop called Parenting & Un-parenting. In this workshop we will start to explore the idea of individuating. We will look at how to raise kids so that they are better prepared to individuate. And we will look at how we, as adults, can individuate by “un-parenting” ourselves—unraveling any dysfunctional connections we still have with our parents.
I find the article on Magical thinking intriguing. My conviction has always been magical thinking was for my personal entertainment and to expand the reaches of my mind. This is certainly a new view for me to ponder.
I just read your blog post “Magical Thinking” and I found it quite profound, sincere, and interesting—it spoke to me on many levels and to the deep questions I have been grappling with. I agreed with your sense that “magical thinking” can lead to lack of compassion, not taking responsibility for one’s life, and also to a sense of deficiency in oneself if one does not have fabulous things happen in one’s life, or get what one wants. I guess my question arises with the idea that magical thinking is somehow more suspect than critical thinking as a mode of fathoming reality… I see that you are not really judging one over the other but rather attempting to let the complexities and questions co-exist without forcing an easy “answer.” I appreciate this—and yet something in what you have written touches a nerve for me, and made me want to respond, to deepen the conversation and illuminate some core thing that needles me.
On a personal level, though I am a well-educated critical thinker, my life path has taken me more into the realm of “magical thinking” the last few years—Honestly, if I hadn’t seen some things with my own eyes I would not believe them. And there are other things I cannot verify as true on a critical level, and which I have had to choose whether to accept on faith—since I myself do not perceive certain things. It is a very big question –what is “real”. A part of me feels it is relative… what matters is what is real to us. But this kind of relativism is impossible to live within with confidence. It’s maddening. We want to know what is real, what is merely “magical” and a way to decrease our anxiety and what is substantial and true. For example, if the whole Law of Attraction idea is indeed a cosmic principle that operates in our lives, would not that necessarily change the way we think about reality and what we are capable of, as well as what has happened/not happened to us in the past? Wouldn’t it change everything?
I am grappling with the issue of Truth with a capital T—with many “magical things,” either they are valid and real, or not. No one wants to believe in hocus pocus but yet we must admit that there may be dimensions and realities that we do not perceive or allow in that may be “real” but we are not yet able to fully perceive them with our consciousness as it is. Seen through the lens of rational critical thinking (which I am adept in, as well as being a poet and artist), “magical thinking” is just that. But if it is indeed “real” then it is not just a form of thinking that makes us feel better, but maybe the key to something that could transfigure our reality.
How we see determines what we see and what we do, in the end. Is there magic, or not? This is why it is important to know the truth. And maybe, in the end, it is only the heart that can decide, in the deep well of our individual instincts, intuitions and gut-knowings about what is right for us. It is always the choice offered it seems– to believe or not to believe. Because one is always “believing” something, whether it is in reality as it appears to be critically, or something more inexplicable.
Sorry this is so long, by the way!
Magical Rationalist,
You say “How we see determines what we see and what we do, in the end.”
I wonder if it is “truer” to say that how we want to see and do determines what we see and do.
If there are strong reasons for wanting to ‘believe’, are we perhaps less likely to do the careful evaluation and judgment required by critical thinking?