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plural_magicIt's a personal belief of mine that an important aspect of magic is belief. (Everything I say, really, is a personal belief unless I've stated otherwise, so... Just keep that in mind. :)
The universe is a living, breathing thing. Humans are a collection of cells making up organs, making up you. Humans are also cells in countries, and the planet itself. The planet itself is an organism that is a living, changing, breathing thing that exchanges gases and magnetic fields with larger structures, and so on. This is our universe, and it has two levels.
One is akin to a person's reflexes: tap here, the leg jerks. Touch with something hot, the limb pulls away without thought. Then there are the emergent processes in a human, the mind, the ability to think, and so on. These are not so predictable as the reflexes: you can make the same input many times, and get a different response each time. For me, analogously on the universe level, this is magic.
If you ask a person to walk forward five paces, or you ask them to drive somewhere, or carry out any complex task, it takes belief in the person that they will do it. You can't say to them, "do this if you are really able to or even listening to me at all". Even if they're not offended, they may just not do it as a lesson to you. :) Perhaps you can pick up that arm and move it yourself, but it's tiring and again, they may decide not to let you.
I think some amount of credulity is required when working with Others. It's entirely too easy to write them off as "talking to myself", or "wishful thinking". Or to take it a step further and ask, "am I disturbed?" We are often taught that such things are "not real" and that perhaps we should skip the abstraction and just think for ourselves.
Ask yourself this: Does it really matter who or what they are? It's one thing to question whether they're a positive force in your life and spiritual practice; we have to do that with any interpersonal relationship.
But when it comes down to it, this is like asking the universe to do magic in a lot of ways. It's really easy to arrange it in your mind so that they have no reality, and therefore, since we are often taught that it's pointless to talk to oneself, you can write them off. Disconnect from them. It's like having someone who wants to talk to you and help you with a problem, but you're putting your fingers in your ears because you don't think there's anyone to listen to.
What do your feelings tell you? What do you want to be the case? What would make you feel happier, more fulfilled, better at doing magic or asking for advice? For that matter, even if they really are just an abstraction, is it not a helpful one? And if you really do feel that there are just parts of yourself, archtypes, shadow selves, and so on, or even only you (and you're here for curiosity), then that's okay too.
It's important to listen to your intuition, your own personal voice.
(Definitions)
The universe is a living, breathing thing. Humans are a collection of cells making up organs, making up you. Humans are also cells in countries, and the planet itself. The planet itself is an organism that is a living, changing, breathing thing that exchanges gases and magnetic fields with larger structures, and so on. This is our universe, and it has two levels.
One is akin to a person's reflexes: tap here, the leg jerks. Touch with something hot, the limb pulls away without thought. Then there are the emergent processes in a human, the mind, the ability to think, and so on. These are not so predictable as the reflexes: you can make the same input many times, and get a different response each time. For me, analogously on the universe level, this is magic.
If you ask a person to walk forward five paces, or you ask them to drive somewhere, or carry out any complex task, it takes belief in the person that they will do it. You can't say to them, "do this if you are really able to or even listening to me at all". Even if they're not offended, they may just not do it as a lesson to you. :) Perhaps you can pick up that arm and move it yourself, but it's tiring and again, they may decide not to let you.
I think some amount of credulity is required when working with Others. It's entirely too easy to write them off as "talking to myself", or "wishful thinking". Or to take it a step further and ask, "am I disturbed?" We are often taught that such things are "not real" and that perhaps we should skip the abstraction and just think for ourselves.
Ask yourself this: Does it really matter who or what they are? It's one thing to question whether they're a positive force in your life and spiritual practice; we have to do that with any interpersonal relationship.
But when it comes down to it, this is like asking the universe to do magic in a lot of ways. It's really easy to arrange it in your mind so that they have no reality, and therefore, since we are often taught that it's pointless to talk to oneself, you can write them off. Disconnect from them. It's like having someone who wants to talk to you and help you with a problem, but you're putting your fingers in your ears because you don't think there's anyone to listen to.
What do your feelings tell you? What do you want to be the case? What would make you feel happier, more fulfilled, better at doing magic or asking for advice? For that matter, even if they really are just an abstraction, is it not a helpful one? And if you really do feel that there are just parts of yourself, archtypes, shadow selves, and so on, or even only you (and you're here for curiosity), then that's okay too.
It's important to listen to your intuition, your own personal voice.
(Definitions)