In the quest for sharper ideas and freer imagination, meditation apps and breathwork classes have become mainstream. Now a body of neuroscience research centered on the “entropic brain hypothesis” is drawing attention to another, less familiar cognitive mode that often rides alongside those practices: magical thinking.
First outlined in a 2014 paper in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience by Robin Carhart-Harris and colleagues, and updated in subsequent reviews including a 2026 article in the journal Brain, the hypothesis proposes that the richness and flexibility of conscious experience track the entropy—or unpredictability—of spontaneous brain activity. High-entropy states expand the brain’s repertoire of connectivity patterns and are linked to more fluid, less constrained cognition. Classic examples include:
- acute effects of psychedelic drugs
- expert meditation
- certain forms of intense breathwork
- flicker-light stimulation
- REM sleep
- early or unmedicated psychotic-spectrum experiences
Within these states, researchers have repeatedly observed a rise in what they term magical thinking: the tendency to form supernatural, wish-driven, or loosely causal interpretations of events. Thoughts become more easily shaped by emotion and desire; ordinary reality-testing loosens. A lucky shirt feels influential. A coincidence feels like a personal sign. Internal intentions seem capable of touching the external world.
Importantly, the same high-entropy regime has also been associated with elevated markers of creativity. Studies using fMRI and behavioral measures have linked higher brain entropy to greater divergent thinking, fluid intelligence, creative insight, and more original performance in tasks such as musical improvisation. In other words, the cognitive style that includes magical thinking appears as one facet of a broader shift toward associative, less hierarchical thought—the very shift that can open new pathways for novel ideas.
Meditation and structured breathwork are already well-known routes into elevated-entropy territory for many people. Magical thinking, by contrast, is usually treated as a byproduct rather than a deliberate technique. The research does not claim that simply deciding to “think magically” for ten minutes a day will reliably boost creative output in the way a well-designed creativity training program might. Instead, it positions magical thinking as a natural signature of the freer cognitive mode that high-entropy states make available. When the brain’s usual top-down constraints relax, both whimsical causal leaps and genuinely original associations become more likely.
When the brain’s usual top-down constraints relax, both whimsical causal leaps and genuinely original associations become more likely.
Scientists caution that the relationship is correlational and context-dependent. Extreme or prolonged elevation of entropy can tip into confusion or distress, particularly in people with underlying vulnerabilities. The most robust experimental tools for studying these states remain pharmacological or carefully controlled physiological interventions, not everyday self-help exercises. Still, the framework offers a fresh way to understand why moments of playful, unbound imagination, whether they arrive during deep meditation, a late-night brainstorming session, or an unexplained coincidence that suddenly feels meaningful, often feel creatively fertile.
For those already exploring meditation or breathwork, the entropic brain perspective suggests an additional lens: noticing when thought becomes more fluid, associative, or even a little “magical” may be a useful signal that the mind has entered a more expansive regime. Whether that regime can be intentionally cultivated for creative work remains an open empirical question. What the research makes clear is that the brain’s capacity for less constrained cognition is not limited to the meditation cushion or the breathwork mat. Sometimes it shows up in the quiet conviction that the universe just winked.
Here are some examples of magical thinking, to help you get started:
Everyday / mild
- Believing a “lucky” object (shirt, charm, pen) can influence the outcome of an event
- Accepting that a coincidence (thinking of someone right before they call or text) means your thoughts influenced or where influenced by it
- Avoiding certain actions (stepping on cracks, saying something “out loud”) because it will bring bad luck
- Feeling that repeated numbers, songs, or symbols are personal signs or messages
- Thinking positive visualization alone will make a desired outcome more likely to happen
- Interpreting a random event as “the universe confirming” your plans or feelings
Stronger / more immersive
- Believing your private thoughts or unspoken intentions can directly affect other people or external events
- Seeing neutral events (a car horn, a stranger’s glance, a news headline) as specially arranged messages meant for you
- Feeling that an internal emotional shift has literally changed the external world
- Attributing illness, recovery, accidents, or success primarily to spiritual forces, curses, or the power of prior thoughts
- Interpreting visual patterns, dreams, or strong emotions as direct communication from a higher power, deceased person, or the universe itself
- Sensing that the boundary between self and world has dissolved so that personal wishes can reshape reality
Let go and let some whimsy in!
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