Post by shawnhartnell on Jul 8, 2016 4:34:46 GMT -6
Cause and Effect 2
So, as you learned in the last post: cause and effect (or attribution, as it's called by the cool) isn't part of the universe in the way a “true materialist science fan” would have you believe but rather it's something our brain does in a way that psychologist or neuroscientist would understand. Magick is heavy in psychology, and light (as nil) in physics. Comprehende? Wonderful.
Now, let's look at traditional definition of magick and see if we can't figure out what's it means:
“The art and science of causing change to occur in accordance with one's will.”
Question: how do you cause change?
The astute will immediately recognize two words: “cause”, which we've been discussing, and “change”, which means “have an effect”, correct? We invoke a cause, which has an effect, which changes something. If there is no resulting change, there's no effect.
It also includes the qualifier “in accordance with one's will.” In other words, magick is more than just randomly triggering effects, we have to have some idea what we want to accomplish, and then trigger the right causes which result in the right effects to do what we want. What matters is what you want and what you wind up with. If you want to drink coffee and wind up snorting coke, well, we can at least say that something went wrong there. But, if you want coffee and get coffee, congratulations, you've just done yourself a magickal working.
It doesn't matter what you do from your starting intention to finally getting what you want, after all, if you want coffee you can get it a thousand different ways, what matters if you get what you want. You'll notice that crafting one's intent or desire is the greatest part of any ritual. Mages also keep a magical journal to keep track of whether or not they're getting what they want. Why? What you want and what you get – very important. So important they're like conjoined twins that act as the bookends of any magickal working. (A word of advice: Keep your Keter wedged up your Malchut! Ah... I can hear the lights popping on above the heads of people who have studied Kabbalah. A gift from me, to you.)
And that, folks, is my 300 words for this post. Next post, more enlightening definitions of magick!
So, as you learned in the last post: cause and effect (or attribution, as it's called by the cool) isn't part of the universe in the way a “true materialist science fan” would have you believe but rather it's something our brain does in a way that psychologist or neuroscientist would understand. Magick is heavy in psychology, and light (as nil) in physics. Comprehende? Wonderful.
Now, let's look at traditional definition of magick and see if we can't figure out what's it means:
“The art and science of causing change to occur in accordance with one's will.”
Question: how do you cause change?
The astute will immediately recognize two words: “cause”, which we've been discussing, and “change”, which means “have an effect”, correct? We invoke a cause, which has an effect, which changes something. If there is no resulting change, there's no effect.
It also includes the qualifier “in accordance with one's will.” In other words, magick is more than just randomly triggering effects, we have to have some idea what we want to accomplish, and then trigger the right causes which result in the right effects to do what we want. What matters is what you want and what you wind up with. If you want to drink coffee and wind up snorting coke, well, we can at least say that something went wrong there. But, if you want coffee and get coffee, congratulations, you've just done yourself a magickal working.
It doesn't matter what you do from your starting intention to finally getting what you want, after all, if you want coffee you can get it a thousand different ways, what matters if you get what you want. You'll notice that crafting one's intent or desire is the greatest part of any ritual. Mages also keep a magical journal to keep track of whether or not they're getting what they want. Why? What you want and what you get – very important. So important they're like conjoined twins that act as the bookends of any magickal working. (A word of advice: Keep your Keter wedged up your Malchut! Ah... I can hear the lights popping on above the heads of people who have studied Kabbalah. A gift from me, to you.)
And that, folks, is my 300 words for this post. Next post, more enlightening definitions of magick!