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I'm trying to phrase this so that I don't sound like an arrogant jerk, an especial danger for me now that I've been paid a compliment by someone whose opinion I respect. This is all theoretical to me; I'm no magician. So, take this as friendly discussion and not an authoritative response.
I think the first thing that needs to be said is, if you can swing it, swing it. We'll applaud you (I guess you'd be applauding yourself, in that case). If you do win the lottery, please remember that Tom can always use help with the Barbelith bills.
You're on an interesting track, bpm77. Magick can work pretty much any way you want it to, so long as you are utterly convinced, while you're doing it, that it's true. However, it's difficult to convince yourself unconsciously that something fantastical is true. There's a word for people who have no doubts about their irrational beliefs: fanatics. I want to point out the danger to you as a magician in Solipsism, believing that your will is the only existential object.
People are a big cloud of chemical and ideological memes. That means, there are configurations of chemical matter that make you what you are, and configurations of ideas that make you who you are. Just as you aren't aware of the replacement of cells in your bones and organs or the growth of a tumor, you're not aware of everything that goes on in your psyche (psyche, if I'm not mistaken, is a word referring to both mind and soul). Your psyche, like your body, is made up of organs and processes you're not aware of. Among those processes is a defense mechanism, or series or species of mechanisms, that keep you "sane". These sanity mechanisms are what tell you it's unlikely you'll win the lottery by willing it, and there's a reason they do it. You need to be sane in order to cooperate with other humans to get food, shelter & nookie.
So, what happens when you solipsistically command the universe to award you several million dollars by lottery? Your first adversary will be your own sanity mechanisms. While it might be theoretically possible to hack your own defense mechanisms, it may not be a good idea. You need them in working order. It's a bit like locking your door and leaving the key under the mat.
A different and, I gather, safer technique for dealing with your own mechanisms is to use wit, not force -- trick them. Tell them, "I'm going to play this little game with, say, a circle of salt, some astrological hooey, and this here knotted rope." And while they're busy dealing with all that, you work your will. In fact, I think it's possible for many people to see the future with startling reliability. It might be possible & perfectly rational and realistic, hence no threat to my sanity mechanisms, to foresee the winning numbers and play them, rather than forcing the entire machinery of chance to play by my rules.
Another advantage of living in a universe populated by others is that we can help you with your doubts. You can say to your mechanisms, "Look, these other folks are doing it. It might help us get food, shelter and/or nookie, so just play along."
Not even you exist. You're a crowd of cooperating yous that can't really be numbered. Since it can't be numbered, its boundaries are purely notional. Extend that boundary to include, say, the Magick forum, or whatever, and you've got an effect similar to solipsism but with infinitely deeper resources to draw on. Yes, you may occasionally have to compete with other wills for the winning lottery numbers -- but competition can be rewarding in and of itself. Maybe you won't get the money, because ultimately the odds and the combined will of others prevent you, but you'll get something.
Now, here's something to ponder. If you are solipsistically alone, why are you attempting to talk yourself out of it in this thread? Or, why did I want to discuss this with myself (in the form of you)? And what about all those ideas you've heard that were clearly not your own? |
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