Magical thinking is a term associated with mental illness and schizophrenia. It refers to the insane person’s completely false and delusional beliefs that make no logical sense whatsoever. But magical thinking is something a lot of people suffer from, to a lesser degree. A woman marries a man with qualities she dislikes, on the subtle assumption that he will change once they’re married and have a child. How will he change if he doesn’t want to, and sees no need to do so? Magically. The operative phrase here is “subtle assumption.” An introspective person must make his subtle assumptions conscious, and expose them to the hard force of objective reality. This is the whole point of self-awareness, therapy, life coaching and the like. The world is perishing from an orgy of magical thinking grounded in subtle assumptions. Make sure you know what yours are.