Magic (defn): The power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. Authur C. Clarke is often quoted: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". That is, of course, true. The corollary, that anything that appears to be magic is therefore advanced technology, is not logically true. Yet, when trying to debunk the supernatural, so often the inference of this corollary is applied to the transcendent desires all humans have. The implied meaning is that one must of course be a fool to believe there is a transcendence to our existence. "The eyes are the mirrors of the soul" (Cicero 106-43 B.C.), is a common phrase. Most people have some sense of a soul, there is a magic in all of us we'd like to believe. Deep inside we all want there to be a transcendence to our existence, however rational or scientific we might think we are. I listened to a talk the other day, it was one of the best I've ever heard for communicating Christianity to people who think its all crap. It was about Harry Potter and Christian magic. The talk highlighted the hunger for magic in our lives. This hunger is fairly obvious if one thinks about it, everyone is attracted to the mystical and magical. Just look as our movies and books. How many books and movies are there about the Holy Grail? And as for fantasy novels, and Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and so much more, almost all novels appeal to some deeper sense of transcendence that shapes our lives, and we drink it in. Even in real life contexts, people are readily gullible to stories of amazing happenings. People have a deep hunger for the transcendent. Of course the hunger does not prove there is a transcendent. However, we all continually try to rationalize scenarios where magic is real. I was talking with someone last year, and they were wrestling with whether there was meaning to life. Their conclusion, after reading a range of literature that stroked their desires with arguments based on emotions, was that there is a universal force from which we come, and to which we will return. This person had concluded that the universal force is a bit like electricity, there is power but no personality. Its a comforting view, because a mere force is less threatening than a force with a mind that might choose how to use the force. A mere force can be tapped. A personality has to be related to. Like the prisoners in Plato's cave, we all feel shackled and unable to perceive the true reality of our existence. "If only", we think, "we could see the true reality". Yet at the same time we desperately hope there is no personality behind the transcendent, because that would remove it from our potential control. As 2018 begins magic is in the air. More than ever perhaps, the world is desiring the mystical. This is a natural response to uncertain times ... Brexit, Trump, North Korea, Middle East, Nationalism, Climate Change, etc., etc. In such times as this we naturally look for something to give meaning to it all - a power above. We want a magic we can tap into, a power to help us face the future. Christianity (not the religion) holds that Jesus is "magical", a person embodying magic. Yet Jesus only makes sense if you take the whole package with the magical. Strip Jesus of the magical, and he is not even a good man. So my thought as we begin 2018 is this: if you're a Christian, are you able to talk to a secular relativist about the magic of Jesus in a way that is not wrapped in opaque language and confusing concepts? And if you're a secular relativist who says its all crap, have you examined the evidence, because if the evidence is compelling and you ignore it, you're a fool. Deny it after examination and I'll respect you. Deny it because you don't want it to be true, and I'll say you're an idiot. I suspect 2018 is going to be a turning point that moves the world in directions we don't even yet understand. We are moving into the unprecedented. If there's nothing transcendent, its all meaningless and let the chips fall where they will. But if there is reason to believe in the transcendent, then the most critical question of all is whether there is a personality behind it.
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Probably the best therapy is to express yourself. Why do you think psychiatrists make you lie on the couch and talk, while all they do is murmur "hmmm", "uhuh", or "go on"? Archives
May 2017
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