Proof of Magic
My master once told me a simple story of one of her confrontations with a person that was skeptical about the validity of magic. Thus he asked her to prove that magic was real and from his own rebuttal he used all of his scientific knowledge that he had at his disposal to try and disprove the validity of magic to her.
She just sat back and listened attentively to what this person had to say. Politely nodding and making the occasional comment as if she was agreeing with his findings and conclusions to a certain extent as he rambled on and on.
Finally he stopped talking and asked of her, “So now do you believe that magic is fake or not?”
With a warm smile she looked him strait in the eyes and replied, “Do you know everything?”
“No, of course not,” he stammered.
“Then magic is real, for there are things that neither you nor I will ever know. That is the magic of it, it is the unknown and part of the unknowable.”
Questioning In Training
As a student of life this is perhaps one of the most vital lessons that you will ever learn; ask questions. Students are suppose to be inquisitive about what is being taught to them. The inquisitive nature of the human spirit is perhaps one of our greatest strengths, as well as our greatest weaknesses both at the same time. For while we search for answers within the great unknown also run the risk of being destroyed by that which we do not know. There are some cases in which what you can not see, can hurt you.
A teachers job is to help guide you into the unknown, and back again sometimes. For they have gone before you and known the terrain of the unknown so that it is not longer all that unknown to them anymore. There teachings and writings serve as maps to the unknown realms so that you might guide yourself down the treacherous path ahead of you alone and not get lost. Without the help and guidance from a teacher, your security blanket so to speak. However just having the map is not good enough. You also have to know how to read it properly. And if you do not have the humility to ask how to read the map or ask for directions because you fear the consequences of being wrong you will be hopelessly lost within the unknown until the end of your days. Or until you manage to wander back into the known, more than likely staying there in your cozy little reality for the rest of your life. Never working up the courage to face the unknown once more.
So when you do not understand the map or its teachings do not hesitate to ask questions about that which you do not know. No matter how stupid or insignificant the question may seem to you there are probably half a dozen other students within the class having confusion about the same thing. Yet because they do not ask the question they will never remedy their confusion upon this topic. For a teacher is suppose to be helping guide you through the unknown so that you might better understand the mysteries of the unknown. And a teacher can not do that unless they know what you know, basically, as well as what you do not know. The easiest way for a teacher to do this would be for the student to let there natural inquisitive nature come forth and ask questions as to what is being taught.
Good students do not sit idly by and not at intermittent times to show that they are still alive and well. Rather, good students are those that let their inquisitive nature shine forth from every pore in their bodies. Thus they are at the front to the class, both physically and metaphorically. Questioning as to why things work the way that they do. As well as any other conceivable question that the human mind can create.
From hearing the answers to their questions that they put forth they begin to assemble their own map of what the unknown looks like. So that they might be able to chart these unknown waters effectively without any unhealthy fear for the unknown that is still to come. Facing the unknown with courage and with strength. Courage that you know all that you can known without wandering into that which you do not and can not know until you experience it for yourself.
So, any questions?
The Stars Above and Within
It is commonly believed, by astronomers as well as most of the worlds population, that it is a large burning mass of gaseous vapor that creates the light that comes to your eyes across the void of space and time. These burning balls of hydrogen causes nuclear fusion and fission, which in turn lets of a certain wavelength of light that can be seen by the human eye. Or at least that is what scientists and astronomers reason and theorize about these tiny pin pricks of light in the night sky. However that is just a singular perspective on this idea. A highly right sided and rational view at that. But what of those that work within the more left sided and spiritualistic way of thinking? That perspective on this subject has rarely been heard, if at all. Those that work within this mode of thinking would believe something that is radically different than the viewpoint of a scientific person, despite ‘proof’ to the otherwise. They would believe that it is not the burning gasses that create the light, but rather that it would be the light that creates those globes of burning gasses.
Both of these views on this one idea are exactly the same aside from they differences in perspective. Thus one begins to get a feeling of what the Merlin Stone looks like, though that is another lecture all together. However when I talk about the stars one could, again, take my words in various ways. One of those ways would be literally as if I where actually talking about the stars within the sky. Which in a way I am, though there is usually a couple more layers of depth below the literal. Especially within magical teachings. Another viewpoint would be in taking what I have said above in a slightly more metaphorical way, as such I am not talking about the stars in the heavens, but rather the stars within the self – the spirit and its modes of manifestation. The origins of the spirit if you will. Almost everyone that you talk to will say that there is some sort of spirit within the universe. Some believe that the spirit is found within only humans, others that it can be found within every living being, still others postulate that this force can be found within ever atom of matter and energy. Some will also believe that the spirit is created because of the sentience of life; the act of thinking and acknowledging that they exist.
However, the real question at hand is thus: which creates which? Does matter create spiritual energy manifest itself into being? Or does the spirit incarnate itself into matter and physical form? Life creates life but matter can not create matter, in terms of mass than itself. So there must be another element which is still a mystery to us all.