Belief in magic

[Aroura]

I know some magic. It allows me to transport my very thoughts hundreds, possibly thousands of years into the future.

It's called writing.

---

I always pick the Elementalist subclass. Because fire, ice and lightning is cool as fuck.

Especially fireballs

I really liked the pen and paper RPG Mage: The Ascension. It had a few basic premises:

Magic was a literal reshaping of reality
Reality is, by and large, constructed through consensus (most people believe the earth is round, gravity is real, etc.)
If a Mage performs magic that violates that consensus - especially if it's performed in front of non-Awakened witnesses - it generates a Paradox
A Paradox is bad. Reality will attempt to self-correct, in a variety of ways, almost all of them bad for the Mage because they're the source of the Paradox

Since it was a White Wolf/World of Darkness game, it was a lot more collaborative than other games. No preset spells or abilities... you had to describe what you wanted to do. So, the in-game magic was only limited by your power levels, the Paradox mechanic, and your imagination. So, yeah, you could hurl fireballs at onlookers if you had the prerequisite power levels, but reality would snap back. Hard. But if you decided to target someone with a lightning bolt during a thunderstorm, there would be little to no Paradox to contend with.

The system, on the whole, made a lot of sense to me. It was also somewhat prescient. Some of the main bad guys were those that sought to shape the consensus of reality to their own nefarious ends. We're seeing that now in this 'fake news' era.

That's super cool. My husband just ditched Pathfinder and is preparing a Mage: The Awakening campaign. I hope it's worth the effort and cost of switching game systems!

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Speaking for myself, I believe in magic, but only if the music is groovy. It makes me feel happy, like an old-time movie. 

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

I know some magic.  It allows me to transport my very thoughts hundreds, possibly thousands of years into the future.

It's called writing.

Early med reports of a priestly class in the northern wastes claimed that druids could conscript the trees themselves into battle by use of arcane sigils.  Amusing, since they did do exactly that, sort of.  They wrote primarily on prepared tree bark or on trees themselves, and ofc as a guerrilla force they fought from cover.

Much of codified magic comes in the form of writing, or the recitation of inherited spells. The rights words spoken (or scratched onto the ground or a doll) the right way at the right place and time. We've always known that there was power in the written word, and we used to afford it a level of awe that mixed currents with the divine. Some of us still believe in magic books.

[Astreja]

Speaking for myself, I believe in magic, but only if the music is groovy. It makes me feel happy, like an old-time movie. 

Boru

^^^ Great song.

[Brian37]

  If you want to take that out of context you can.

Our existence is a result of natural evolution which IS an observation in the form of scientific explanations of evolutionary biology. 

Even the flaw of human perceptions is explained by the sciences in the form of psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience.

I never claimed every human constantly spends every waking moment thinking in natural terms, we most certainly don't. All I meant by that is we are a result of nature.

Our senses, even our flawed perceptions are natural. THAT is all I meant by that.

Then you should choose your words more carefully.  'Science' and 'nature' don't mean the same thing.

Boru

I agree just like "theory" in science is not the same word as far too many theists define it as as being, "A mere guess".

"Nature" in science is scientific. "Nature" to a theist can mean "good" or "magical handed down by a God".

But in scientific language NATURE is explained by science. I could give a shit less what theists think. Physics has no Hindu mandate, evolution has no Muslim mandate. There is no Jesus law of thermodynamics.

But "nature" as defined in science, describes both good or bad. Science explains a natural tornado, just like DNA explains both a baby or a deadly bacteria.

Unfortunately far too many theists take words when used in scientific terms and try to equate their religion as being equal too when the usage of the same word is completely different.

"Law" is another word the theist misuses. In science it means solid observations based on prior repeated and tested and falsified experiments. "Law" to a theist stupidly means a "law giver" like a government official, and they are not the same thing.

Humans certainly do not think in scientific terms 100% of their waking life, but we are a result of natural processes regardless.

[shadow]

When you think about what magic actually represents, it's mostly just things we already have, done more competitively than other people can do them. Take telekinesis: we already have hands, whose purpose is to move things with our minds. Or teleportation: we have a host of transportation options, the most convenient of which is our legs, which allow us to travel to wherever we want. It's funny how we evolved physical means for many aspects of 'magic' that would allow us to manipulate our world. What we didn't evolve, we seek with technology.

So I would say humans are quite good at magic. We just don't think of it as magic because everyone can do it in some form or another.

[KittyAnn]

Do i believe in magic?? .... i don't think so
though wait... maybe i believe in some kind of magic

o yeah definitely i believe in the magic of SCIENCE and magic of LOVE!!!
but who doesn't...

[Edwardo Piet]

Of course magic is real.  Well, real enough to make David Blaine rich.

Boru

Good point. Reminds me of this:

“I'm writing a book on magic”, I explain, and I'm asked, “Real magic?” By real magic people mean miracles, thaumaturgical acts, and supernatural powers. “No”, I answer: “Conjuring tricks, not real magic”. Real magic, in other words, refers to the magic that is not real, while the magic that is real, that can actually be done, is not real magic.”