Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Morris Berman, Coming to Our Senses"
"...distinctions between magic and science were (from a modern viewpoint) scrambled, very difficult to sort out. For what the two traditions had in common proved to be more significant than what they later had apart; and what they had in common was an outlook that encouraged an active posture toward the natural world."
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I've actually thought about this a lot. Magic and science both interact with the world--they claim to be grounded in the earth and reality. Also, they are both attempts to explain natural phenomenon. In the mythic world of ancient Greece, lightning was connected with Zeus. Science explains the same thing through static electricity. However, from a cultural point of view both explanations--the one given by magic and the one given by science--serve the exact same purpose: an explanation of an occurrence in the world. In a magical model, if you wanted to know about lightning, you might go to a sage or a priest. In a scientific model you might go to a meteorologist. In both cases you might seek out an educated party that could give you an acceptable answer.
ReplyDeleteMy personal relationship to science is very similar to what, I imagine, someone's relationship to magic might be in a different (magic based) culture. I have no clue why lightning happens. Sure I can mumble something about static build up, but I really just blindly accept science's answer as, I'm sure, an ancient Greek person would've accepted the answer that it's caused by Zeus. Ok. I think I have rambled off topic. Bringing it back in, I think that magic and science serve the same (or similar) function within a culture. They are both rooted in exploration, and explanation, of the natural world.
I have grown up in a world that values science (proven fact) much more than magic (supernatural phenomena) which is unfortunate because both magic and science can teach a person a lot about their spirituality and life. That being said, I personally see the value in both science and magic and I believe, in a sense, they are very similar. For instance, stars or other astrological objects may be seen as magical deities cross-culturally or in Western ancient times (Roman and Greek) but as Western science grew we learned that stars “are a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity” (Wikipedia). This, although scientifically true, is boring and leaves my spirit feeling dull. When I look up at the stars at night, I am not thinking about what they are made of and how they got there but rather I notice the intense beauty they create in the sky and I become aware of how that affects me internally. Those millions of sparkling little dots are astonishing and enchanting in every sense; those glowing orbs of gas support me in expressing my spirituality in the darkest of nights.
ReplyDeleteThe division between spirituality and science in the Western world today is a daunting fact. The consensus trance values evidence, data, and results as absolute truth, while things of numinous nature are scoffed. In a field such as transpersonal psychology, where experiential, subjective and qualitative evidence are validated as truth, credibility is hard to come by in our Western society. Knowing that we will be facing this cultural stigma as we enter our careers is overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteThis quote reminds me that both science and spirituality (along with everyone on this Earth, really) are, at the core of their functions, merely searching for truth. There are always multiple ways of knowing, and perhaps this is the mindset to hold as we confront the consensus trance.
The idea that we might, again, be able to take an "active posture toward the natural world" warms my heart. From someone who spends most weekends rock climbing in the mountains, feeling completely engulfed by nature and, at the same time, in relationship with it, I can't imagine magic and science operating separately. My surroundings are always curious and new to me, urging me to discover more and learn more about what I can’t explain or grasp, only experience through the senses at the moment. To continue with Berman's thoughts on how we once were in relationship with the natural world, "Rocks, trees, rivers, and clouds were all seen as wondrous, alive, and human beings felt at home in this environment." By spending time in the natural world as if we are a part of it, we discover the magic that surrounds us and seek, through science, to discover the truths about what we see. To me, magic spawns the discoveries of science. Our curiosity and awe inspired by the magic of the natural world – take the stars in the sky – have only lead to science digging deep into what we can and cannot see, in a way, making the phenomena of magic real.
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