So am I suggesting that magic might be real? Well, I want you to keep reading and so, for moment, I’ll need to keep those cards close to the vest. But it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect that something may be up my sleeve.
Much like asking if God exists, the answer hinges almost entirely on the definitions being employed. He or she who defines the terms will surely win the debate. A world full of magic may look identical to a world completely void of magic if interlocutors are employing the term in radically different ways. Likewise, even the most zealous of atheists may happily concede that gods exist provided certain definitions. The assertion that ‘there is no god’ is often made within the context of traditional Western theism; stepping outside that context toward a radically different understanding of what is meant by ‘god’ makes for a significantly different conversation and different possibilities.
Returning to magic, consider the following dialogue from Richard Linklater’s recent film Boyhood:
Mason: Dad, there’s no, like, real magic in the world, right?
Father: What do you mean?
M: You know, like elves and stuff… people just made that stuff up.
F: Well, I don’t know, what makes you think that elves are any more magical than something like a whale, you know what I mean? What if I were to tell you a story about how underneath the ocean was this giant sea mammal that used sonar and sang songs… and it was so big that its heart was the size of a car and you could crawl through the arteries? I mean you’d think that was pretty magical, right?
The confusion is created by incorporating the idea of the supernatural into the very definition of magic. Many standard dictionary definitions will include the idea of the supernatural but this is not helpful; indeed, it’s a trap. It means that if something is part of the natural world that it is not, as a matter of definition, magical. We already know (or assume) that there is no magic in nature. So, for example, we know whales aren’t magical because we can go out and observe them or convert them into oil for lamps. Magic is supposed to be more elusive.
Anselm argued one need only to adequately understand the concept of God in order to know, with certainty, that He exists. For Anselm, God was ‘that than which nothing greater could be conceived’. To trace the consequences of this definition meant that God necessarily exists. If you are thinking of a being that is perfect in every way but lacks existence then you not thinking about God; you are not thinking about ‘that than which nothing greater could be conceived’. Anselm thought that to exist would certainly be greater than to not exist.
And yet Anselm’s Ontological Argument is not very convincing and is widely considered to be inadequate. The generally identified flaw was initially provided by Kant who pointed out that existence is not appropriately described as a characteristic or a perfection.
We ought not incorporate existence or (non-existence) into our definitions.
Returning to the natural world, Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass writes:
‘The very facts of the world are a poem. Light is turned to sugar. Salamanders find their way to ancestral ponds following magnetic lines radiating from the earth. The saliva of grazing buffalo causes the grass to grow taller. Tobacco seeds germinate when they smell smoke. Microbes in industrial waste can destroy mercury. Aren’t these stories we should all know?’ (Kimmerer 345)
While not explicitly about magic, Kimmerer breaks down the wall that many of us have erected in our minds that divides poems from facts. The former are often treated as fluffy and frivolous while the latter are regarded as solid, dependable, and gathered through the hard work of trained professionals. We entertain ourselves with poems and build spaceships with facts. But the divide is artificial and the characterisations of what can be found on each side nothing but stereotypes and superstitions serving to convince us that the divide makes sense, that it needs to be there, that something must be one or the other and not both.
So who is really guilty of the sleight-of-hand when answering this question about magic? No one and everyone.
Whether there is magic in the world is, on a certain level, purely a matter of definition. For most of my life I have defined magic out of existence. It is only in recent years that I have been finding it everywhere as a ubiquitous part of everyday life: as mundane and as exciting as the air.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful, and dare I say, magical reflection, Ian. Within the past few years I too have rediscovered a sense of the magic that envelops us. I can think of few things more magical than the giant Amazon water lily, which Orion magazine recently featured. And even “mundane” events as you point out are startlingly magical. The acrobats of common ground squirrels and invisible chemistry of photosynthesis consistently hold me in a state of “child-like” wonder.
Magic is real and cryptically kept in nature’s systems of lock(s) and key(s)
The eternal life of light and energy of this behold from bark matter….
This is a specialist spiritual realm bestowed to the intended recipient of course. ..
One to pose or ponder the ideals of “one who gave into the looking Glass”…
The idea of life and conscious belief attached to the meek via understanding of wisdoms approach to knowledge that unlocks the eternal circle of life as a result rather than a destiny. .
The ark of nature to endure it’s children at war with peace and tranquillity in your account of journey versus offering!
Intention plays the biggest part in managing your soul and nature’s grasp like the hand of mortal gods. Versus the immortal belief in simply what exists beyond the now available because of the gift of life and it’s perils or pearls?
To be ..? Or not to be?
If your own thought makes me intent on destruction of self catering to the Crown of eternal belief in the though of life forces beyond current comprehensive foundation or faculties.
Present magic to the craft of holder and it’s weight over throws the need of knowing all mystery.
On Earth humans are not ready yet to encounter nature’s magic because the square plot is still being processed over the circulation or circle of life and nature’s logic.
It will take place in time.
Magic and it’s kingdom.
This act of faith in goodness and healing is for those who possess the birth right as a gift to this world to counter the opposition of war !
It was very fascinating but i think either the article or my phone is messed up the words are all bent
Hi
I found your article interesting. I have always wanted to do a study into real magic. Ultimately it often comes down to the question of what is magic. If never seen before most things would be considered magic as they are not understood.
I think real magic must ultimately be definable as miracles that are unnatural. As those things that are natural can be explained by someone knowledgeable in that area. I find that only the truly unexplainable can be classes as true magic.
I am on the search for these truly unexplainable events in history or the present if anyone could help?
I always think of magic that defys explanation. Something that if you ask “why and how is this real? Why does this work?” the only answer will be “why not?”.
If your searching for magic don’t lose yourself in your journey beware of the ones with a skull tattoo on their left arm because their the one’s whose been making contact with the dark forces.
That might just come to be somerhing amazing and magical. Contact: charlesirakoze7@gmail.com
Much knowledge has been lost to time. During the dark ages, studying science was forbidden and books were burned to destroy that knowledge. Today we continue to learn more about the universe, and nothing is more magical than creation.
I believe in the wonderful things that happen to this natural world we live in is magic. People may think otherwise, because they believe that we have searched the whole world for anything of the sort. But really we haven’t looked deeper into these amazing results of this planet we live on. There could be more, there could be the dreams coming true of when you were little, there could always be a way of finding a reality, but who knows, if you really believe it could be possible there is always a way of living that dream. π ( I am 13)
Hey Ian,
That was a beautiful explanation and I loved the way you tried justifying the existence of magic. I have always believed in magic and see wisps of it in everything, or simply quoting you, “…a ubiquitous part of everyday life: as mundane and as exciting as the air”. Thank you once again π
All of these are hypothetical things .. Rest if you believe in miracles then keep faith in science it will give you more than anything can since magic is the type of science
I believe that there is real magic. I have seen things that cannot be explained. for example, Shim Lim does real magic, also Yif does real magic. Another is Steven Frane . People who can’t explain how they do this magic, say it is done by Demons. This is not true, if it were true, you would have to say in the Lord’s day, the Miracles he did was also by Demons.
I came to this post late yet I am very grateful for all I’ve read. My path of life has lead me to see many unexplainable things. These things have involved animal and human lives.
By opening our eyes and our hearts there are so many wondrous and not so wondrous happenings around us.
Thankfully regarding the not so wondrous things I have had friends that are very dear near to witness being scratched when noting appears to be there. Be careful to those out there looking for things that should be left alone…but remember with a clear mind and loving heart these things will protect you along with some good seals…oh, and a good balance in one’s own nature.
I have always wondered if there was any magic left in the World. I believe we are all so very far from home – we have so far removed ourselves from Nature. Living in these boxes and concrete jungles and technology has isolated our minds and bodies from the Natural World.
I think particularly Women have forgotten their magic – how our bodies rhythms are cyclical like that of nature, and holds the Source of so much Power. But we are raised to deny it, have grown to loathe it, to consider our great gifts as merely bodily functions. So we no longer look to Nature and this is how magic has disappeared and become so elusive. I think religions who have denied the Feminine aspect of the Divine are guilty of erasing magic from the World through willfull denial and neglect.
I like to think in the deep, quiet and ancient places left in the World their is still deep magic because it can be felt. Our bodies know, recognize and respond to a Truth in these places that our minds have been taught to deny. I think we are in an era where many are starting to here a Call and itβs causing us to question, to seek and to enter into places where we are waking from its slumber to something ancient, and very real but the hurried pace of the world has blocked it out and religions have locked it out.
Listen to your bodies first, your instincts – your intuition that has been replaced by distraction of your technology. This is where magic will first be felt before the mind can try to deny it. Consciously unplug and listen.
I believe in magic i have to as a songwriter magic to me is song where it cones from is magic.
That the moon directly inline with the sun is exactly the right size to block it precisely and expose the corona is I believe magic.
Thank you for all the wisdom shared in here especially, Cherine 12.03.19. 10:32 Your words are inspiring and familiar to me and I share them with my daughters thank you again I came across this page by accident or was it all just purposely magically appear to me.