the wonder of magnetic rapport
“Curiosity is our friend that teaches us how to become ourselves.”
- Elizabeth Gilbert
A college friend of mine, a fellow theatre major in Indiana, was determined to move to Vietnam after graduation. She got a Fulbright Scholarship to spend a year there and essentially never left. Though she had no familial or personal ties to Vietnam, that country called to her as home.
Perhaps the same could be said of me and New York City. I didn’t step foot in that town until I was 22 years old when I had already decided to move there. Navigating the unique current of the city came easily to me. Somehow, I felt like a New Yorker, despite my upbringing in the South and Midwest.
A spiritual teacher, many years ago, shared a term that helps me to name these phenomena: magnetic rapport. This could be otherwise defined as a harmonious attraction. You can have magnetic rapport with people, places, books, music, fictional characters, historical circumstances, philosophies, languages… pretty much anything!
Have you ever felt drawn to learn about a specific historic figure or time period? Have you ever felt compelled to visit a certain country? Have you ever entered a public place and felt right at home? Have you ever obsessed over a particular album, listening to it over and over? Have you ever read a book that seemed like it was written just for you?
When we experience magnetic rapport with something or someone, we resonate with it somehow and our curiosity is sparked. That curiosity is twofold. First, there's curiosity about that for which we have this harmonious attraction. Secondly, there’s curiosity about ourselves. Why do I have magnetic rapport with [fill in the blank]? What is this harmonious attraction telling me about myself? What does it draw out of me?
In Seneca Falls, New York, there are statues honoring the moment that Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were introduced to one another. I wonder if they recognized their magnetic rapport immediately? That auspicious introduction would lead to a long friendship and fruitful partnership between those two visionary activists. Surely, they noticed their special connection right away.
And what does my fascination with them say about me? What is this magnetic rapport calling forth in me? These questions are not ones that are easily answered. (They are not meant to be easily answered!) They’re the kind of questions that invite me into quiet contemplation.
But not all magnetic rapport needs to be treated so delicately. Sometimes noticing magnetic rapport is simply noticing what makes you happy. Whether that’s turning up a favorite song when it plays on the car radio, or rereading that same book every summer, or getting that museum membership, or asking that new acquaintance out to lunch because you just know you’ll have a fabulous conversation.
Elizabeth Gilbert said, “Curiosity is our friend that teaches us how to become ourselves.” Elizabeth Morton says, “So does magnetic rapport.”
So, dear reader, I’m curious. With what do you have magnetic rapport?
I can see that magnetic rapport in the photograph of you with the women of Seneca Falls. I feel magnetic rapport with everything that flowers, birds in flight or singing invisible in the trees, with the coast of Maine, with the Shawangunk Ridge, my relatively new home....no doubt the list could go on. I will be pondering further. Thanks for a beautiful post.
I like your emphasis on what this magnetic rapport is pulling from me. What in me is responding? What exactly is being pulled? Like chelating metals from the soul. And curiosity is the catalyst.