What is the responsibility of magic practitioners in the modern world? As wizards, witches, mages, etc. many of us tend toward our own personal development while often neglecting a world that still views our practices as dubious to say the least. We all know history and that it often repeats itself and though open mindedness is at a high, public opinion is still fickle. So how do we share ourselves, our insights, and our often vast if unorthodox learning with a still suspicious world? I do not have a definite answer, I do however believe it is essential that we do so.
That is what distinguishes magic from other paradigms which spout a rather blase passive acceptance of everything. Magicians, of whatever stamp, believe in the will, believe in action, believe in creating causes which manifest a desired effect. I believe the world needs magic now more than ever. In a world where sterile clinical explanations, divisions, and dissections have stolen much of the magic from everyday life. Where the predominate attitude is "there's nothing I can do about it" so no one tries to do anything to effect change for the better.
The responsibility of magic practitioners is to remind people there is nothing they can't do about it, if they choose, if they believe. But that is just the problem, people have lost their belief in their own potential. People just do not believe they have the power to change, or to create change, and that is what magic practitioners must remind them of, the power to change. Magic in it's essence isn't all that mystical, it is the channeling of the power of change for the benefit of all. Black magic, of course, is using that power to the harm of others only for self benefit.
The end goal of most true magical practice is union with the world not isolation from the world. I believe magic practitioners have as great, if not a greater, social responsibility to the world as any other group especially given the diversity of its practitioners. Magic runs the gamut crossing all lines religious, cultural, and geographic, all divisions of gender, race, or sexual orientation. What better to bring people together than something that draws no boundaries but indeed tears them down. Magical practitioners share a responsibility to share their magic with a world that is increasingly in need of a miracle, but a miracle created by the hard work and effort of normal human beings, not divine intervention and not wishful thinking.