You found my old blog. Thanks for visiting! For my new writing, visit mikesententia.com.
I’ve decided to become slightly more closeted about magick. Not a lot, but I’m going to get to know friends better before bringing it up. My reasoning is simple: Delaying the conversation will convince more people.
When someone disagrees with you in a fundamental way, you have two choices. You can either change your beliefs, or you can believe they are wrong.
If I had never experienced magick, which scenario would I think was more likely? That’s easy: I’d think the person was wrong, probably overly-credulous and deluded by the confirmation bias, or perhaps lying, or maybe just nuts. And I would be totally rational in that belief — the problem would be my lack of mystical experiences, not any sort of faulty reasoning.
But, if I knew a person well, and knew them as a rational, sensible, scientifically-minded person, I would consider their ideas thoroughly before concluding they were wrong. I’d give them a chance to demonstrate, and give them a fair shake of it, paying attention to subtle effects and not demanding instant and unreasonably-obvious proof.
And that’s why I’m becoming more closeted, and choosing when to tell friends about magick on a case-by-case basis: Because a close friend can change minds in ways that an acquaintance cannot.
If you liked this post, consider visiting my current blog at mikesententia.com.
Tags: ExplainingMagick, Non-Mages, PersonalStory