Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Magic 8 Ball


Do you remember the Magic 8 Ball? It's a fortune telling toy. You ask a question, turn the ball, and the answer appears in a window. (These are still available, in case you need one. There's even a web site with a virtual Magic 8 Ball, if you have a question you need to ask right now.) Of course you know that before you even ask the question, the answer is already there inside the ball. Answers are printed on a many-sided plastic thing floating in blue fluid and packed inside the ball before you even get the idea to buy one. You might also know that it doesn't help to shake the Magic 8 Ball really hard before you turn it over to read the answer. Some people do this, apparently thinking that the right answer will require work and effort on their part. The shaking creates bubbles in the fluid, which makes the answer hard or impossible to read. So all that shaking is not such a good idea.

The way I think about intuition and stories is that they are like the answers in the Magic 8 Ball. Both are already there, ready to go whenever we ask for them. The more we trust that the material is within us, the easier it is to access. No need to shake or struggle. It's right there within reach right now. Just ask your question, and let the answer float to the surface.

3 comments:

Julie Kibler said...

Reminds me of how I used to pretend to spit on the dice in the middle of shaking them before I'd roll in nearly any game I played. We were sure that would give us the right combination! I still do it, just to be silly. :-) (But maybe some little part of me still thinks it'll help!)

Because the answers nearly always seem so obvious once we find them, what you've said makes sense. Often, they're just marinating.

Sara Lewis Murre said...

Exactly! You got it!

therese may said...

Hi, Sara! What a great blog! I love your writing. Reading your blog is like reading one of your books--very enjoyable. Peace and Blessings, Therese