Magic...(includes religion and various ramblings...)

[Scott]

I chopped this off of my post to the main list as it really didn't 
have anything to do with Harry Potter. I still think it is worth 
posting though.

Ebony wrote:
"..I took an instant poll--do you believe in magic and superstition 
in real life?  In this particular class, all of the students said 
"no" save one.  As we moved on, his tablemates asked him 
why."Because... magic *is* science," he said, as if this was the most 
obvious thing in the world."

--All but one said no? I would have thought that more would have said 
yes. When I was there age I thought that I "knew better" than to 
believe in magic, but still desperately wanted too. I remember a line 
from a poem I wrote at that age it's title was "I've learned" 

"...I've learned there's no such thing as magic, and ruby slippers 
wont take you to Oz."

That, if nothing else, was the hardest thing for me to accept. Maybe 
it's because I have a very vivid imagination (according to that 
article yet another evil thing about me), or maybe it's that I'm an 
only child and have always had to look inside myself to an extent for 
entertainment.

Now that I've had few years to think about this I disagree with my 
earliar self. I do think there is magic. Harry Potter-type magic I 
don't know but magic most definetely. There's magic in rain beating 
on the windowsill, in the wind pushing one's hair back on a windy 
afternoon, in sitting by the fire and falling asleep in the arms of 
someone you love. Magic is in a warm embrace, and even in a having a 
good cry. Magic is in losing yourself in a fictional world, or in 
another person (some people call it falling in love.) There's magic 
in being on stage on opening night, in hitting that perfect chord at 
the end of a song and getting a standing ovation.

Honestly- no magic! Some people are looking for magic so hard that 
they don't see it. You see life is magic, and like magic it can be 
both a blessing and a curse. Make it a blessing. The best way to do 
that is to fill one's life with peace and love (Some call this God). 
Thats why I think religion is such a great thing. I don't care how 
one comes to it, you can call God- Yahweh, Jehovah, Krishna, Allah, 
anything at all really. That doesn't matter much to me. I just 
hope everbody can find that magic inside themselves, because it's 
already there, we spend our whole lives searching and, IMO it's 
already there. I have a feeling that those Religious Right people 
would call the above blasphemous heresy but it's my opinion only and 
thats ok.

Today we were discussing the Aenied (sp?) in Latin, and about how 
many famous Romans tried to trace their lineage to the gods. Someone 
asked "But they couldn't could they. I mean the gods didn't really 
exist." I came back with "How do we know?" which might have made some 
people uncomfortable. "Because we're Christians obviously." But then 
who's to say that Christianity has any validity except those who 
believe it. The truth is we DON'T know, and we can't know, nor should 
we try to. Maybe believing is enough. If those people truly believed 
maybe that was all it took. That doesn't mean the gods of antiquity 
are real, but who has the authority to say ANYTHING isn't real to 
those that believe it is?

I've probably rambled WAY to much but then this IS OT-chatter. I hope 
that I didn't offend anyone with my views. Just remember that they 
are MY views and that's all.

Scott
______________________________________________________________________

"I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in 
fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your 
mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the 
here and now?  Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." 
- John Lennon