In the dictionary, the first definition of “magic” is “the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand and deceptive devices.”

A more appealing definition doesn’t appear in most dictionaries. It’s my adjustment of an idea by occultist Aleister Crowley: “Magick is the science and art of causing practical changes to occur in accordance with our true will—under the rigorous guidance of love.”

(I prefer using Crowley’s spelling, “magick,” which distinguishes it from the less interesting kind.)

What is our true will? It’s the psychospiritual fuel we access to implement our life’s mission. It’s the driving force that empowers us to know and express our soul’s code.

Here’s the catch: Our true will is fully available only if we anchor it in love. And we must ceaselessly reinvigorate and reinvent our devotion to that practice. We can’t just do it on happy days when we’re in a good mood. It must be a daily task.

Another catch: We must train our imagination to serve our true will. That’s hard work! It requires us to do what doesn’t come naturally: to stop it from conjuring fear and illusions that leak our psychic energy.

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When we cultivate a vivid perception of being intimately interwoven with the greater rhythms that create and sustain life on our planet, they naturally assist and guide us as we carry out our true will.

When we have identified, defined, and tapped into our true will, we are united with the inexhaustible energy of those greater rhythms.

When we affirm our desire to perform magick that serves love, beauty, justice, and truth, the greater rhythms provide us with the most useful expressions of their specific personal support and inspiration.

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In response to the above definition of magick, a reader asked me, “Is this done by retraining negative thoughts to be positive thoughts?”

Here’s how I replied: That’s complicated! I suggest that when negative thoughts come up, we trace them back to their source. Are they based on objective truth? Or are they partially or entirely generated by fears and delusions? If the former, we should take measures to respond constructively to the legitimate worries. If the latter, let’s pivot hard as we substitute positive thoughts for the irrelevant negativity.

The reader responded: “That’s much easier said than done. I am flooded with negative thoughts that have a hint of truth to them, but at the same time I am too stern with myself. The negative thoughts are exaggerated. And I can see where the truth lies in them, but I can’t seem to reclaim my power over them. It’s like knowing the truth isn’t enough. I am at odds with myself.”

I replied: The retraining takes practice and diligence and commitment. Can’t happen overnight. I suggest you compose a vow that you will work on steadily for a year and a day.

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Here’s a useful practice for all of us. I invite you, dear reader, and I also invite me, to write down brief descriptions of the five most pleasurable moments we have experienced in our lives. Then we will authorize our imaginations to dwell luxuriantly on these memories for 20 minutes.

If we catch ourselves slipping into a negative train of thought, we will interrupt it immediately and compel ourselves to return to our fantasies about the Big Five Ecstatic Moments.

Let’s try this once a day for 30 days.



I am in favor of critiquing what some observers call “toxic positivity.” When we refuse to look at difficulties and insist on being compulsively optimistic, we spawn monsters.

At the same time, I think toxic negativity is at least as big a problem. The sheer immensity of cynicism and nihilism is so pervasive that most of us take it for granted. It’s the air we breathe.

My hypothesis is that our moment in history is more thoroughly under the wicked curse of pessimism than most other ages.

But it’s also true that humans have always been under that spell. Modern science has gathered vivid evidence that we literally take pleasure in feeling negative emotions. We may even willingly dive back into misery again and again for the same reason we eagerly climb aboard a roller coaster or go bungee jumping: We get a rush from it.

That is, the pleasure/reward centers of our brains light up and release dopamine. And we can get addicted to whatever causes our brain to release dopamine, whether it’s chocolate or screaming arguments.

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What can we do about the fact that our brains are predisposed to generate and dwell on disturbing, demoralizing, and draining thoughts?

Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Waldman write: “To overcome our neural bias for negativity, we must repetitiously and consciously generate as many positive thoughts as we can.”

“When you generate a minimum of five positive thoughts to each negative one, you’ll experience an optimal range of human functioning.”

Newberg and Waldman don’t advise us to never say no. They don’t believe it’s unhealthy to express skepticism and discernment and resistance when appropriate. They simply argue that we have a neural bias, a built-in biological predilection for fear-based reactions, which may have served our distant ancestors but is now a debilitating handicap.

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“I’ve found a nice balance,” writes EarthMover, one of my readers, “between living like someone who has overdosed on delusional optimism and someone who thinks everything and everyone sucks. I can see things as they really are instead of through either rose-colored glasses or trash-colored glasses.

“That means I can cultivate true objectivity, not the fake cynical kind. I free myself from negative emotional biases that used to cloud my ability to see the partially hidden beauty all around me.

“At the same time, I’m not addicted to the idea that I should be eternally happy and blithe and sweet. When the dark moods descend on me, I trust them. I know they are openings into equally sacred perceptions and insights.”