Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Where Has the Magic Gone?
When broaching a subject whose theme smacks of the occult, the author must either be especially sensitive to the needs of their audience, or especially unconcerned with their reaction. Since either option fits me quite nicely, I will leave this ponderous issue behind, and allow its implications to serve as sufficient warning for those able to receive them; those without such capacity are unlikely to be impacted by the message anyway.
It has often struck me, like a bad case of heartburn, how jaded I have become as time passes over my body and soul. I look about, desperately seeking the spark that once ignited every everything I did with passion, but am left with naught but the glowing embers of glory past. Don't get me wrong-- I still consider myself quite capable and successful. It's just that the cause, the modus operandi, seems less inspiring than before. As is normal in the topsy-turvy world that serves as my perspective, I began to reflect on this issue a while back, and have stumbled upon an interesting premise that bears consideration.
I have always believed that the influencing forces in our universe are cyclic, and operate at a variety of levels, impacting their environment in similar ways. It is part of the nature of discovery to realize that two seemingly disparate observations are part of the same motive force, different not through cause, but through the observed effect. Such, I believe, is the case previously mentioned under consideration-- and magic is the key. Not the Lance Burton, Siegfried and Roy kind of illusion, but magic with a capital "m". In order to differentiate, I will refer to this force as Magick in this post, without deference to or acknowledgement of any group that might feel inclined to accept that spelling as endorsement of their perspective. Magick, after all, should be above that.
Magick is, undoubtedly, a significant aspect of mankind's history. Shamen, witchdoctors, and mystics have played an important role in our past. It is also without question that the conscious influence of Magick has declined, supplanted first by religion, and more recently by science, as the dominant framework of mankind's perspective. Magick, Religion, and Science form an ontological triumvirate through which all of human history can be examined. Further, their relationship is relatively linear, with each influence slowly taking over from its predecessor.
There is another triumvirate, related to the introspective ontology of self. Called (among other things) the stages of life, I will use the labels Infancy, Ego, and Transcendence, though other labels have been applied (including the tangled instance of Hinduism). These too are relatively linear, suggesting a potential correlation with the aforementioned ontological triumvirate.
Examining this relationship further, it seems that there is conflict. The Magick/Infancy relationship is deceptively simple. Science/Transcendence is problematic only if you refuse to believe modern dogma-- though in my view there is something...unsatisfying in the relationship. Finally, Religion/Ego seems nearly contradictory, as despite the effects of interjecting poorly motivated individuals into the mix, religion has in principle been purposefully devoid of ego.
It is my premise that each and every one of these associations is completely valid. Once our perceptions have been adjusted by removing the vicious coupling of our supra- and infra-ontological perspectives, the clarity that this understanding provides is significant. In future posts, I will discuss each of these pairs, as well as my view on how this knowledge can be used to improve our metalogical view. It should be an interesting journey, to say the least. I hope you enjoy it at much as I have.
