The Third Way : Where Logic Meets Magic
With your inner council - The Rationalist, the Mystic, and the Trickster
Hello friends and edgewalkers of meaning,
Beginning July I spent my birthday discovering London for the first time, savouring the delicious Indian food, crossing paths with Lewis Carroll, Shakespeare in bookshops, theaters, reminiscing scenes and locations from my favorite Bond movies, walking along the Thames, and sipping on some wonderful Chai!
While walking along the Thames, I sneaked into the Tate Modern for a quick jolt of inspiration, and one book cover caught my eye, which led me down the rabbit hole to get some clarity on some ideas I was trying to formulate for a while.
“How can we hold both logic and symbolism, discipline and serendipity and such opposites in the search of truth?” It was about discovering a third way.
The Map Is Not the Territory
We've been taught to split the world into binaries: science vs. spirit, facts vs. values, objectivity vs. subjectivity. But what if these opposites aren't rivals?
Let’s imagine a council of inner voices:
The Rationalist - Seeks clarity, evidence, and coherence.
The Mystic - Senses truth through dreams, symbols, and synchronicity
The Trickster - Slips between both, revealing blind spots through paradox
At the center of this trio is you — the Alchemist.
The Alchemist works—not bound to one mode, but weaving insight through experimentation and reflection. The alchemist plays with fire but measures its heat. They record what they observe, but also listen to the wind.
This third way isn’t about compromise. It’s about expansion.
Magic as a Bridge
Magic, in this context, isn’t illusion or fantasy.
It’s what happens when logic stretches so far that something new slips through.
Magic is what happens when something escapes the neatness of categories. It’s how we begin to see with the whole body, not just the mind.
A few examples of “truth distortion” that reveal rather than conceal:
In art, a surrealist painting can bend proportions and symbols, revealing emotional truths beyond realism.
In physics, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle shows how the act of observation changes what we’re trying to measure.
In Zen, koans like “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” break the logic loop to provoke direct insight.
Magic is not the opposite of reason—it’s what happens when reason stretches to its breaking point and something unexpected slips through.
Assemblage as Practice
Surrealist artists knew this. They didn’t invent from scratch — they collected fragments and stitched them together: torn posters, found objects, dreams, maps, myths.
In assemblage, meaning doesn’t come from each part, but from the interaction between parts.
Assemblage is not just an aesthetic. It’s a practice of perception. A method where truth is shaped not only by intention, but by what shows up.
This is where contingency matters:
Meaning emerges from the meeting point between what we plan and what we encounter—between the question we ask and the answer that surprises us.
Integration Practice: Try the Collage Ritual
Once this week, gather fragments:
A photo, a phrase, a dream, a doodle, a newspaper clipping.
Lay them out as a simple collage.
Then, invite your Rationalist, Mystic, and Trickster to each write a short interpretation. Don’t aim for coherence. Look for surprise.
You may begin to notice that meaning lives in the tension, not the resolution.
Meaning as a Third Space
What we’re truly searching for is not just truth, but meaning. Meaning is what links analysis and intuition. It’s the bridge between rational understanding and symbolic resonance.
You don’t have to choose between solving a problem and reading a sign. You can let them speak to each other.
And that’s where tangible, embodied engagement comes in—because meaning often arises through doing, not just thinking.
This is where Matthew Crawford's book The World Beyond Your Head offers a powerful lens. Crawford, a physicist turned motorcycle mechanic, reminds us that real knowing comes not from abstraction, but from hands-on interaction with the world. Whether you're tuning a carburetor, crafting furniture, or playing a physical sport, your attention is trained through direct, skillful contact.
These kinds of practices don’t just build competence—they build connection to what’s real, and in doing so, they become vehicles of meaning.
In a world of filtered feeds and curated truths, Crawford's world is raw, embodied, and real. A motorcycle doesn’t lie. Neither does a sharp chisel or a frozen puck. A motorcycle doesn’t lie. Neither does a sharp chisel or a frozen puck.
Everyday Portals to the Third Way
So how do we begin? Start with your hands. Here are everyday practices that can anchor you in the third way—each one blending skill, presence, and symbolic meaning:
Calligraphy or manuscript copying – builds slow focus, rhythm, and reverence
Mandala drawing – fosters symmetry, patience, and inner stillness
Gardening – teaches cycles, surrender, and attention to living systems
Pottery – connects touch, earth, and form in evolving feedback
Bread making – embodies waiting, kneading, rising: the alchemy of patience
Fermentation & pickling – reveals time as a partner in transformation
Cooking or making gourmet coffee / hot chocolate – merges sensory joy with intentional ritual
Foraging – rewilds perception, invites attunement to seasons and signs
Playing an instrument – integrates discipline, intuition, and flow
Singing – turns breath into expression, vibration into emotion
Making incense or candles – merges craft with sacred scent and light
Knitting – offers rhythm, care, and the slow unfolding of pattern
Each of these is a small alchemy: a material ritual that trains the attention, opens the senses, and makes space for both reason and reverence.
Living Library Insight:
Matthew Crawford – The World Beyond Your Head
Crawford — a physicist turned motorcycle mechanic — reminds us that real knowing comes from real contact with the world.
“A motorcycle doesn’t lie. Neither does a sharp chisel or a frozen puck.”
Unlike filtered feeds, the physical world gives feedback we can’t ignore. It’s raw. Honest. Immediate.
Reading Crawford is like getting a philosophical oil change. It reconnects you to what's real, and what’s worth your full attention.
Towards a Lived Epistemology
So what might a life look like if we walk the third way?
Reading science without rejecting the sacred and symbols.
Honoring intuition without denying evidence.
Practicing presence through the hands while listening with the heart.
Truth is not either/or. It is both/and. It is now/then. It is you/us.
This is the sacred experiment. This is your invitation to embody the Alchemist’s path :
where logic meets magic, where practice becomes poetry, and where the third voice - yours - can finally be heard.
Holistically yours!
- Abhinav
Writing from within the system, and sometimes at the edge of it.
