The Science Of Magick Options

Can science explain magick? Can magick explain science? Or are they entirely independent ideas without any overlapping domain? Is only one real?

Ill try to answer my own question. But i would really like to hear everyone else's answer. Ill start with the easier question and move up from there. Can magick explain science? yes. When boiled down to the essentials magick is nothing more then the execution of will into a material manifestation. Sometimes this involves spirits or angels, but even in those situations some will is trying to be satisfied. You don't always need to be aware of magick in order to perform magick. A child wishing with all his/her heart for snow the next day to get off from school is practicing a simple form of chaos magick. The scientist toiling in his workshop all night trying to come up with proof that his theory works is also performing magick. A mage can conclude that all the big breakthroughs in science aren't a result of the scientific method. The scientist just willed it strong enough to make it a reality. Sometimes these breakthroughs are caused by a group of people wishing for one outcome or another. One might say the current state of science is manifested by our desires and direction.

But now for the harder question. Can science define magick and how can it if magick defines science. Well simply put science can define magick, but that in no way negates my previous statement. Chaos theory and quantum mechanics provide a good explanation of the mechanics of magick. In quantum mechanics a particle can move seemingly without an external force being applied to it. The elementary particles behave very differently then in newtonian physics. A particle completly at rest and with no external influence can leap forward suddently. A particle shot out of a gun can suddently change direction and speed without influence. Science has yet to show any mechanism acting on these particles to explain their sudden unprovoked changes. However studies using radioactive decay powered random generators show that when a person or child exerts their mental will ont hese generators we can cause them to slightly change and output the numbers the person wills them to generate. This bascially shows that these random movements of elementary particles are effected by mental will. This is where chaos theory comes into play. In chaotic system (like quantum mechanics) any small change in an earlier state can result in very large changes in future states. Another words moving a few particles around now may cause you to be a millionair in a week. Since we determined this small changes can be executed by will it would seem to be a solid explanation of magick from a scientific stand point. Although i admit there are still plenty of questions that could be answered on the matter.

So it works both ways. Magick defines science, science defines magick. It might seem contradictory, or a circular argument. You'd be right from a conventional sense. but opposites are in fact more similar then different, i would even go as far to say they are the same thing. from a thelema point of view one would say "0=2". So really i see no contradiction, just points of view. Its all reality, none of it is real, well, to be more accurate, it is only as real as you let it be.

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Ahhh... great thread and great responses!! ..

I believe that advances in quantum physics may eventually explain why magick works. If not "explain", then in the least, it will open up the minds of some scientists to the possibility, and thus lead to more research on the subject. They've discovered that two photons created at the exact same time, from the exact same source will react to one another. If one of the photons is put through a filter and spun in a direction, the other will instantly spin in the same fashion, with no visible means of manipulation. This occurs no matter how far apart the two photons happen to be. It could be inches or a million miles. Some form of communication exists between the two... and it occurs instantly.. faster than the speed of light... which, according to Newtonian physics, is impossible. Yet it cannot be denied. How does this relate to the occult? Think of a voodoo doll, which contains the DNA of the doll's target. Who's to say that on a quantum level, similar things occur in the doll that occur with the photons? There are many such examples in the world of sub-atomic particles. Experiments have been done that prove the human mind can influence the behavior of matter. Certain particles behave differently when observed with the human eye than they do when unobserved. Even with no effort on the part of the observer.

This is one of my favorite topics to study. So many of the advances in quantum physics are proof... anyone who believes in the power of magick will read of these discoveries and get a feeling of "aha... I knew it!!" ... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)