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You still haven’t answered this, and in my judgement, if all that’s taking place is a bit of photoshopping to make a point to someone, it’s pretty superficial kind of practice, so much so that I wouldn’t bother to call it “magical” at all.
I've been using your examples of what constitutes a magical practice, in defence of what I claim to be an act of magic - an act that is about as magical as eating, as magical as the eucharist in that it is an act of eating with a 'value added' magical purpose. As a single act, I agree, it doesn't constitute a magical practice - by itself it would at best be an act of dabbling and at worst an act of delusion, however it's not a single act by itself, but rather an expression of part of my practice at that momment, in non abstract form as you've asked for. If I had stated that I had just spent two hours in meditation whilst infusing the heart sutra into some mala beads, as a gift to my co-worker to encourage him to be a nicer person, than perhaps this would have seemed more "magical" and much less superficial, however in terms of being practical to accomplish what I set out to achieve it wouldn't have been an act of magic or a magical practice, but rather a failure; he'd have looked at me strangely, set them aside, and never touched them again, because such an act wouldn't have gotten through to him.
There's a difference between performing an altar service, once, and performing it weekly as you mentioned, just as there's a difference between performing the same altar service every single week and performing a altar service whose routine and regularity isn't so set in stone, yet still gets done; the latter is what my act was analgous too, because performing the same stuff over and over again in the ongoing campaign to enlighten my co-worker simply wouldn't work. The thing is that in regards to this particular aspect of my practice, whereby I'm trying to enlighten my co-worker not just to suit my own standards but also to his own, I have spent years learning and struggling to understand him; the difference between runes and my co-worker is that I don't get the luxury of source tets that specifically speak of him and there is no guru to develop a relationshop with, however there is a relationship developed with him.
Now I could easily apply all of that to other aspects of my practice - daily acts of meditation before I go to sleep or random momments where I have the presence of mind to enter a state of no-mind, hourly cycling of my energies and centering myself, infusing meals with affirmations, etc. Acts which of themselves and collectively are easy to appreciate as being grounded, and committed, because they're all obviously related to magic in most peoples perception; these acts however, when common threads are drawn between them such as what you've listed as being parts of a magical practice, are no more magical to me than my venture into photoshop.
You can say that then about anything we do, and thereby use it as an excuse.
Actually it wasn't an excuse, but an explanation of why I consider all things to be magical in some way; some things are more obviously magical than others because of the associations with magic that are given to them, such as how holy water is considered to be more magical than seawater. Depending on the priest (or practitioner if you prefer) the amount of magic within all things that can be extracted and put to work will vary, as poet can extract their own magic from their muse dependant on their skills, whereby the practitioner adds a part of themselves to what they have in order to make it more than what it was. Again, this is why I consider my photoshopping to be an act of magic - not only because of the magic it already contained in the sense of being an interaction between various elements, causes and effects, which stretch back and forward through time and space, but because of the interaction between myself and it to create a desired effect.
I don't understand the value in expanding the label 'magic' to cover everything including mundane things.
The value is it being a tool of my magic. To me saying that magic is baffling and supernatural is in the end self defeating, as the more things become understood and natural the less they become magic; it's like intelligent design theory in that the more science comes to understand, the less ground God has to stand on in the eyes of IDT. It's also of little value to me to assume that magic is inherently baffling and unaccountable, because much of my magical practice is devoted to understanding how magic works, and ventures to close to calling people mundanes if they arn't magicians. I quite like using distinctive turns of phrase to describe individual things, hot, cold, warm, whatever, however I also like using distinctive turns of phrase to group those individual things, such as temperature; magic to me is a term that can be used in a very individual context just as it can be used in a communal one, whereby it can refer both to something that is baffling and unaccountable as well as something that is fully understood.
More importantly, what have you got against encouraging people to write from experience, Mako? Don't you think magical discussion is better when based on real things you've actually done rather than theoretical metaphysics?
Given that I've been trying to justify why my experiences have given me this perspective on magic, trying to justify how an experience of mine is magical (both in terms of being magic by default, and magic by purpose), and trying to show how that experience fits into my magical practice, I don't think I've got anything against encouraging people to write from experience; I'm of the opinion that some aspects of practice and progress should be remain silent, however this is not an opinion that I expect others to share, nor am I trying to force them if they don't. What I've got a problem with is the idea that theory is boring, and not a valid part of magical discussion; for instance, Apophenia has described how part of a valid magical practice includes such things as "Spending a couple of years learning the runes, struggling through the source texts" which is all pretty much theoretical until the individual studying it does something with it. Science, philosophy, and honest inquiry in general, usually start out with some sort of theory; these theories are based on the experiences of the theorists, which then get translated into an experiment, whose results are then turned into abstract theory once again. It's a dynamic process and one which magic, not just in the sense of all things being magical but also in the sense of invoking the baffling and supernatural, strongly needs, especially given that without theory as to why magic is magic it's hard to work out why its not magic, and so it remains baffling.
Since you are writing this on a public internet messageboard I think we're entitled to assume that you want to share something
Yes, I do. As I said, it's all reletive to what I'm doing, which then determines how I go about sharing what I've done. If I do something that I don't want to share, then I don't go about sharing it. If I do something that I want to share with co-worker, such as my photoshop, then I go about sharing it by setting it as the wallpaper on his computer. If I want to share my thoughts on magic, then I post on barbelith.
What on Earth does lying to yourself have to do with efficiency?
It has nothing to do with efficiency, which was my point; as you said, honesty about one's practice works for that end, not against it, and it's because I've been as honest as I can about my practice that for the most part I don't need bell, book, and candle to produce magic, but rather I can use those tools, or a computer, or none at all.
Firstly, as I stated above and you’ve missedthis is me acting, this is me critiquing, this is me attempting to raise the standard of debate. I’m obviously failing as well, to judge from your “I know you are – but what I am I?”
I didn't miss it, and I have appreciated it, however what I'm asking is why not use all this energy to start a new thread whereby you set a good example about what you want, instead of complaining that others arn't doing the same? Why not avoid the "absolutely fucking tedious arguement" and you know, practice experiential magic as you define it? |
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