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Today we’re going to talk about another story. This one is so common, many of you have heard it from your parents or grandparents already, but did you know it’s actually referenced by more than one prophecy? Many believe the story is meant to be instructive rather than prophetic in nature, given how little it has to do with Bajor itself.
The story begins with a creature, many thousands of years ago. Texts don’t get specific about what kind of creature—just that at the start, it was a pretty run of the mill, carb-based organic life form. But somehow, it changed--something happened to it that granted it incredible abilities. Some sources say it was the Prophets who changed the creature, others say it was the Pah-wraith, not to mention the ones that claim the creature got its magical powers by bathing in an enchanted lake... But sources do agree on the result of the creature's change: it gained the power of illusion, and became what we call the Magician.
The Magician lived in a land far away, beyond the celestial temple. It was an odd thing, not quite like any other creature. Many of us sometimes wonder what our purpose in life is—why we’re here. This conundrum was even worse for the Magician, because thanks to its powers it didn’t need to find food and water to survive like we do. There was nothing to preoccupy the Magician except thoughts about its own existence and questions about the universe. So it used its magical powers to separate itself into pieces and sent them off to explore.
Unfortunately, as many of us well know, this universe isn’t always such a friendly place. The Magician learned this the hard way—it’s important to realize that while it was a very powerful creature, having great power doesn’t mean great maturity or wisdom are included in the package. [laughter] The texts tell of its encounters with angry villagers who feared the Magician was playing tricks on them with its masterful illusions. The Magician began to realize that no matter what it face it wore, no matter how it behaved, once its true nature was discovered it risked being rejected.
On several occasions, the Magician was viciously attacked. It began to worry its existence would be wiped out completely--it learned the fear of death. It became greatly unhappy, as many of us do when we discover how mortal we really are.
The individuals that made up the Magician gathered together to figure out what to do. They became the Magician once more, and the Magician spent many days and nights considering the problem. But it could not find a solution. Finally, the Magician decided to split up again, but this time it wasn’t going to explore. It split off just four individuals, which the texts call Order, Conscience, Ego, and Love, so that they could each argue their case.
Order was built from the Magician’s brain. Order deduced that the root of the Magician’s problem was a chaotic and unpredictable universe full of unreasonable life forms. If only there were certain rules everyone had to follow, the Magician would be able to figure out ahead of time if it was going to be hated or rejected. Therefore, Magician’s reason for existing must be to create order.
Conscience was built from the Magician’s tongue. Conscience argued that the Magician lacked a true understanding of other life forms. If only the Magician could figure out why it was so hated, it could learn to live with the other life forms, or persuade them to see its side. Therefore, the Magician’s reason for existing must be to gain understanding.
Ego was built from the Magician’s fist. Ego maintained that the problem was with the rest of the universe, not the Magician. The Magician must do whatever it took to protect itself; therefore, its reason for existing was to ensure its continued existence.
Love was built from the Magician’s heart. Love believed that the Magician was lonely. The rejection and hatred had made it lose hope of ever meeting anyone kind, but the truth was, the Magician didn't want to be alone with itself forever. Therefore, the Magician’s reason for existing must be to share experiences with other life forms who were not like itself.
Order and Ego quickly made an alliance, and argued against Conscience for many more days and nights. Love did not fight; it was not in its nature to.
Order and Ego combined became Domination. Domination saw a solution to the Magician’s problems: total control over all other life forms. Surely if the Magician had control over everyone, it would not need understanding or love in order to exist. Together, Domination overpowered Conscience. According to some of the more morbid accounts, Conscience’s mouth was sewn shut [shocked gasps] but that is likely to be purely metaphor. Love did not fight back against Domination—again, conflict was not in its nature—and when the Magician became itself again, it was ruled by Domination’s vision of the future.
There are many terrible stories of what the Magician did next—carving brutal armies out of rock and bone, constructing wily servants out of wood and dirt, you've probably heard some of them. The point is, the Magician tricked and schemed and battled its way across the land, subjugating all it encountered. According to the Magician’s logic, once it had control over the whole universe, it would be safe from hatred and chaos, because what you control can't hurt you.
Once it had achieved its goal, the Magician turned itself into a shooting star and traveled away, leaving its new kingdom in the hands of its loyal hand-made servants. Order and Ego had achieved their goals; the Magician was safe and it had brought order to its kingdom. It had everything it could possibly need. But now it was lonelier than ever, living by itself in a cold and empty land, knowing it was hated by all. The Magician’s heart couldn't take it anymore and shattered into a hundred pieces. [sympathetic sighs]
The Magician knew there was only one hope for healing its broken heart: it could send the pieces out into the universe in the hopes that someday, somehow, at least one of the pieces might finally be able to love and be loved in return. And even if its heart never returned, the Magician might be incomplete, but at least it would not be in pain anymore. It had made do with Order and Ego and the silent ghost of Conscience all this time; it could do without Love.
This is where the prophecy comes in—one day, a piece of the Magician’s heart is supposed to land on Bajor, where it will try to mend a hole in the sky. [laughter] In terms of prophetic legitimacy, it’s unclear whether this part has already happened, or will happen someday, but the story continues on regardless.
The piece of the Magician's heart, with no memory of where it came from, began to love the people it met as it grew up, and it was loved in return. There was even one person the Magician’s heart loved especially well, though the texts say almost nothing about them. What’s important is that this person loved the piece of the Magician’s heart very much in return. [aww]
Eventually, the Magician’s campaign of domination made its way to the Magician’s little heart, and it finally learned the truth about where it came from. By now the Magician had spent centuries all alone, and in that time had grown so superior and egotistical that it scorned the company of all other lifeforms, because it believed no one could truly understand it but itself. It was eager to accept a piece of its heart back in the hopes of making itself complete.
But to its great surprise, its heart refused to return until the Magician promised to leave its friends in peace. Enraged at the rejection, the Magician employed every dirty scheme and illusion it could think of to trick its heart into returning.
After years of war, during which many lives were lost and others destroyed, the Magician sickened, poisoned by one of the peoples it was trying to conquer. See how the Magician’s approach backfired completely? But just as the Magician had begun to accept death, its heart returned with a cure.
Once the Magician was cured, it agreed to end the war it had started. The heart, in turn, agreed to return to the Magician. Its loved ones were sorry to see it go, but none of them wanted to stand in the way of its happiness. The Magician finally got its heart back.
That sounds like a pretty good ending right there, but one of the interesting things about this story is that it has a little twist. [knowing laughter]
With the return of its heart, the Magician’s loneliness grew worse rather than better. And not only was it lonely, but now that Order and Ego were no longer in control, Conscience was free again, and the Magician felt remorse it felt for what it had done to its kingdom. Its heart had never ached like this before--not even when it was broken into a hundred pieces. Now that it was full of all these memories of what it was like to love, it couldn't go back to its solitary, self-serving existence.
Then the Magician remembered Love’s belief all those millennia ago: that the Magician would always be lonely if it lived in isolation. Order, Ego, and even Conscience had all played their parts—the Magician led an ordered existence, with armies and servants to protect it, and now it was even beginning to understand the creatures it shared its universe with as well. The only thing it was missing was love for something other than itself.
So the Magician gave back its heart, knowing that one day it would return full of even more love than the last time. [applause]
Over the years, more pieces of the heart returned to the Magician. Some of them were hardened and prickly, like shards of glass, but others were like seeds that had flowered into something new and beautiful. The moral of this story--what makes it instructive--is that it can be very scary to put yourself out there, especially if you're different. But if you hide away, you won't make connections, and you'll have to be alone. The Magician could never love if it did not share itself with others, and if it did not love—even if it had everything it could possibly need to exist—it would always be lonely.
Now, I know this seems like a very long winded way of making a rather simple point about interpersonal relationships, but that's only the most obvious lesson to be learned from this story. I’ve transferred a more complete and detailed version with annotations to all your PADDs for you to read at home. I’ll collect your reflection papers on it tomorrow! [groans]