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Yes
A miracle is any amazing or wonderful occurrence.
that I find it amazing and or wonderful.
Well, deep as my neopagan roots go, the label doesn't quite fit anymore.
OK.
So, while I don't believe in the supernatural, I do believe in the art of magic. I realize that will almost certainly confuse some people, however explaining would totally hijack the thread. If you really must know, start a spin off topic, please.
Anyway, the nutshell version is that magic is the deliberate application of raw consciousness to shape the world. I believe it has declined steadily over the centuries, in part because as science progresses, skepticism and disbelief rise.
The thing is, the capacity of magic is intimately linked to the deepest levels of belief. Wholly dependent on them, in fact, because the witch or deity shaping the spell borrows the energy of other life forms. If the energy we seek to tap is unwilling, it is denied. Belief is not the power source, but the power's gatekeeper.
So, as more and more people disbelieve, the available energy has declined sharply. I believe that in the days of the ancients, even the amateur hedge witch could shape wonders that would astonish our modern minds. Now, the most powerful energy shaper on the planet is limited to subtle things easily dismissed.
Questions, comments, confusion?
You're getting your posters confused, sweetie.So, let me see if I get this right:
You're saying that every time someone get's well and we can't explain why, that's a miracle and a result of godly intervention?
That means that every time someone dies or gets ill and we can't explain why, that must also be a result of godly intervention.
And in consequence, since we knew much less in earlier times than we know now, that miracles happened a lot more often in the past than they do now, and that as our knowledge increases, miracles will continue to become exceedingly rare.
Do you see where you went wrong?
This:
was all me.
You're getting your posters confused, sweetie.
Quite possible. I do sometimes get confused.
But do you think our points were the same even if what we said was quite similar?
You didn't even respond to my post. (I feel quite snubbed by that, btw. :sad I don't know why you attributed my answer to someone who didn't address the question. And now I'm very confused.
Oh, I was teasing about the snubbing. And I didn't realize you were being sarcastic, either. Miscommunication abounds... I blame lack of sleep and abundance of caffeine.Right.
Now I -really- am confused.
I was being sarcastic in my post to fosterjonnie, and I'm not at all certain how I have snubbed you, but I assure you that it was unintentional.
If you can direct me to the post you're referring to, I'll be happy to respond.
OK.
So, while I don't believe in the supernatural, I do believe in the art of magic. I realize that will almost certainly confuse some people, however explaining would totally hijack the thread. If you really must know, start a spin off topic, please.
Anyway, the nutshell version is that magic is the deliberate application of raw consciousness to shape the world. I believe it has declined steadily over the centuries, in part because as science progresses, skepticism and disbelief rise.
The thing is, the capacity of magic is intimately linked to the deepest levels of belief. Wholly dependent on them, in fact, because the witch or deity shaping the spell borrows the energy of other life forms. If the energy we seek to tap is unwilling, it is denied. Belief is not the power source, but the power's gatekeeper.
So, as more and more people disbelieve, the available energy has declined sharply. I believe that in the days of the ancients, even the amateur hedge witch could shape wonders that would astonish our modern minds. Now, the most powerful energy shaper on the planet is limited to subtle things easily dismissed.
Questions, comments, confusion?
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a concept without believing it."As a curmudgeonly empiricist, I do have some issues with this view, as you might imagine.
Not problems with you holding this view; that is of course entirely up to you, but rather problems with the basis, or lack thereof, for holding it.
I know that for a lot of people the constant call for evidence gets tiresome, but for me that is really the only way I'd buy into any of this.
And to be fair, there is no evidence to support neither that the consciousness forms the world in any way except perhaps psychologically (I really hope you're not a fan of Deepak Choprah), nor of any such source of power, again except perhaps on a psychological level.
And the fact remains that science works.
In fact it works better than any idea that we humans have come up with in the entire span of history.
And that is why, tiresome as it may be, I still have to ask for evidence before I'll even consider any such concepts.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a concept without believing it."
I'm not asking you to believe, simply entertain long enough to have a discussion. We both know there's no hard data on this.
LOL!I have no problem entertaining it, but I run into a few bumps in the road rather early on as to how this would work.
What you are describing is, in short, a world in which Marketing people would be (some) of the most powerful people around.
And that sounds terrible...kind like it is now actually.