Hi, all. I've decided to change the question to something we'll talk about tomorrow in class. I've posted it below, but don't respond until we meet again tomorrow.
Examine and share your basic beliefs about magic as defined in class. Do not confuse this with your belief in something like miracles. Do you believe in magic even a tiny bit? Are there things which you view as “extraordinary material”? Does the practice of magic still have a place in modern culture?
POST DUE: Tuesday, September 15 by start of class.
2 RESPONSES TO POSTS DUE: Friday, September 18 by the start of class.
Note: Click on the word “comment” below, to post your initial response to the question(s).
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If you can't relate magic to the idea of miracles then there is no such thing as magic. I think things that seems like magic are more related to miracles. I do think there are things that are "extrodinary" that can dazzle a person like maybe an iPhone and all its cool features, but those things I don't think are magic related. There are still people that may try to actually produce magic, but I don't think the practice of magic doesn't have a place in modern culture.
ReplyDeleteI think, Kyle, that miracles are spectacular things happening at exactly the right times, like a come from behind victory of an underdog football team. I wouldn't say that without miracles there isn't magic because they are completely different things. When people think of magic, it's more about wizards and witches and Harry Potter. Personally, I don't believe that there is real magic, but because other people do, it plays a role in modern day society. Today, for example, there are a lot of people who believe in ESP which is also known as telekinesis, mind reading, and precognition. There are also fortune tellers that make a lot of money reading people's palms, or looking into a crystal ball. Because a lot of people do believe in these supernatural powers, magic is apart of our society and culture. I can't believe it to be true because it all seems to be fake, and every magic trick I've ever seen always has a hidden explanation to how the trick has been pulled off. People can claim that they've seen into the future, but people lie as well. A prop bought on the internet to perform a magic trick is not an extraordinary material. It is used to trick the perception of the human eye, but that doesn't make it magic. In conclusion, the idea of magic certainly exists in modern society, but in my opinion, only as part of the imagination of the human race.
ReplyDeleteDo I believe in magic? Interesting question. As a child I loved fairy tales and the idea of magic, but to be honest I don't think I ever really believed that magic truly existed. I liked it because it distracted me from the things in my life that I wanted to ignore. That's why magic has a part in modern culture, because many people, children and adults, want something to believe in. They want to think that there is something beyond the boring, predictable world of everyday. In the film, "Pan's Labyrinth" or example, the main character Ofelia, creates her own fantasy world in an attempt to escape her real life. Even though Ofelia is a child, people of all ages can relate to her feeling trapped and her need to escape. Despite that I identify with Ofelia and I still love fairy tales, I don't believe in that kind of magic. However, wouldn't other things be considered magic? Like a fantastic film or book that causes you to stir with emotion, that you feel has changed you. Or watching a beautiful performance by a truly gifted performer. Or being inspired to create your own work of art. Wouldn't these things be considered magical? Miracles, on the other hand, I think of as being seemingly impossible events that for some unexplained reason have occurred. Like a person at the brink of death making a full recovery. Incidences like this have happened. But maybe miracles are just another type of magic? I'm not sure if I believe in magic or miracles 100%, but I like to think that they are both possible.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I don’t believe in magic. When People claim to making an object disappear I don’t believe they have super natural powers, I just think they have the ability to make illusions. Yes, there are things I view as extraordinary material. There are so many advanced technology and I think even the ability to trick the human eye is somewhat extraordinary. Although I don’t believe in magic I think it still does have a place in modern world.I think today a lot of people use magic as something to escape the real world. When it comes to entertainment like current books and movies magic is highly used. Also Today there are a lot of people that actually do believe they can see the future or they can talk to the dead.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in magic. I don't think that anything or anyone has special or supernatural properties. I think that what we perceive as magic may simply just be something we can't comprehend. For example how prehistoric man was unable to distinguish painted representations of animals and the actual living ones. The paintings do not have magical properties, the prehistoric man was just not able to understand the complexities of nature. I think people want to believe in magic because it is able to explain our lives easier than science, and gives us a higher significance or sense of importance in our lives. Magic changes something from being the same organic matter as everything else to something special, original and important. But still inanimate objects are able to hold a certain power in our culture. Acts such as flag burning will always have a higher meaning than what is actually happening. Defacing a picture of someone is more than just ruining a photograph, but a direct insult to someone. I guess i just don't think thats magic, its just kind of our culture.
ReplyDeleteI've always been really divided about how I've felt about magic and its existance. I don't believ in the wave-a-wand-and-mutter-something-in-latin-and-watch-sparks-fly kind of magic, simply because it's been published in so many fictional books that even if someone proved it to me, I don't think I could believe in it.
ReplyDeleteAnd like Nick said, magic that is having someone make cards disappear or quarters appear from behind someone else's ear is simply an illusion that the general public does not understand -- but that the performer of the magic clearly does.
But in regards to the magic that is palm readers and crystal ball readers -- just based on my own experiences -- I do believe that they have a magical power to intercept and understand people in a way that most other people cannot.
However, in regards to mircales, I agree with Sam in that miracles and magic are two different things. I think that a mircal is more of a "freak-accident" sort of thing, whereas magic always seemed to be something more practiced.
In reality, I know that magic does not exist, and miracles don't either. But I think that neither will disappear from our culture anytime soon, simply because they provide a sense of escape and a sense of hope for those who need it.
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ReplyDeleteGLAD TO SEE SOME OF YOU GETTING A HEAD START ON THIS POST. WELL DONE. SOME GREAT POSTS SO FAR.
ReplyDeleteI'M WONDERING WHY A FEW OF YOU ARE HEDGING ON THE ISSUE, THOUGH. IF IT IS CULTURALLY FROWNED ON TO DEFACE A PICTURE, ISN'T THAT CULTURAL NORM ROOTED IN THE BELIEF THAT THE PICTURE IS MORE THAN A PICTURE? THAT IT IS AN EXTRAORDINARY MATERIAL? THERE'S CLEARLY A BIG DIFFERENT BETWEEN SPITTING ON SOMEONE'S FACE AND SPITTING ON THEIR PICTURE. BUT TO MANY, THERE'S NOT. ISN'T A PHOTO SEEN AS AN EXTRAORDINARY MATERIAL THAT IS MAGICALLY CONNECTED TO THE PERSON IN THE PICTURE?
HERE'S A MORE POSITIVE EXAMPLE: DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SOME SICK PEOPLE CAN WILL THEMSELVES TO GET BETTER? THAT HE OR SHE CAN LITERALY USE MIND OVER MATTER AND FORCE A SICKNESS FROM THEIR BODY JUST BY THINKING ABOUT IT? ISN'T THIS MAGIC?
--MR. B
Like many of my fellow posters, I do not believe in magic. Experimentation with magic did play an important role in our evolution however. The cave-men would draw pictures of their prey and then stab it, thinking this could kill their prey. Even though this didn't work, these people had no reason to believe so. What we thought to be "magic" helped to shape our knowledge of the current world around us.
ReplyDeleteI believe the reason we (and I) tend to shy away from this idea of magic is because it has no laws, like science. As a people we are frustrated with that which we cannot explain (i.e. life after death).
While their are things that I view as extraordinary, such as the vast size of the universe as well as the vast number of galaxies and planets, all these things are grounded in science.
As a way to understand other cultures and our beginnings, I believe that magic fits in there, but other than that I feel it doesn't have a place in modern society.
My belief in magic is odd and could be interpreted as somewhat biased. I believe in magic, but not in the way most people interpret it, nor do I believe in it on a large scale. I'm not talking about people who can fly on broom sticks, predict the future, or use a magic wand to do their homework within seconds, nor am I talking about people like Criss Angel or David Blaine, they do illusions for entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in this sense of magic, but I believe certain things can posses magical qualities. I look at magic the same way a lot of people look at art. There are somethings out there that can have a captivating or hypnotic essence. This could be a particular song, a work of art, natural or man made structures, the things we discussed during the cannon presentations. As for magic being practiced in modern culture, it certainly is out there if people look at magic the way I described it.
To be blunt, I don’t believe in magic, not even the tiniest bit. The belief in magic or “the paranormal” has stemmed from events that are, seemingly, unexplainable. When humans cannot define something within the terms that are already grounded in science or logic, some immediately jump to conclusions of mystic or magical behavior. For example, I read an article about a young woman who would hear the sounds of what seemed to be a typewriter coming from her walls. Convinced that it was a ghost, she called all sorts of paranormal investigators. It turned out that her toilet had a slow leak, and was refilling at multiple times a night, causing the typing sound. This just goes to show that people jump to conclusions when something cannot be instantly explained. That is why I don’t think magic has a place in modern society, because it encourages irrational thought.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I most definitely think that some things can be considered “extraordinary material”, and that term doesn’t necessarily have to refer to some sort of magic. There are amazing natural phenomenons that I don’t consider “magical”, but certainly extraordinary.
I'm going to go with the extremely popular view of "I don't believe in magic". However, whether there are things with "extraordinary" qualities or not depends on your definition of extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteFor example, take the internet. A vast web of information that connects people all over the world? To people years ago, that would have been viewed as psychic, or magical. Things that psychics would have claimed to pick up years ago are things we can easily see by the internet now.
That said, modern people who go by the term of psychics don't necessarily have magical or occult powers, but I do, in fact, think they do have at least some slight sort of ability - that is, powers of observation that are strong. People can easily interpret things from the way people move, talk, hold themselves, what they say in conversation -- people may view them as magic, BUT they're actually normal people who are just very perceptive.
while i normally wouldnt consider myself a believer in magic, in this context i guess a lot of my beliefs, fears, superstitions, and practices are based on some kind of magic. lately i have been going to sokka gakkai meetings with my friend who is a long time practicing buddhist at sgi. there is a chanting portion of the meetings which is the basis of the practice. by chanting nam-myōhō-renge-kyō, nichiren believe that you could summon the good in not only yourself, but the possibility of reaching the greatest potential for yourself and any situation that you put your mind to. the idea, for me, is not that you can make things happen in your favor by saying something over and over, bu that if you focus your energy and attention on bringing out the best in everything, things will lean in your favor when you put all your power towards achieving these things for yourself. everyone has the choice to do good and we can only wish that they make the right choice.
ReplyDeletein other news, whenever i do the scratch off on days when the card number is the same as the day of the month (and the card is one or two dollars), i always win. every other time, i lose. go figure.
I do not believe in magic. In my opinion, magic is just an easy explanation for what man does not understand. I think that many things are defined as magic until there is a solid explanation to define in detail that particular subject. For example, before fire was defined as "the rapid oxidation of a combustible material releasing heat, light, and various reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water," it was probably believed to be some sort of magical occurrence. As long as there are unexplained phenomena, people will try to make sense of those in their own way and magic will always be a possibility in some people's minds, just like religious miracles would be a possibility in other people's minds. In that way, i do believe magic plays a part in modern culture. In regards to the possibility of a picture being magically connected to a human, i do not think that is true. I think of that situation as more of an issue of respect, if you wouldn't spit on a person's face, why would you spit on their picture? I don't believe that has anything to do with magical connections.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I do not believe in magic. However, I have grown up in a culture wherein magic is believed, and some of the habits that go along with such a belief have been instilled in me. The little things that most members of our culture don’t talk about, such as an aversion to marring an image of a known person, are the remnants of a belief in magic. Even though I know that harming an image of a person does not harm the person, I have an initial hesitance to do so. This illogical reaction is the height of my lingering belief in magic (but that’s not to say that I genuinely believe in magic- the circumstance described would simply be my instinctual reaction). As long as humans still have this type of reaction, belief in magic will always be present in our culture, no matter how repressed it is.
ReplyDeleteDo I believe in magic? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I think magic is something that comes into our lives when we least expect it or when we need it most. Now I don't believe that magic comes from potions or voodoo, but rather from a person's ability to imagine and open her heart fully. As a child, I more readily believed magic existed everywhere, all of the time. I thought fairytales were reality, the toothfairy was the size of a thimble, and Hogwarts was going to send me a letter. As children we have few expectations and have not yet been exposed to the kind of sadness that closes our hearts little by little. Magic is something real or unreal that enables us to escape the known world. I think the closest thing we have to real magic is love. Love can heal a heart and make a person comfortable enough to have no inhibitions. Love gives us confidence when we need it most. In a sense, there is magic everywhere as one can always find something that gives them a sense of freedom, which in turn has a magical quality in and of itself. There are times when one feels as though there isn't anything that is truly "magical", and I have certainly had some of those times, as I am sure everyone has. This is why I say I believe in magic only some of the time.
ReplyDeleteWhile not everyone will support my exact view of magic, I know that there are many people who do believe in it. As there are many believers in our modern society, there is still a place for magic in our culture. As long as people, especially young people, believe in magic, magic will always be a part of our world, regardless of whether or not we're believers ourselves.
i think culture heavily influences whether or not we believe in magic. though i want to believe in it, i've been brought up not to. therefore when i see a magic trick, i know it isn't real, it's an illusion made by the magician. i also want to believe in wizardry, like harry potter, but my common sense tells me that it can't be real. however, many cultures did believe in magic. for example, native americans had medicine men. they healed everyone in the village when they were sick. the people thought that the medicine men were "magic" with their healing abilities when in reality it was the herbs doing the healing. magic is illusive, and a trick played on our minds. however if your culture teaches you it exists, then you will believe in it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do believe in the concept of magic. Once again, it's not the kind in Harry Potter (though i wish) or the kind you can buy at a magic shop. I look at the idea of magic the same way I look at the possibility of life on other planets; there is no way to know for sure about anything, so why not? I don't think any of us can safely say there is or isn't magic because it is just one of those theories that humans aren't able to prove. I believe in objects having extraordinary value or "powers" because I have never been convinced with a valid reason that they do not. I'm not sure that anyone will ever be sure about the existence of magic, but I, for now, believe in it.
ReplyDeleteMagic is a real thing to me. Extraordinary things happen all the time, one must simply start to look around. Some things occur and cannot be explained by anything that we have been able to see. The world must have another plane that humans can't comprehend, or certain things in this world have powers we don't understand. The use of science at the level we do is magic to me. In older times, the correct hand wave with the right wood made something happened. Now the right cut and the right medicine can clense someone's body. In that sense, magic is very relevant to culture in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteIt’s really interesting for me to see that most people before me have posted that they absolutely don’t believe in magic. I think this is because we have all grown up in the same society where we have been taught to always seek scientific and factual explanations for things. We’ve never been taught to believe in explanations that are associated with some sort of higher being or supernatural spirit or simply the power of the mind. Every single one of us has attended schools where they teach us science every year but have we ever been taught the history of magic? I think everyone says they don’t believe in magic because they’ve always been told it doesn’t exist. And maybe it doesn’t, but I don’t think it would be fair to make that conclusion only knowing one side of this argument.
ReplyDeleteI believe in some concepts of magic but not all, because to me magic can be so many things. Many people are just looking at magic from one perspective, they relate magic to the paranormal. This is the type of magic I don’t believe in. For example, there are people who try to make magic happen, like magicians who practice with magic. But these are just tricks that make the audience believe that something magical is happening. There is also the magic made by witchcraft who use spells, fortunetelling, etc to make something happen or predict the future. These type of magic does exist and is used by many in our society. There is magic that helps us imagine the impossible, it’s everywhere; in books, in movies. It’s not something we want to escape from because it helps us deal with others aspects of our life.
ReplyDeleteMagic, hummm, I believe the definition of magic can be interpreted in many ways. In my personal opinion I believe magic does not exist, if something is said to be magical then it is usually something mankind has created or can explain. There arent occurences on earth where supernatural things happen; everything that happens has some way of being proven. A magic trick for example isnt actually magic its just a skill someone uses after plenty of practice to create an illusion. Also the idea that someone can use mind of matter and just believe theyre not going to sick isnt magic. If someone knows theyre going to get sick then after any symptoms theyre going to believe theyre sick, but if if you dont want to believe youre sick then you can just pretend its not happening or not believe the first symptoms. Therefore magic is not real.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why someone wants to say they don't believe in magic, not in the slightest. But Hallie, I really don't think that one example of a typwriter noise actually being a toilet is a good thing to prove that magic doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteAnd just like shayne said, it's not particualrly fair to say that it doesnt exist -- because there's nothing proving that it doesn't, and saying that it "does not" exist, almost implies that it never did, still doesn't, and never will - when really there's no way to know. People can believe what they want of course, but to say that it "does not exist" in the world might be a stretch.
I do not believe in Magic. I believe that what some people might call magic is actually just something that we cannot explain or have the ability to understand. I do not believe in magic because it is just the perception of what you believe is humanly possible. I am sure that some primitive cultures would consider TV's as Magic because they cannot explain how to record and display an image on a screen. They might also think that an Ipod holding thousands of songs in a pocket sized device is also magic because it is just not possible in their minds. But is a TV really magic? Is an IPod really Magic? No. Just because we cannot explain something does not mean that it is really magic. As for casting Spells, and predictions, what happened the last time you didn't send one of those "something bad will happen if you don't send this to 100 of your friends in the next 30 min" emails? Did you die at 12:30 am? Did your boyfriend/Girlfriend really break up with you? I thought not. What about when the palm reader at the carnival said you would fall down the stairs tomorrow? Did you fall? The rare times that these things do happen is purely a coincidence in my opinion. Although i do not believe in magic, I do believe that it plays a major role in our society. Many books and movies are based upon the theory that magic does exist. If magic wasn't so important these wouldn't become iconic novels, movies, or plays. Some people define magic as the unexplainable, and others define it as just pure coincidence.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I have to say that yes I do believe in magic to some degree. Do I believe in what many people seem to describe as "Harry Potter" magic no, but I do believe that there are events that occur in this world that can't be completely explained by science. For example is it safe to say that music can possess some form of magic because it has the power to bring about different emotions or perhaps producing a desired effect such as dancing or reflecting over the message in the song. The lyrics contained in most songs can be considered incantations. Magic may not be needed as much as it use to because magic was once thought to help explain the unexplainable and in today's world it is fairly easy to find the answer to most problems that come about. However, I don't think that we should rule out magic in today's world completely.
ReplyDelete"Every little thing
ReplyDeleteshe does is magic." -- Sting
http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/files/2007/12/8864_0027.jpg
(sprinting away with the "most ridiculous looking person even in 1984" award)
When looking at the term "magic" in the sense that it is some sort of power/force that can fiddle with circumstances, I cannot say that I personally believe in it as a tangible form.
Immediately coming to mind when the term "magic" is spoken are sacred, worshipped and practiced objects, such as "tarot cards". Certainly, when inspected scientifically, such cards bear little to no difference from cards manipulated by humans for varying reasons, such as "playing cards". However, there is still a sizeable amount of people across the globe who lay their trust in "tarot card readings", varying from the curious to the ultimately devoted followers. It is very possible that the vagueness and ambigiuty of the cards allow for the self-fulfilling validity of the cards, but the fact that people read and follow the diagnoses of tarot cards show the true power of the human mind. Just as primatives may have left offerings and sacrifices for the vengeful and/or bountiful spirits in hopes of safety and survival, those who read and follow tarot cards have an extra layer of willpower and belief to carry out their lives through their practices.
Thus, it's possible in my opinion that if there is anything to be considered "magic" in our world today, it is the human mind and willpower.
To a certain extent I agree with Hallie, in that magic gives people a way to think "irrationally", but I also think that the concept of magic can be a positive thing. I don't think magic is something that opens doors to mad thoughts or unusual behavior, but rather it allows one to be more imaginative. There are plenty of things in the world that are "magical" and what gives them that quality is not the fact that they can't be explained but that they seem extraordinary to certain people. I think some people take the concept of magic a little too far, but at the same time, Hallie, it isn't fair to say that magic simply doesn't exist and is only people jumping to conclusions out of their fear of the unknown.
ReplyDeleteHelen, I agree that one's belief in magic stems from the culture in which they are raised and the beliefs they are exposed to. I think it's a valid argument that magicians tricks are illusions and miraculous recoveries are the work of organic sources. The fact that you said your common sense prevents you from believing in magic only strengthens that argument since that's the way you've been brought up. But then that makes me wonder: Isn't part of magic just simply believing and not worrying about logic?
I do not belieive in magic in its traditional sense, that through spells and charms we can control the supernatural. I do beleive, however, in "magic" in what it has become in modern civilization. "Magic" has become such a large part of pop culture and entertainment that its whole meaning has changed, once the basis for religion and beleif systems is now a series of tricks involving slight of hand and illusions. In this sense I do beleive in magic, as a form of entertainment and parlor tricks, but it is a waste of time to attempt to control the supernatural in a world based off of many physical laws and boundries.
ReplyDelete