The Secret To A Brand New MacBook Air - Magical Thinking (What The Wizard Steve Jobs Does)

Want a brand new Macbook Air? You really want one? Simply “Ask, Believe, and Receive.”

Now before you go closing that browser and swearing me off your RSS feed list, hear me out. There is some real weird and illogical magic that happens in life. You can’t always explain in scientifically but it does happen. You might not believe it but it does happen.

I know this because all throughout my life, small magical things have happened. I’m a testament to this unexplainable force.

The Secret

Over at a pizza lunch with some officemates, we talked about “The Secret” - a book and DVD about the “law of attraction.”

We were joking around over why a friend didn’t have a girlfriend yet (despite his good looks). One officemate tells him “You’ve got to give whoever that person is… space in your life.” For example, we should take out some food for his “girlfriend-to-be.” We were joking of course but this all lead to “The secret”.

Here’s a short video about it on youtube.com:

As put forth in the film, the “Law of Attraction” principle posits that people’s feelings and thoughts attract real events in the world into their lives; from the workings of the cosmos to interactions among individuals in their physical, emotional, and professional affairs. More from Oprah on Larry King Live:

Magical Thinking

If you find the excerpts above to be too surreal for you, then let’s look at something that sounds more sane. Take a look at magical thinking on Wikipedia.

In anthropology, psychology and cognitive science magical thinking is causal reasoning that often includes such ideas as the law of contagion, correlation equaling causation, the power of symbols and the ability of the mind to affect the physical world.

Magical thinking can occur when one simply does not understand possible causes, as illustrated by Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s suggestion that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (see Clarke’s three laws), but can also occur in response to situations that are largely random or chaotic, such as a coin toss, as well as in situations that one has little or no control over, especially those one is emotionally invested in.

You see, we can pretty much call “magic” anything that Science can’t explain yet. In my opinion, there are ‘energies’ that are shared between people - probably not real energy but something much more psychological.

It’s surprising that I found this whole concept through Merlin Mann of 43 Folders. Merlin just taught me magic.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

It’s true, isn’t it? If we brought television and radio to the 17th century, we might be considered practitioners of the dark arts. We’d be heretics. There are probably a lot of things that happen today which we don’t understand yet but will make sense a century from now. Perhaps the “law of attraction” will have a scientific basis by the 23th century.

Right now, however, just believe that it works.

The Velveteen Rabbit

At this point let me share one of my favorite classic books. The Velveteen Rabbit learns that ‘real’ is not how you are made, rather a toy becomes real if its owner really and truly loves it.

While awaiting the bonfire, in which the Velveteen Rabbit will be burned, the Rabbit cries a real tear. This tear brings forth the Nursery Magic Fairy. The Rabbit thinks he was real before, but the fairy tells him he was only real to the boy. She flies him to the woods, where he realizes that he is a real rabbit at last and runs to join the other rabbits in the wild.

The following spring, the boy sees the Rabbit hopping in the wild and thinks he looks like his old Velveteen Rabbit, but he never knows that it actually was.

When you invest enough emotion in something, and make room for it in your life, it somehow becomes real.

An Odd Example: The Wizard Named Steve Jobs

Over at wired, you’ll see how Apple has completely gone against the Silicon Valley Norm. I attribute it to the magical work of Steve Jobs. I think he’s a Psychological wizard.

There is even a term coined for Job’s magic - the reality distortion field. Just listen to what Andy Hertzfeld says about it:

It’s impossible right? Unreal? We can’t do that! That’s what we think about things. The wizard makes us look at things differently.

But really now, we don’t need to watch Andy. Let’s watch the wizard himself in action when he presented the iPhone and be mesmerized.

After watching that, didn’t you just want an iPhone? That was his spell. He just cast it on you and me.

Ever met someone with this kind of magic in your office? Someone who gets things done despite unbelievable and crazy odds? Someone who could turn a sinking ship like Apple Inc. into one of the most admired companies of this decade?

I’m getting in Ateneo…

Back in High School, this was crazy talk for me and my friends. We all came from a public school in Marikina and didn’t really think much of ourselves. Still, we were lucky to have some volunteer tutors from Ateneo who pushed us on. They helped us prepare for College and even paid for the initial application fee.

They were smart. They looked good (we all had crushes on one of the sexy ‘Ates’ there). They gave us hope and urged us to believe in ourselves.

I remember submitting the admission form at the very last deadline date. Funny thing, our valedictorian that year didn’t get in Ateneo. I, who was nowhere near the top 10 of my class, got in - on scholarship.

I still scratch my head when I think about that.

I’m Getting a Macbook Air…

…and a car and my own condo. Probably by the end of this year or early next year. For some weird reason, I have a strong feeling this will happen. Am I just thinking nonsense or is this magical thinking? Is this the secret?

Simply put, I’ve experienced it before. I know it works. I live in my own Reality Distortion Field.

(Just the rambling of a man who lacks sleep? I think I’ll delete this insane post now… maybe after you’ve read it. )

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