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The Real Magic Paradox

Jean Carly Astraea


11/11/2012

Copyright 2012 Jean Carly Astraea

The Real Magic Paradox

Not all tales of Enchantment are foolish ones (8), Georyn tells his brother in Sylvia Engdahls
Enchantress from the Stars. In the Enchanted Forest, the two are in search for magic with which to
defeat the Dragon that has come to plague the land. They have turned to the young and beautiful
Enchantress to help them. The Enchantress is full of knowledge of the universe, and Georyn wants to
learn it all. But the Enchantress instructions seem like a paradox. How could Georyn defeat the Dragon
if he must give up the one thing he thought was necessary to destroy it? The Enchantress response is
this: Often times what looks like a paradox is merely a thing that cannot be understood by means of
our present knowledge (161). Many times humans deem certain happenings as supernatural because
they do not understand them. Later, however, these things are often proved natural, and the term
supernatural is incorrect because the term infers that it cannot possibly be explained or understood
by humans ever. Another common misconception is the nature of magic. Magic has been labeled
supernatural based on the current understanding of it; this, in itself, is a paradox because the
permanent label has been placed on a temporary understanding of it. In this way, magic is not a
supernatural occurrence.
Real magic is only another name for sciences beyond our current comprehension. The magic in
the physical, tangible sense has been rejected from the scientific atmosphere because science likes
rules. When something breaks or does not fit inside the rules of science, people label it as supernatural,
or a miracle. Why not, instead, try to find out how it happened? The problem is that people have such a
limited idea of the meaning of natural. For example, in the Victorian era, Lord Kelvin, a friend of the
famous Sir Isaac Newton, declared heavier than air machines impossible for flight. However, modern
people now have commercial airline jets, emergency helicopters, military fighter jets, and rockets. If the
brilliant Lord Kelvin were to witness our modern flight, he would label it as magic because it seemed
absurd to him. Even the scientist who discovered the key to the atomic bomb dismissed the idea of it as
impossible because the atom is so small. Yet many countries now have nuclear weapons, aka Atomic
bombs. The great Einstein even wrote a paper about how black holes could not possibly exist; NASA
currently has pictures of black holes in space. If progress were impossible, people would not have gotten
where they are. In this way, the superstitions of yesterday are the basics of science today; and the
superstitions of today will someday become the basics of science in the future.
Furthermore, real magic is the basis for faith. People have labeled magics of the mind as
religious because both magic and the god(s) have the need for faith. If a person did not believe a tree
would grow, he would never plant it. In this way, magic is not religious; instead, it is a way to explain
something in which people have had faith. When a person is given a seed and is told that something as
miraculous as a tree will grow from that seed, that person is given a choice. If he throws it out and puts
no faith in planting it, the chance for magic has been forgotten. However, if the person has faith and

plants it, many kinds of new magic will be born. Whether the person claims that the tree grew because
God made it do so or because of a scientific process, is not important. The fact that the planter of the
seed had faith that the magic would happen and the seed would grow caused him to plant it. Therefore,
the magic was real because he believed it would be. If he did not believe it, the seed would not be worth
planting. Yet, because he believed in the magic, it became worth living for. If people believed only what
they understood, they would never discover, never learn, never advance. If one day, the planter of the
seed learns that the seed grew by scientific means and not a deity telling it to, was it foolish of him to
believe that the deity did so? No, because the only reason that it is no longer truth is that the planter of
the seed has come to a more mature understanding of it. If one persons belief is more advanced than
another, then that is only because he knows it is. Without belief, the human mind can do nothing.
Because the scientific view was not natural at first, the planter of the seed had to lay a religious
foundation for it. However, while faith is necessary, it was not enough for the seed in itself to grow.
Thus, because the magic science was not simple or obvious, faith was required in the process. If faith
was not necessary and magic was simple, we would have no problems left.
Real magic is also the idea of mystery and essence of life. The magic of the soul that is intrigue is
the most complex of all magics. What are the things that cause the most interest and energy of all
emotions? Fear, anger, and love are thought to be the strongest, but intrigue could be on that list as
well. It is the human thirst for a better understanding of things, like magic. People can only progress
through solving problems. Why the desire for knowledge is often so strong is a mystery yet to be solved,
but if humans did not have that desire for knowledge, they would still be as ignorant as infants are.
Many people view human society as evil because of much of the violence modern technology brought
with it. However, this thought is not accurate because there is no evil in magic technologies, only in the
use of them. Technology only does what people cause it to do, whether good or bad, but on its own
technology is neither good nor bad; it is only what we make it to be. In this way, everyone must be
involved in that progress; if everyone who ever thought something was wrong decided not to be
involved, evil would breed. In the end, the cause is worth the price to pay.
Of the few things that fit into the category supernatural, magic is not one of them. While
some magic may be unexplained now, that does not mean that it never will be. Magic is tangible,
essential, and achievable. Humans should never give up on the idea of magic or stop looking for
explanations to the impossibles; their civilizations have come too far to give up on explaining magic.
While something seems impossible magic at the current time, it can and will be understood someday.
Although Georyn did not fully comprehend the magic of the Enchantress, he was able to accept that it
was real and went on to defeat the Dragon. As Georyn and the Enchantress say their last goodbyes, he
tells her, Shall we fail in courage now, we who have faced the fire and the Dragon? The full story of
Georyn and the Enchantress may be found in Sylvia Engdahls Enchantress from the Stars.

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