The universe didn’t force you not to believe in magic. You could have spent your whole life believing magnets are magical stones, that the electromagnetic force is magical energy, and that computer engineers are wizards who conjure spirits from magic. And you could have been 100% factually and scientifically correct.

But you chose to believe that magic is by definition not real, because you didn’t want to live in a world of whimsy and wonder. You defined magic as supernatural, in opposition to the natural world. While every scientist knows that nature is just a word for everything that exists. You chose to define magic in a way that it wouldn’t exist, denying it through tautology and not through science.

Why did you choose that?

  • MindTraveller@lemmy.caOP
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    4 months ago

    Yeah, yeah, christian views are varied. But you see, when I use the word postchristian, I’m describing the sum total effects of 2000 years of christian actions. In particular the middle ages drive towards seeing magic as the work of the devil and the canon ban on Artes Prohibitae in the 1450s, which eventually culminated in the witch hunts famously including Salem. The magic-accepting christians failed to effect the cultural changes necessary to prevent KidnappedByKitties and others from thinking magic is ineffable.