Something different to debate - magick, myth or reality?

Gardenlover

Gardenlover

The world needs more love
Is there a practice that involves aligning oneself with natural forces or spiritual realms to manifest one's intentions within our world?
 

Pepper said:
Yes, but it only works when you delude yourself.
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of course. Has anyone seen the movie Skeleton Key? It is about an old voodoo priest and priestest couple who use voodoo to exchange their old bodies with younger bodies, but to make voodoo work the priest and priestess had to convince the younger that voodoo was real. Only then would the younger be susceptible to voodoo magic. Sounds like religion, doesn't it?
 
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I think we can imagine all kinds of things. That's where the problem lies. I had a friend who believed I had some kind of ability when all I was doing was stating the most likely outcome. I couldn't take it anymore and told her I'd like to be left alone.
 
Gardenlover said:
Is there a practice that involves aligning oneself with natural forces or spiritual realms to manifest one's intentions within our world?
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Yes, it works well in the movies. The TV series Stargate SG1 has skillfully weaved the fantasy into many of it's episodes, which I found delightful.
I was introduced to part of the magick vocabulary, when SG1 was trying to gain access to Merlin's library, which no one could do because the door lock was "magicked." Of course they were able to unmagick it and gain access, but I can't remember how at the moment. It's hard to remember these things, because magick is elusive and slips away mysteriously from your imagination.
 
The Law of Attraction also works, many claim, but I find it too hard to be delusional about my reality for it to work for me.
 
I can't answer the question about practices. I don't do anything specifically for the purpose of aligning myself with spiritual realms or natural forces but I do notice the activities which have enhanced my appreciation for this life I've been given. Walking in nature, puttering in my garden, communing with my animal familiars and reading great works of literature which move me all help me to align with and feel part of this world.

But regarding magic, myth and reality I tend to think of it this way. Myth, like poetry, reveals depths of the subjective truth of our existence. The insights which science grants us into natural forces reveals depths to the objective truth of our existence. Both matter.

Whereas poetry and creative endeavors help reveal our personal subjective truth or that of our milieu, myth is like a dream or creative work which a culture has worked on collectively since the dimly perceived beginnings of that culture. Just as a dream can reveal personal truths beyond those we are aware of or which we choose for ourselves, so myth can reveal aspects of our collective lives together through time which cannot be distilled down to explicit propositional facts.

For a meaningful life we need to know something about how we got here and what our purpose is both as an individual and collectively. There is no Idiot's Guide To The Meaning of Life, no short cut and no objective fact of the matter which everyone will agree on. But that doesn't make us delusional.

There are two ways to miss Truth and meaning: one is by assuming it must be objective and available through authoritative sources. The other way is by assuming that since there is no hard fact of the matter that it must be something we just make up any way we like. Either of those ways will guarantee we miss it entirely.
 
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Beezer said:
Not sure, but I'll have what you're having nonetheless.
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I poured you a glass... now we'll see if you drink it. (just joking around)

I got tired of all the Christian debates so I thought I'd flip it. Doesn't seem to have the same vigor for "some" reason.
 
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