Thoughts on Magic

Magic is a science of the mind. Where it differs from other such sciences is the magus presumes that mind is fundamental and pervasive. With that theory we may negotiate with other minds, whether they be organic or elemental. Soul is mind, however deep or simple. If they can think of pursuing pleasure and avoiding suffering it has mind/soul.

So, to ask about magic, one might also ask about mind. Is it emergent or fundamental? Does my nervous system, or in the case of prokaryotes or archeons, the nucleus generate mind, or does the mind generate the structures they rest upon? Can we answer such questions when we can still only measure their effect, not their structure?

Sure enough, change the brain, change the mind. Is that evidence for an emergence? Yet the mind seems to functionally exist at conception, and evolve with the brain. If electricity forms both then maybe mind is a foundation and evolves to suit the structures it builds.

No electric body is so isolated that they rest outside any chain of causation. So, while the condensate that shapes mind and body builds their masterpiece, environmental forces will influence their shape. Will that be mother? Family and home? Our planet and star? Can we stop at our galaxy?

Does that mean when I ask for rain, I am participating in the chain of causation that brings rain? Then again I, the farmer may beg for just enough rain to keep my crops happy, while some urban group wants sunshine for their games and parades. So, why should my farm be favored? Maybe that’s one more place the magus reigns. I have a relationship, whatever narrative I use to explain it, with the other minds of nature. On the other hand, nature has a will of her own, as we see with the grand solar minimum and its collateral mini-ice age. We might have a small influence on nature much the way a flea will influence a host.