tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post2968602857185732563..comments2024-01-12T12:39:47.241-08:00Comments on The Christian Monist: How Do You Live Magically . . . but . . . Without Superstition?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-55425560749430012412009-10-08T13:40:44.522-07:002009-10-08T13:40:44.522-07:00I was kind of laughing, as I mused more about this...I was kind of laughing, as I mused more about this topic today, given that my way of telling the difference between the real magic and the hoopla magic is actually kind of still "magical," in that it's relying on intuition more than anything else... :) <br /><br />I like the Frodo reference...and maybe it's true about young kids...I dunno (but I'll find out, as I age-ha). <br /><br />I was also thinking of Abraham... I mean, he was given a specific task ("Go to the land I will show you,") and yet it was NOT clear cut or simple, nor did it somehow over-ride his own free will and/or decision making abilities. He went to the land, so the word from God was right, in the general sense, and yet he also went to Egypt, Philistia, never actually built a house, had a concubine slave, had his sister in law of sorts turned to a salt pillar, etc... The fact that he had a word from God in NO WAY took away the adventure and the complexity and the twists and turns that the combo of life and his own choices brought to bear. <br /><br />But the fundamentalist "God's will" has this fatalistic air to it, a sort of zombi-fication factore that requires no brain, just catch phrases, and no responsibility, just fatalistic, "Allah wills." <br /><br />But I'm rambling. This is such a great post...I'm going to be thinking about it for awhile...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-82639069003293786282009-10-07T19:31:11.338-07:002009-10-07T19:31:11.338-07:00AinM I like those thoughts. When you say, "if...AinM I like those thoughts. When you say, "if I'm absolutely 100% certain of the course," . . . do you mean that Frodo et al faced real danger and a real chance of failure?<br /><br />I know that you are surrounded by small ones. When my kids were small, the sense of magic was much easier to come by. I spent most of my days building tree houses, fighting dragons, wiring space ships etc. The hum drum of reality was encountered as the exception. <br /><br />Maybe you're right that when you have a fatalistic certainty, demons and angels fighting for each step before you take it . . . that is where the magic is lost.MJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09240462070445948163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-10742448896400588312009-10-07T16:53:31.123-07:002009-10-07T16:53:31.123-07:00I think one gulf between 'good magic' and ...I think one gulf between 'good magic' and 'stupid superstition' (if I may be so bold-lol) is that the good Magic happens and our mind is filled with wonder and awe, whereas the superstition causes us to shut off our brains and proceed (or not proceed) down a course "certain" that it's "God's will" (whether it is or isn't). <br /><br />I love this post and am very much in a similar musing place about all of this, though I'm sure you're far ahead of me... I wince whenever I hear, "God told me to..." It's sort of par for the course with many of my friends...and I've noticed that it's usually indicative that the brain has been shut off, conversation not allowed, questioning forbidden. I can look back at the times when I said/knew something was of God, yet it wasn't, and it had all those earmarks, anyway...<br /><br /> Yet at the same time, I do believe in God, a God who is Big and Small and everything inbetween, a God who is wonderful and full of wonder. <br /><br />So I use that inner sense as a measuring stick between superstition and the real magic. If I'm not allowed to think about it, if questions aren't allowed, if I'm absolutely 100% certain of the course, if I not only don't pause to ask for wise counsel but don't feel the need to pause---if I'm rushed or hurried...then....it's fair to wonder if it's just some of that superstition nonsense. <br /><br />But if I am moved to awe, if questions are still okay, if I am still allowed to think, if there is a sense of life in it all, a sense of fun and wonder and kind of that scary feeling of Bigness...then it might just be of the Magic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-43859097726989347502009-10-07T12:48:37.969-07:002009-10-07T12:48:37.969-07:00Yeah, I like those illustrations.Yeah, I like those illustrations.MJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09240462070445948163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878914472051909043.post-9842410463685916522009-10-07T12:27:42.946-07:002009-10-07T12:27:42.946-07:00Of course, MJ, one may find Christians of every so...Of course, MJ, one may find Christians of every sort using nature as personal divination - it is sometimes a temptation almost too great to avoid. Personally, I take my prayers answered yes or no (or maybe or not now) when and if the thing happens, or not. I most certainly believe prayer is efficacious - I also believe in the sovereignty of God. <br /><br />A good many Christians historically seem to have also been able to keep this "magical spirit" in literature and life - Tolkien, Lewis, Francis of Assisi, Chesterton's "Elfland", Aquinas' concept of the essence of God, and creation being sourced from that - the list would be very long, and I am not qualified for it, anyway.<br /><br />I would quite agree that it is not a plain matter, though some people seem to grasp it much better than I do.PHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15292156826231664316noreply@blogger.com