Making magic (part 2)

Well we danced, and in spite of rivers of sweat and sore joints, it was magical. What a delight to watch the faces of children and adults alike, all lit up with smiles and exclamations of "look - a fairy!" or "look - an angel!". There is something very moving about those joyful responses. The looks on people’s faces were so rewarding. This is real joy. This is what no amount of money or status can bring. This is stuff to spread around!!

It seems sometimes that much of the world, particularly the Western world, is stuck in this unending cycle of pain and needs a wake-up call. Something has to happen, people have to start taking action to spread positive energy. For example, we will perform the same material we performed on Parliament Hill for the people who work at and who make use of The Well at St. John the Evangelist on Elgin Street. There is no reason why people who are struggling to make life work should have any less beauty in their lives than those who walk the halls of power. And if the positive energy we are offering makes the difference in even one life, then it is wholly worthwhile.

The very first job I had in an office was for a brilliant professor who told me that scholarly knowledge is no greater than any other knowledge. In his view, knowing how to be is just as important as knowing about how something works or knowing how to do something. This conversation stuck in my mind, but until recently, I did not understand its full scope. Since then, I have come to believe that one cannot have a meaningful life without at least two things: we must know not only how things work, or how to be, but also how to act, and I am convinced that acting must be the constant in this equation. In other words, one must ask what do you know, but more importantly, what have you done with that knowledge? What do you feel, but more importantly, what have you done with those feelings? Knowledge and feeling without action are worthless.

But knowledge, feeling and action combined are powerful stuff indeed. One might even call them magic.