Yet, even carpenters can have favorite tools. I really enjoy hitting stuff with a large sledgehammer; that doesn't mean I use it to do everything... I just really like hitting stuff with a big hammer, makes it extra special when I can actually use it.

Same applies - imo - to programming languages. I use Ruby for most of my work since "it just gets the job done"; but I really love the moments I can work on one of my clojure projects.

Clojure is my favorite hammer at this moment, that might change to F#, Haskell, Go, <new language> anytime.

That's why I said one should program in a plethora of languages to understand the strengths and weakness of each paradigm and feature set. You wouldn't use a sledgehammer to put a nail in the wall for hanging a picture and similarly there are certain situations where Clojure or Ruby is not the right language.

But imagine how much fun it would be to drive that tiny nail into the wall with that huge sledgehammer.

I don't disagree with you - on the contrary - but just wanted to point out that fun might be a great motivator for chosing a language.

In fairness there is some good context for wanting to get the 'magic', Lisps are talked about in such a context, as beautiful life-changing experiences, so it's understandable to be curious. I'd agree, the right tool for the job, and focus on the job, but the context is there to ask. Lisps as I've used them seem like powerful tools.

Yes, lisp dialects are powerful but there is no magic. The road to enlightenment is long and arduous and can not be put in an HN comment box. It's like I said in my original comment, the only way to get there is to just continue to write code and explore different paradigms and languages.

I would not describe the road as long and arduous, so much as long and joyful.

I have never used a language a fraction as fun as Scheme (except for Common Lisp, which is also quite fun).

Yes, I agree, I think pragmatic discussion like this is important, the 'magic, beautiful, life-changing' hyperbole is probably better left alone in analysis I'd say.

I think what you can enlightenment is what others are calling magic.