What is magic? Where do we find magic?
We, as humans, always look for magic in our lives- something that will
awe and astound us. Maybe magic is in the first love or in hope, despite
a broken heart. Maybe it is in the miracle of birth or of life, or
maybe in something as mundane as a few lines of a favorite song. Here Nick Tsagaris will share his thoughts!!
We tend to romanticize magic – in fact, often equating magic to something as unique as stardust. Every time we hear the term magic we imagine sparkles, and pixie dust, and fairy lights and generally all things pretty. However, to understand the concept of magic better, and its place in our lives and real world, it is perhaps wise to attempt a literal, a more serious analysis of magic as a term.
Magic, very literally, is something fantastic. What we must understand here is fantastic as a word. It does not entail brilliance in this case, but is used in the textual sense of being related to fantasy. So what is fantastic or magical? It is something that transgresses reality, as we know it. It defies the laws of nature and our understanding of the universe.
Thus, if we believe in magic we are automatically, willingly suspending our belief of known reality as the absolute truth. The fantastic or magical can be defined with the help of the theories propagated by structuralism Tomorrow. Tomorrow defines fantastic as ideally the moment of hesitation between the natural and supernatural. The fantastic cannot exist in a set dimension. It is the hesitation that is the perfect condition for existence of fantasy.
If we experience something strange or unreal we can analyze it in two different ways – we might try to rationally analyze it and see if an explanation exists. If there is a rational explanation for a seemingly unnatural event, it becomes something defined as an uncanny event. On the other hand, if we find no logical or rational explanation of that event, it becomes a marvelous event or a supernatural event. However, for an event to be supernatural it has to defy all possible rational explanations. Merely suspending the rationale to justify something as supernatural or magical cannot be the correct way to juxtapose the existence of magic in real life.
Therefore, according to Teodoro, there are
three closely related realms –the uncanny, the fantastic and the
marvelous.The uncanny is the rational belief of reality denying the
existence of supernatural elements in our lives; the marvelous is the
definite conclusion that supernatural elements do exist in our lives.
We tend to romanticize magic – in fact, often equating magic to something as unique as stardust. Every time we hear the term magic we imagine sparkles, and pixie dust, and fairy lights and generally all things pretty. However, to understand the concept of magic better, and its place in our lives and real world, it is perhaps wise to attempt a literal, a more serious analysis of magic as a term.
Magic, very literally, is something fantastic. What we must understand here is fantastic as a word. It does not entail brilliance in this case, but is used in the textual sense of being related to fantasy. So what is fantastic or magical? It is something that transgresses reality, as we know it. It defies the laws of nature and our understanding of the universe.
Thus, if we believe in magic we are automatically, willingly suspending our belief of known reality as the absolute truth. The fantastic or magical can be defined with the help of the theories propagated by structuralism Tomorrow. Tomorrow defines fantastic as ideally the moment of hesitation between the natural and supernatural. The fantastic cannot exist in a set dimension. It is the hesitation that is the perfect condition for existence of fantasy.
If we experience something strange or unreal we can analyze it in two different ways – we might try to rationally analyze it and see if an explanation exists. If there is a rational explanation for a seemingly unnatural event, it becomes something defined as an uncanny event. On the other hand, if we find no logical or rational explanation of that event, it becomes a marvelous event or a supernatural event. However, for an event to be supernatural it has to defy all possible rational explanations. Merely suspending the rationale to justify something as supernatural or magical cannot be the correct way to juxtapose the existence of magic in real life.
Therefore, according to Teodoro, there are
three closely related realms –the uncanny, the fantastic and the
marvelous.The uncanny is the rational belief of reality denying the
existence of supernatural elements in our lives; the marvelous is the
definite conclusion that supernatural elements do exist in our lives.
Finally, the fantastic is
perhaps what magic as a term means to us – the belief that whatever
unnatural has happened might be something supernatural. It is this
hesitation that makes it fantastic- a single moment where the human mind
totters on the edge between falling outward into the belief of
supernatural, or inward into the belief of rational.
Let us take an
example to actually see the juxtaposition of reality and magic and the
complementing nature of the two. Say a person has been buried in the
ground.
The person rises from the grave on the second day. Now, this is
an unnatural event. If faced with such an event, the human mind can go
two ways – it might suspend rationality absolutely and consider this a
marvelous event of supernatural occurrence of the dead awakening. Or, it
can consider rationally that the person might have been wrongly
presumed dead and buried and the person having regained consciousness
dug their way out of their own grave.
Premature burials might be an
element of Gothic horror but even today, medical practitioners might
make a mistake and wrongly declare a person dead. Thus, this train of
thought would make the event uncanny – an unnatural event but having a
rational explanation.
Lastly, the moment of
hesitation that occurs, when the mind goes through all rational avenues
looking for an explanation and in absence of which it will term the
event supernatural, is what fantastic is.
Therefore, magic and reality are two halves
of the same coin – a lack of rationale and the presence of one.
Supernatural does probably not exist. Thus, magic probably does not
exist. But the possibility of existence of supernatural or rationale
defying occurrences is what allows us to thoroughly question reality in a
rational manner in search of answers.
Thus, the possibility of existence of
supernatural improves our understanding of the natural, which is the
best capacity in which the possibility of existence of magic complements
the established existing reality.
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