Merlin Returns to Answer Even More

Hello again, my friends. Thanks to the great hospitality of my friend, T. A. Barron, I am once again able to have a conversation with you here — a fact for which I am truly grateful.

As for your questions… the truth is, I adore having the opportunity to meet such keen minds. I found answering your queries during my last visit simply delightful, and there were several astute questions which I did not have the opportunity to answer. I knew I must return as soon as I could, and have looked forward to keeping my promise to revisit you all and answer a few more:

If evil forces were to totally control magic, would you be able to or willing to destroy all magic to keep the world in balance?

This is, perhaps, the most difficult question of all.  To tell you the truth, as much as I would agonize over the answer, I simply could not bring myself to destroy all magic!  Instead, I would place my faith in the possibility that somewhere in those evil forces would arise a person with the love and wisdom to return magic to the good.  (And just to make sure…I would also hide several bits of powerful magic in the most unlikely places.  This magic would lie in wait – for ages if necessary – until that person came along to discover it.)

Dear Merlin, could you kindly advise me on how does one get to your level of understanding of humanity, nature, compassion and the things that really matter? Although you are the greatest wizard ever, I have a feeling it takes a bit more than magic.

You give me far too much credit – all I really know, even after all these centuries, is how much more I have to learn.  But you are right that true wisdom comes from something deeper than magic.  It comes from living a life fully open to the miracles all around us.  And from drinking as often as possible from the wells of gratitude, humility, courage, perseverance, humor, knowledge, wonder, belief, generosity, compassion, and love.

In addition, I will tell you that nature has always been my truest source of wisdom.  Wild nature has the unique power of making us feel both very small and very large at once – humbled as well as inspired. In nature, we can be dwarfed by the grand sweep of the stars or oceans or mountains, and yet still be part of it all—connected to the changing seasons, the tracks of a fox, the birth of a sapling, and the flight of geese. So we may be a very small part of the universe—but we are still very much part of it, enhanced by all that grandeur and mystery.

How can I see beyond the physical world to see the beauty you saw without your eyes? That is, how can one survive in the darkest of times?

You must strive to see not with your eyes, but with your heart.  When I rushed into that blaze to save my mother’s life, I was powered by my deep love for her.  And when I endured those terrible days of suffering and blindness, I was saved by a tiny sprig of hope that was even then still growing in my soul.  When my magical sight took hold, it enabled me forever after to see not just the surface of things, but what lies beneath the surface – the underlying truth, the hidden magic.

Merlin, does a great wizard such as yourself have the power to solve the world’s problems?  And if you did, would you do that?  And if you wouldn’t do that, why?

As tempting as it would be to solve the world’s problems (and it is hugely tempting!), I would refrain from doing so.  The reason?  Humanity will never truly grow unless they can learn to use their marvelous power of free will.  They must discover they have the true power of choice ~ even if that means sometimes making some horrible and destructive choices.  If humanity can grow in the ways they must to live in a peaceful and sustainable world, that will be more powerful than the magic of a million wizards!

My friends, it has truly been the greatest of pleasures to communicate with you all, and to see your questions about the magical world. I’m afraid that this is the end of my time here — for now. However, the new book, “The  Wisdom of Merlin: 7 Magical Words for a Meaningful Life” contains a few more of my thoughts about the nature of the Universe, and how our time here on this wondrous Earth can be made more purposeful through the thoughtful application of just seven words… plus one more which empowers them all.