I was thinking last night before I fell asleep about human potential, with our amazing minds.
We find ourselves able to do things if we firmly believe we can do them, or things will happen to our bodies if we are convinced enough that they will happen. A pill taken as a placebo for example. I give you a harmless sugar pill and later tell you that it was poison... what happens? You begin to feel sick. You panic. Why does your stomache suddenly hurt, you're dizzy, your mouth tastes funny, you feel nauseus, you're convinced that you've been poisoned. The things we tell ourselves make enormous impacts on ourselves and our lives. I could go on about this, but that's not what this article is about.
For centuries people have been making magic. Performing rituals with candles, incense, daggers, herbs, but the most important ingredient has always been belief. Have you ever done a spell and had it fail, because you did not truly believe that it would work, that by performing this spell, you would yield some sort of result?
I think perhaps magical ritual too is a placebo, an action taken that helps us believe that our wills will come to be. We feel like we need confirmation of things before we are certain they will work, and by performing a spell, we feel we have done something... created an action that will cause an effect. But if one was to strip away the candles, incense, daggers and herbs, they are left with a person's will and belief. I think humans have the power to create the effect than any spell would have, without the rituals, but simply by using our minds effectively.
As humans, we are omnipotent. Perhaps not completely, but we are in the sense that there is little limitation in what we can potentially achieve. People believe themselves gifted with various things, like the ability to read minds. I think that in truth, everyone can read minds, but most people have a mental block which prevents them from having enough belief in this that it will actually work. They often feel like they must do something first in order to activate this gift, like meditate, or place a crystal upon the third eye, etc. Activation is not necessary, it merely helps strengthen our belief that it will work. Humans are capable of far more than we think. So perhaps we can all do 'magic', except that it is not magic at all, it is a natural thing within us, part of our own minds, all we have to do is believe in ourselves.
Discussion: So now what do you think, do you believe that magical ritual is merely a placebo, or an action used to strengthen our belief in our own abilities? Or do you disagree, and say that magical ritual is necessary to provide you with a result due to a supernatural reason?
COMMENTS
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moonkissed
01:48 Nov 09 2008
i don't personally buy into ritual either or observance of holidays(even pagan ones). i think that the placebo idea is pretty close. the power of the mind. some people require a build up in order to acheive the feeling of something happening.
of course sometimes a spell fails simply because what the caster is asking is not in their stars but that is another matter.
unpretty
04:09 Sep 25 2009
I believe that magic rituals are used as means to gain energy to put the force in our will to do a spell. One thing can be true, if you don't put any force behind it, it's not going to work. I can see it as a means for us to gather ourselves before we do a spell. Meditation helps clear the mind and force out our own blocks that keep us from reaching our potiental.
So, I guess it could be a placebo, but a necessary one.