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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ReplyDeleteI dont think magic exsists. I want it to exsist but, scientifically, (i hate to go there but i have to..) its not possible. if magic exsisted the world would be completley different from what it is now. I mean there are so many components to the whole magic thing. It COULD be possible that we just arent aware that there is a magical world somewhere (which i doubt), but i think that if there was we would eventually find out about it. I think that we would notice weather or not there have been changes in the world concerning good or bad...
ReplyDeleteit would be sweet if there was magic in the world....
i think that magic exists, but not in the form of spells and wands and harry potter-esq magic [unfortunately]. i think magic exists in the form of forces that make certain events out of our control. while i do think that every decision we make contributes to a later consequence, i also think that the decisions we make on a whim, or without reason, are controlled by magic. for example, when you can't choose something so you just choose randomly. i think there's some sort of magical force that influences that random choice.
ReplyDeleteim sorry but i dont think magic exist. its just not posible. the people in this world would not be dieing of hunger or dieing from rare sickness. magic would make the world so much easier. but also so much harded. it would cause even more international problem it would be like the next best thing to the nucler warfare.
ReplyDeleteand i dont belive it takes place in our culture in the literal sense. i belive our culture would like it to be true and write books or simple dream about it.
I believe that magic exists. I say so because there occurences on the planet that happen beyond our understanding. When things such as the Grand Canyon were "constructed", i find it hard to imagine a lack of some sort of extraordinary power. I think magic holds a place in modern day in that some sort of force needs to influence someone to try and make a better future for not only ourselves, but future generations.
ReplyDeleteIf magic existed, i wouldnt be going to school. Instead i would be flying and scaring people. Unfortunately, it doesnt exist. People thought it existed hundreds of years ago, and they were brutally killed. I do think it somehow exists. Possible one or a few people have "Magical" powers but have to keep it to themselves. Some people still use voodoo dolls and witch boards in our culture today. I think we should keep an open mind for magic because if we believed in magic enough it will magically unlock for ourselves( just my opinion)
ReplyDeleteI think there could possibly be a slight chance of magic existing. Definitely not magic like in movies (except the Covenant). Not like harry potter or the fairly odd parents, but i do think there could possibly be some people who possess abilities greater than normal people. An example of this could be if you believe in extra sensory perception. ESP is totally weird and i dont know if i believe in it myself but there has always been legend of psychics and people who can bend spoons with their brain so i feel that these stories had to have some slight ounce of truth at SOME point. In regards to the movie the Covenant (about 4 boys who are descendants of a few survivors of the salem witch trials) i dont think the movie is realistic at all. I do however think the concept is clever and is an example of how there could possibly be people who possess special abilities. Magic clearly holds a special place in our culture or harry potter movies wouldnt make as much money as they do. people like to believe that magic could exist. It's fun and keeps people guessing. Magic can be used as an answer for things we cant explain, and as humans we always want an explanation.
ReplyDeleteDeciding whether magic is real or not was really hard for me. As much as I wanted to believe that all the casting spells, making potions, Harry Potter stuff is real, I couldn't. People would be flying to school on brooms by now. But I do think that there are a few items that have magical powers like, the ouija board (which allows you to talk to ghosts). My friend and I once talked to my friends great grandmother through a ouija board. Suprisingly, she answered all of our questions correctly (with detail) and answered questions that we didn't even know the answers to. It's kind-of a funny thing to believe in but there's really no logical answer for how the ouija board works, besides ghosts. I think we should still be open to all types of magic because they might appear in the future, but as for now, most magic seems unreal.
ReplyDeleteBesides, if Hogwarts did exist, Google Earth would have found it by now.
I wish magic existed. I wish there was a world like Harry Potter with fantastical creatures and wizards and witches. However; I believe that no matter how much I wish it did, magic does not really exist. I do believe that magic still plays a large role in modern culture because other people do still believe in it. Superstitions (which are a large part of Latin American and even European cultures) are completely based in magic. The belief that a woman can tell you your future by looking at your palm or that a peacock's feather will bring death to your home is completely based in the belief that people and objects have the power to control your future and well being. There is no such thing as seeing into the future. The people who profit off of these "skills" have simply learned to read people's faces for any slight window into their lives and dreams. I believe people wish magic was real because it provides an escape from our boring day to day lives, and hope that there is something better out there. In a world where we have magical powers we would have complete control over our lives and destiny. Magic; however, only exists in the imaginations of people.
ReplyDeleteBefore saying that I do and don't believe in magic, it's important to first distinguish between the different types magic.
ReplyDeleteFirst, there's the pop culture magic: the kind where you wave a wand or say a spell and there's a big, immediate effect (Harry Potter). This is the kind that I don't believe in. Oh sure, it would be amazing if it did exist and I could go to the equivalent of Hogwarts, but it-as far as I know-it doesn't.
Then, there's the other kind of magic: the spiritual, "real", kind. This is the magic that I will say I believe in, although my belief in its existence is far from knowing as a fact that it's there. Like the pop culture magic, this magic creates change. Unlike it, however, it does so in indirect (mysterious, to borrow a cliche) ways that don't always seem-at first glance-to be a result of the magic.
Everything and everyone has some sort of "magic" intrinsic to their existence- all of the world is connected, and performing magic is simply manipulating these connections (spiritual/energy connections, not to be confused with the mundane kind) to bring about change. While different objects might help people focus themselves when performing magic, I wouldn't say that certain items are more magical than others- it's all in the perspective and belief of each person. The "magical" effect it has probably has less to do with the object itself than with people's reactions to it, stemming from their beliefs about the magic of said object.
Magic is change, and those changes may be small, internal changes and still be considered magic. Magic might help you change your attitude about something, which opens an opportunity, and causes a chain reaction to bring about some change in the external world. This is the real magic, the kind that I think many people believe in- only, they don't call it magic.
One final note about this type of magic: It is not "supernatural." On the contrary, it's very nature makes it extremely natural- it's an ordinary part of this world that largely goes unrecognized.
Oh, I just thought of a third type of magic: Psychics, psychic tools (Tarot cards, Oija boards), ESP, etc. Now, I don't outright dismiss this, but I view it with a very skeptical eye. I'm sure that some people have had true and honestly magical (there goes that word again) experiences, and that some psychics really are gifted, but the vast majority of the time it's a hoax.
(Sorry for writing so much and probably being kind of unclear...)
I wouldn't say magic exists, we simply call things we cannot give explanation magic. It's something that DOES exist, we just yet have to discover and learn the knowledge to explain it. I believe magic is fullof illusions and tricks to manipluate ones mind. If magic did actually exist why would people do perform it all the time? I believe our culture wants to think the magic is real and they try to embrace it through books and movies.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit, I know the best spell in the world. It's not really foolproof, but it works if paired with a smile.
ReplyDeleteEver heard of "please"?
Now, I'm sure you would argue that the word "please" isn't magical. It doesn't have any magical properties. It's not special.
In my opinion, under it's current definition, magic is a matter of perspective. From my understanding, magic is defined as human attempt at controlling and manipulating the outcome of certain events that would otherwise be outside of human control. For this definition to work under all circumstances, we must assume that we know all that is within (and outside) of human control. That, of course, is a misleading assumption to make. Ask anybody 500 years ago, and they would find it out of human capability to find a way to fly, let along go in space. The fact is, it's been done.
Take this scenario for example. A man, by the brush of his finger, creates fire out of bubblewrap. To us, it would seem to be magic. We believe to understand all the inherent characteristics of bubblewrap and fire. But what if we missed one? What if this guy, has found that characteristic which allows him to transform this bubblewrap into fire. Doesn't that fit the defintion of magic?
If so, then I believe in magic. But, magic seems to have so many other contonations that it would be misleading to call it magic.
So, the problem rests in defining magic, or else magic stays subjective.
If you've found a more accurate definition of magic, feel free to reply. I would love to hear it.
I don’t truly believe magic exists. I have not yet come across any means of work I believe to be exceptionally extraordinary. It seems magic only seemed truly probable in my childhood when I had yet learned analysis of things and just accepted what I saw or experienced as they were. The feelings of any sort of existence of magic seems to dissipate as we age, as we stop accepting what is for what it is and begin to question and explore. Its almost as if we walked across the stage during the magicians act and discovered all the hidden secrets we once so naively believed. As many things start to fall in the same category of average and works that once seemed so spectacular get revealed of its secrets magic becomes more and more useless. Yet, if something could ever actually be pulled off as truly magical I would say it would have a huge place in modern culture as people constantly look for a release or a way out from the many problems and stresses we suffer from in our everyday life and seek a way to revert back to the days where they just accepted what was and were free from all worries.
ReplyDeletei dont think magic exists, but it would be cool if it did. I dont think theres anyone out there who can just make stuff appear out of no where. If there was, they would be all over youtube and everyone would no about it. And if magic did exsist, then everyone would want would want to use it because were all really lazy and magic would make everything a lot easier
ReplyDeleteI think that there is no such thing as harry potter magic, like spells, wands, potions, etc. But I do think there is such thing as spirit and ghost kind of magic. I think those creepy pictures with cloudy white things in the background really are ghosts and that things can be haunted. In relation to the movie we saw in class, I don't think that these early humans just touched that obelisk and magically they evolved, i think it took much more time and fate for this to happen. I don't think that magic exists, its just something people made up explain the unexplainable.
ReplyDeletei do not believe that magic exists because it's something out of the normal world. Magic is just something that people "do" so that they feel more powerful then others, but really they are just the same because it doesnt exists. also i dont believe in magic because there is no prove to that it exist. If there were magic i dont think it would be use as the way it is known to be use as. It would be more efficient and beneficial to human kind.
ReplyDelete