Woo-Baby! That’s Some Big Magic

Are you familiar with this term, Woo? No?

Short for the duplicative Woo-Woo, this pithier condensation Woo is some internet slang for all things spiritual. In other words, the opposite of that which is rational, concrete, solid, scientific, testable, or you know: Real.

It’s mostly used by those who’ve woke from some sort of mental slumber, the trance-state induced by a religious upbringing, that zombie-like devotion to childhood indoctrination.  And now that the misty veil’s been lifted and they’ve learned to harness the True Light of Science they can dispense with all else, all that benighted mumbo-jumbo.

Eh, good for them.

Religion is a matter that cuts to the quick, to the core of personal identity. And like any debate that lies so close to the heart (think politics, disco, sports) convictions run hard on both sides. For many this is a pretty straightforward us/them in/out two/camps issue. It’s either “God’s got a plan for everything!” or “God is dead!” So you know, you just gotta believe… one thing or the other. But I can’t get behind either extreme. To paraphrase Solzhenitsyn’s take on good and evil: The line between faith and doubt runs right through my human heart.

So it was with much trepidation that I cracked open Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, knowing full-well I was going to be suffering from emotional whiplash every few chapters. There’s two sides to me too, the cynic and the hippie, and I’m never sure which one will roll out of bed on any given morning.

And the cynic (my much wittier but far-less-lovable side) was primed for action everytime I glanced at the sparkly pink tie-die cover of the thing. I mean, this is basically the user’s guide to Eat Pray Love, right? Bougie self-help for the never-satisfied. Activate Pavlovian Smirk Response! Go, Snicker, Snigger, Win!

But the hippie in me… the hippie was intrigued, was getting interested, man.

It started with Ms. Gilbert’s Ted Talk from 2009 on historical perspectives of genius and inspiration. If you want to catch up on her magical thinking, I’d recommend you start there. I watched this years ago and was surprised by her self-aware snark and clear-eyed candor. The Ted Talk covers a lot of the same ground, with some of the same tales that feature in Big Magic. And these stories, I tell you, are proper A-list anecdotes: famous novelists, published poets, and the well-respected sort of rock stars.

Anecdotal evidence being what it is, the stories are solid. I’ll post no spoilers here; check them out for yourself. The credulous, I’m sure, will be quickly converted. (For if it takes only a mustard seed of faith to move a mountain, how much then to move a pen?)

But for all of you unassailable agnostics and unflappable materialists out there, fear not. There’s good news for you too; the book is still worth reading. Thing is, once you get down to the metaphorical brass tacks, to the rubber-that-meets-road, or in this case, the pen-that-meets-paper: The Woo ain’t so special after all.

The Woo gets you in the door, but it’s not really the center of the book, not the soul of the story. It’s just the icing on the cake, the fun stuff that gets you thinking, gets the mind to ponder and the heart to wander. 90% of this book is about something a little more boring: old-fashioned hard work.

Turns out that channeling the Big Magic is more about doing the job than waiting for the spirit to stir. It’s about getting down to the task at hand, shutting off the phone, closing the door, and just doing the thing that you’re supposed to be doing. Which in this case is primarily writing, but could apply to most any other brain-work, paid or unpaid. Just do it, and let inspiration find you where you’re supposed to be. At your desk. Typing.

So that’s the good news. Or the bad news, depending on what you wanted to hear today. Either way, no matter which side of my 40-something-frame slithers out of bed in the morning, hippie or cynic, inspired or struggling, motivated or morbid, the charge remains the same: Look to the ant, thou sluggard! Consider her ways, and be wise!