MAGIC

  1. I should try to define “magic”
  2. According to Google,
    • “Magic” is the power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces
    • The supernatural refers to events, forces, or entities that exist outside of the natural world and cannot be explained by known scientific laws or empirical observation. This concept encompasses phenomena that transcend ordinary human experience
  3. That probably doesn’t help a whole lot — maybe examples will do better
    • a. The Creator
      • b. Souls
      • c. Free will,
  4. Unfortunately, there are, other, arguable examples of magic that most of us humans just take for granted
    • d. EXISTENCE in general
    • e. AWARENESS in general
    • f. MY EXISTENCE/AWARENESS in particular
    • g. If anyone else is reading this, YOUR EXISTENCE/AWARENESS in particular, also

  5. But first, why FREE WILL?
    • a. Most of us humans figure that we do have free will, in that our behavior is the result of external realities (biology and experience) but also of OUR OWN TRAITS AND VALUES
    • b. The problem, however, is that our own ORIGINAL traits and values MUST HAVE BEEN DETERMINED BY EXTERNAL REALITIES also — we could hardly be responsible for our own traits and values BEFORE we existed
    • c. Taking that into account, cause and effect SHOULD rule
    • d. In other words, our behavior would seem to be COMPLETELY determined by external realities — and if so, free will is simply impossible
    • e. In more other words — I can “PROVE” that there is no such thing as free will and that NO ONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING…
    • f. However, I TEND TO BELIEVE IN FREE WILL ANYWAY!
    • g. Most likely, you do also
    • h. Either I — and probably you — are wrong, or the experts are missing something crucial…
    • i. (I do have possible explanations as to WHAT the experts are missing, and WHY they have missed it)
    • j. If free will is real, you and I ARE simply “magical” — WE ARE SOMEHOW ABOVE THE LAWS OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
    • k. If so, we are little Gods — perhaps, we are parts of God
    • l. Perhaps, we are parts of a “universal consciousness” (Quantum Mechanics is promoting such a concept)
    • m. If we have free will, we are at least, LIKE little Gods
    • n. And, cause and effect DOES NOT rule!
    • o. And reality must at least INCLUDE some “magic”

  6. EXISTENCE
    • a. I’m claiming that existence itself is magical
    • b. NOTHING existing would make PERFECT sense
    • c. NOTHING existing would require absolutely NO explanation…
    • d. Whereas, SOMETHING existing would require AN INFINITY OF EXPLANATIONS — if cause and effect rules (if cause and effect rules, how could there be a cause that was not itself caused?)
    • f. But then, how could there be an infinity of causes either?
    • g. Again, I’m suggesting that, somehow, cause and effect DOES NOT RULE…
    • h. And, existence IN GENERAL is, itself, magical
    • i. We have a LONG way to go to understand existence – if, that is even possible
      • (If you notice, I’m ACTUALLY suggesting that reality is actually NOT understandable…)
  7. CONSCIOUSNESS in general…

  8. MY OWN PERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS in particular
  9. And, if anyone else is reading this, YOUR OWN PERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS,, in particular, as well, as well

  10. Note that, the “lower” animals seem to “TAKE MOST EVERYTHING FOR GRANTED” – I.E. we humans assume that the lower animals never (or, hardly ever) wonder about “how” or “why”
  11. The lower animals appear to just REACT in whatever ways that they perceive to be in their own (or a loved one’s) best interest

  12. Whereas, we humans DO wonder how and why about most everything
  13. However, there does seem to be something UTTERLY AMAZING about existence that almost all of us do, in fact, just take for granted (as if, for some reason, it doesn’t require an explanation)
  14. (Unless we’re REALLY religious)

  15. We don’t tend to notice that we’re doing this
  16. Again, I’ll try to explain…


  17. Supposedly, homo-sapiens have existed for 200,000 years and have produced about 100,000,000,000 (ONE-HUNDRED BILLION) examples (“selves”)
  18. Assuming for the moment the popular secular belief that each self can exist for only one finite time, there must be an INFINITY of POTENTIAL selves!!!
  19. And, for the moment the popular secular belief the PROBABILITY of me CURRENTLY existing (as a human being) must be about 8 billion over infinity — i.e. virtually zero

  20. If anyone else is reading this, the same goes for you
  21. It must be that you and I exist MANY, MANY times — or ALL of time
  22. Most likely, you and I are simply BASIC to reality, and if reality always exists, we must also…
  23. Did something exist before reality?
  24. Is there a different kind of existence?

  25. Hitching a ride on Quantum Mechanics, you and I must be specific divisions of an infinitely divisible UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS (please look that one up!)
  26. And, at the “BEGINNING OF TIME,” (if there WAS such a thing) we must ALL have been ONE
  27. I suggest that ALMOST NO ONE recognizes this amazing aspect of his/her self because it is so hard to describe — consequently, so far, each of us needs to recognize this for him/her self


  28. Though, I’ll keep trying to help…
  29. WHERE (IN THE HELL!) DID I COME FROM?!!!
  30. Did I exist in some other form before I was conceived?
  31. Or, was I brand new?
  32. So far, that might be the best I can do towards describing what is so amazing about my own existence…

  33. And, please keep in mind my suggestion that we homo-sapiens. are only in our evolutionary “childhood,” not nearly as smart as we think we are — and consequently, fail to notice/realize SOMETHING crucial about reality

  34. I’m claiming that there is something amazing/magical about our own existences THAT ALMOST NO ONE NOTICES…
  35. And, those who notice, don’t know how to describe it
  36. Abraham Joshua Heschel (a preeminent Jewish theologian) apparently DID notice, and called it “RADICAL AMAZEMENT”
  37. But even Heschel couldn’t describe it well enough for me to be sure that he and I were perceiving the same thing

  38. These apparent MAGICAL facts must be largely RESPONSIBLE for our religions – for our tendency towards BELIEVING in magic and meaning, even though we can’t explain why
  39. So, one of those FACTS that we should probably NOT take for granted, but do, is our own SELVES
  40. When carefully analyzed, our own selves just don’t seem to fit with what we think we know about reality…
  41. And again, such facts end up supporting/suggesting, Religion…

  42. We take our selves for granted — when our selves are the very last “things” that we SHOULD take for granted
  43. Am I just one of the infinity of potential selves?
  44. NOTHING existing would make perfect sense, whereas MY PARTICULAR EXISTENCE makes absolutely NO sense — especially RIGHT NOW
  45. Again, WHERE IN THE HELL DID I COME FROM, anyway?!
  46. We’ve just taken existence and awareness for granted — but they’re nowhere near DESERVING of being taken for granted…

  47. So, most of our public schools and universities in the West have been essentially DISCOUNTING religion — and in general, the more education we receive in the West, the LESS religious we become
  48. I suggest that the reason this negation persists is that the serious evidence AGAINST belief is just much more OBVIOUS than is the serious evidence FOR belief   (And once again, intellectually speaking, we humans are probably in our evolutionary childhood)
  49. And then, the evidence FOR belief – once recognized – is almost impossible to discount…

  50. More to come…

MY BEST GUESSES (SO FAR)