Thelemic Materialism (Thelemic Philosophy)
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If anyone is interested, there is actually an archive of 'skeptical fundamentalists', 'guerilla skeptics', 'militant atheists' in the public eye that get busted for fudging their facts and arguments.
www.skepticalinvestigations.org/homepage.html
More than likely, Los is just lifting many of their arguments and probably buys into it without being skeptical about them. What Los is doing here is not isolated, there is actually an online movement of this sort of ideology happening and they all go around the internet and bully people and claim evidence this and evidence that.
Here is an example of one such group
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@ldfriend56 said
"Objectivity can be understood as 'without bias' how I use the term. I think the Wiki definition is reasonable, especially for journalism and science. "Objective" is also a hot button word, many philosophers don't like the term and quite often college students get irate when it's used. So we can look at objective as 'without bias' and subjective as 'with bias'."
Perfect. On the same page.
"Well, it depends upon how it is used. Personally I do not like the term intersubjectivity because the word removes the 'dialectic' which 'objective/subjective' contains - and I love dialectics."
Cool. The reason why I wanted to stick with intersubjectivity is to postulate that all we have is subjective reality, which definitely CANNOT be disproven. So go with me here for a second...but let's move to your next point because I think it will help what I'm driving at a bit.
"NUIT = the Objective Material Universe, our 'shared' environment. a Continual counting of '1' to infinity which contains no final number (1,1,1 am I not the ox, and none by the book?). The objective universe is ONE environment for ALL (points, Hadit). We all have access to this ONE environment and the information in this one environment is shared by all. This is the 'world' of the objective sciences who study the ONE environment. Science is nothing more than the worship of NUIT. We can see than an infinite and eternal material universe is also a shared MYSTERY for ALL but yet continually reveals new discovery and understanding that becomes our shared 'objective' understanding of Nuit through the progress of the physical sciences.
HADIT = the individual Subjective (and spiritual!) universe. The world of feelings, visions, dreams, ideals but also delusion, deception.(there is great danger in me). Our private universe is HIDDEN from all other points of view. So while your subjective universe is MYSTERY to me, my subjective universe is TRUTH to me (and me only). Hadit as ONE point brings ART to the SCIENCE of the physical universe (Nuit) and therefore we can understand the relationship of ART and SCIENCE to be a child of the relationship between NUIT and HADIT in our progress as a species. "
Okay, the reason why I put these as potential and subjectivity is lifted from Crowley's ideas: basically, Nuit is infinite possibilities and Hadit is the POV.
"Using Liber Al as the metaphor here, we can see that the objective universe (Nuit) is nothing more than an infinite number of points (Hadit, sentience) supporting her existence through the progress of the arts and sciences historically speaking."
I think Nuit is an infinite number of points, but also their* potential* -- and this potential includes something that could be beyond "collectivity" as we know it.
"So we have the 'dialectic' in thelema between Nuit and Hadit, Objective and Subjective, Art and Science, both of which are contained in each of us through all of us.
So what about the third value in Liber Al?
RHK = Mystery, potential manifesting NOW in our historical progress, struggling within the dialectic of Nuit and Hadit, indeed becoming aware of this dialectic as a species. RHK is BOTH Nuit and Hadit, at once. Or, Mystery is BOTH True, AND False, simultaneously.
There may not be 'pure' objectivity - but there is certainly 'pure' mystery. "
Now, the reason why I call RHK intersubjectivity is because it is...wait for it...
THE NEXT STEP. It is an agreed shared reality of infinite potential for all of mankind collectively.
Now, let's talk about how this relates to Thelemic Materialism. Materialism itself misses the boat because, like most POVs, it is overly reductionary.
"The Chinese cannot help thinking that the octave has 5 notes."
-- Crowley
In nature, we see other examples of perceptions that humans have locked in their DNA. The reason why I say "locked in their DNA" is because I believe in evolution -- there is a relation between all life-forms. I also see sufficient evidence to support epigenetics and neuroplasticity. This means we can change the way our DNA and brain reacts to certain environmental stimuli...
Anyway, we see electroreception in all sorts of species. I know that magical and mystical practices teach other senses because I use these other senses everyday -- I believe the idea of Neschama provides a great "blanket term" that some of these senses speak through. Ask any fucking magician that isn't armchair, they will tell you it's much more than just positive thinking. Sometimes, it could be quite negative. Especially when you start tapping into other people's information fields. Hell, you see it when people get reactionary to certain posts!
The strict materialist says "explain this happening! It must have a natural cause!" Hahaha! What is natural? Something that we can perceive with strictly the five senses? Ridiculous. Something that measures up to our arbitrary mathematics? Hahaha! "Natural cause" can be roughly translated as the state of shared* experience*. Is that so hard to admit?
It is well known that people who can induce non-linear brain patterns have access to something different..."supernatural" and "natural" are misnomers and only provide convenience with terms...
Now, the reason why I bring all of this up, is to relate it to intersubjectivity. I think it helps explain how brain-states can be altered collectively and how thought-forms, when properly "enthused," can cause some shit to happen. Anybody that's gone through a formal initiation KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT. It sounds like you may agree, as you've seen some visible manifestations yourself, especially in a group setting.
As far as capturing this on camera, videos are meant to catch the same things that the naked eye can. The naked eye would probably be used to see the "supernatural" footage that would be caught anyway? Ergo, it's a horrible argument. I'm suggesting that the non-linear modes of consciousness are interrupted, or rather, synchronized, when some of these observations take place. These altered states causes perception to modulate -- this is proven -- in REAL labs, with REAL scientists. That's part of the reason why I shared Hobson's AIM model. Do these perceptions relate to the material world? Of course they do. When we say the material world, what we really mean is what we observe with linear perception, instead of non-linear perception. The magician trains to use both simultaneously.
Groups can modulate together, if under the influence of drugs, or have developed enough skill to introduce enough norepinephrine into the system, while staying far enough entrenched in the cholinergic actions of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and, also, the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). Magick works to be able to excite these systems at will.
These more emotional based perceptions can "see" in a different way -- and it doesn't seem to be that interested in "seeing" numbers, watching one's mom undress, or any other wacky things that one may want to see in the next room.
"Please do! I actually work with dialectics as a platform developer for mediation and conflict resolution. I am quite big on them and love all ternary systems that address them (hence my fascination with Liber Al)"
I will. Look for it.
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@Frater 639 said
"Perfect. On the same page.
"I could not find a better quote to summarize!
There is my point of view, there is your point of view - but this is distinguished by objective reality - which is OUR point of view
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wat!!?? no response from Los? really?
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"At the point that Semmelweis made his observations, somebody had good reason to believe in the correlation (Semmelweis). But until he published it, and others read it, and replicated it, they didn't have good reason."
Right. But if Semmelweis had never been able to produce any evidence at all for his hand washing claim -- even when asked -- or if he published some accounts of an experiment but others tried for hundreds of years to replicate his work and nobody ever was able to demonstrate the claim ever again...then not only would everyone else not have sufficient evidence to accept the claim, it would imply pretty strongly that Semmelweis never had sufficient evidence at all (it would imply that Semmelweis had been fooling himself into thinking that he did).
"Similarly, just because you haven't seen sufficient evidence for something, it doesn't follow that nobody has."
Sure. But if someone out there has sufficient evidence for claims of astral travel, what the hell are they doing keeping it to themselves?
On the basis of the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing sufficient evidence, I'm going to stay in the default position of currently not accepting claims about astral travel. Plus, the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing evidence suggests pretty strongly that the people who think they have sufficient evidence are fooling themselves.
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@ldfriend56 said
"I'm very skeptical of your claim that there is no evidence whatsoever."
It's fairly uncontroversial to say that nobody has ever produced evidence that it's possible to magically escape one's body and actually obtain information that one didn't already know or couldn't have guessed.
If you think there is such evidence, I'd sure be interested to hear it. And I'm definitely not the only one. Nobel Prize committee, I'm lookin' at you....
"And even if there was no evidence, that would not be enough for me to change my very reasonable observation, I was outside of my body."
We've been over this. You had an experience that seemed as if you were outside of your body. But -- just like if you had an experience that seemed like you wrote a sentence on your word processor before bed but then woke up to find no evidence of this ever having occurred, you would have reason to question whether you had really written that sentence -- the fact that there is absolutely no indication that this "astral travel" stuff ever provides any actual information about the world outside of the "traveler's" head that he didn't know already or couldn't have guessed means that you have reason to question whether you really were outside of your body.
You often repeat the same exact points as if I never addressed them at all, which is another thing that makes your posts tedious.
"wat!!?? no response from Los? really?"
It's been one day. Get a grip. I know your urge to quintuple-post is probably growing unbearable at this point, so have at it.
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"the fact that there is absolutely no indication that this "astral travel" stuff ever provides any actual information about the world outside of the "traveler's" head that he didn't know already or couldn't have guessed means that you have reason to question whether you really were outside of your body."
I have to point out that this is patently absurd. I've read this same POV from many others, too -- generally, in very early stages of training. I should know because I was one of them - it is what we like to call an ordeal. A further indication of why someone may argue passionately against the truth.
Liber O part V specifically says that these "travels" don't really do too much, other than train to a specific type of dharana. Part VI addresses Rising on the Planes, which is written very cryptically...
At the end of Part VI are printed the words:
EXPLICIT
He really did put it down in words -- but with the Crowley slight-of-hand that keeps the armchair magician safe and sound in his armchair.
The above quote is a perfect example of someone who obsessed over the core texts, and still does, with very limited results. What this person fails to realize is that Crowley didn't publish the personal Instruction that puts these "tool kits" (that are the instructional Libers) together. He doesn't put all the components together in one Instruction or Grade for a reason.
If one can't figure that out on their own, I highly suggest formally going through the arduous process of actually finding an Instructor. Again, the quote above is indicative of someone that has no idea what they are doing (or what they are talking about) when it comes to the symbols anchored in astral work. The milk and cookies given in Liber O (and other Instructions) are to actual magick what chord books are to an actual jazz performance.
Some people don't know what is going on with either of those two things, and usually from lack of education.
It just sounds like a bunch of noise!
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@Los said
"Right. But if Semmelweis had never been able to produce any evidence at all for his hand washing claim -- even when asked -- or if he published some accounts of an experiment but others tried for hundreds of years to replicate his work and nobody ever was able to demonstrate the claim ever again...then not only would everyone else not have sufficient evidence to accept the claim, it would imply pretty strongly that Semmelweis never had sufficient evidence at all (it would imply that Semmelweis had been fooling himself into thinking that he did)."
Decades passed before others replicated Semmelweis' experiments. And there haven't been hundreds of years of remote viewing/telepathy experiments. And the results have been replicated many, many times. So, not sure how your statements further your argument at all. It seems to indicate we should keep an open mind about telepathy/remote viewing research for at least a few more decades.
@Los said
"Sure. But if someone out there has sufficient evidence for claims of astral travel, what the hell are they doing keeping it to themselves?"
Irrelevant. You're making up reasons why, and pretending your imagination is "evidence". The fact is that we have collected only a tiny subset of the evidence. So it's pretty crazy to claim "nobody has good reason to believe x". Someone may very well.
@Los said
"On the basis of the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing sufficient evidence, I'm going to stay in the default position of currently not accepting claims about astral travel. Plus, the fact that nobody has ever come anywhere close to producing evidence suggests pretty strongly that the people who think they have sufficient evidence are fooling themselves."
You keep changing the debate. I'm not arguing that you should accept the existence of astral travel. I'm saying that nobody has good reason to accept your claim that "nobody has good reason to believe x".
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@Los said
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It's fairly uncontroversial to say that nobody has ever produced evidence that it's possible to magically escape one's body and actually obtain information that one didn't already know or couldn't have guessed.
If you think there is such evidence, I'd sure be interested to hear it. And I'm definitely not the only one. Nobel Prize committee, I'm lookin' at you...."
You are the one that is making the claim, not I. I don't investigate OBE and am not making any claims about the phenomenon other than I had an experience where my consciousness was outside of my body. You say there is no evidence that people leave their bodies and all the evidence suggests they have not.
SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE/STUDY/RESEARCH PLEASE. You think you can just make a claim and expect me to believe it?
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We've been over this. You had an experience that seemed as if you were outside of your body. "
Los - if I can look down at my body in waking consciousness while my body sleeps (but my mind is awake) - that leaves me no alternative but to observe that my actual POINT OF VIEW was outside of my body. How else could I view myself if my point of view was not outside of my body? It's quite a reasonable interpretation of the experience. You're still not giving me much reason to question my summary other than 'that's impossible so therefore you didn't'
"But -- just like if you had an experience that seemed like you wrote a sentence on your word processor before bed but then woke up to find no evidence of this ever having occurred, you would have reason to question whether you had really written that sentence "
Nope, not like that at all. To the contrary actually. I was observing my bed, with my little brother sleeping next to me, myself, and our room in the morning light. I floated down, entered my body, and then my body 'woke up'. When my body awoke, the room, my brother sleeping, our pajamas, all the exact same. This happened often when I was a child. I can't (or don't bother) repeat it. I'm not trying to prove something to you, I am showing you the genesis of my skepticism of what you're claiming.
"- the fact that there is absolutely no indication that this "astral travel" stuff ever provides any actual information about the world outside of the "traveler's" head that he didn't know already or couldn't have guessed means that you have reason to question whether you really were outside of your body."
there you go making claims again. You keep on citing some research or study that shows that astral travel never leads to anything, yet continually fail to cite the research or even replicate the argument beyond a few sentences. You're not being very transparent as to how you are coming to your conclusions.
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You often repeat the same exact points as if I never addressed them at all, which is another thing that makes your posts tedious. "
I repeat the exact same points because you keep repeating them while ignoring any commentary that seeks to challenge your claims. If you make the same claim over and over, then I will make the same refutation over and over. You avoid the 'conflict of idea' here. Repeating your claims over and over does not make them true. What makes your position strong is your ability to hold consistency in questioning, which you either avoid or provide inconsistency.
Again, my point to you is very simple, very clear. I had an experience that i was outside of my body. reason leads to me conclude that because I could observe my sleeping body, then my POV was indeed outside of my body. Occam's Razor. Law of Identity (A =A).
You're not giving me any reason to doubt my summary, your simply saying it's impossible therefore my brain is has some must have some sort of holo deck feature like on star trek that can recreate my entire room, adjust for sunlight variations accurately, recreate things that my eyes normally cannot see (like the back of my head, etc) because that is what the evidence suggests. I was not floating above my room, you claim I was floating to the very perimeter of my skull. Yet you provide no evidence, no study, no nothing but some vague appeal to authority (which is a logical fallacy)
GIVE ME REASON TO DOUBT MY SUMMARY. Not 'a reason' that you just assume is true, but a REASONED, informed, irrefutable, consistent argument. If you can do this, I will change my summary, and you will 'win'.
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@Frater 639 said
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I have to point out that this is patently absurd. I've read this same POV from many others, too -- generally, in very early stages of training. I should know because I was one of them - it is what we like to call an ordeal. A further indication of why someone may argue passionately against the truth.Liber O part V specifically says that these "travels" don't really do too much, other than train to a specific type of dharana. Part VI addresses Rising on the Planes, which is written very cryptically...
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Is consciousness/mind outside of the body 'automatically' astral travel by definition? I am not claiming it was astral travel (maybe it is I dont know). My later experiences in life where I did experience 'astral realms' was nothing like my OBE. My OBE there was nothing but my room, no 'grids', no phantasms, no energy or lights. Just my normal, everyday room.
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OBEs where you see (often somewhat dreamlike versions of) your physical surroundings instead of astral worlds are usually referred to as Etheric or low Astral.
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@ldfriend56 said
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You are the one that is making the claim, not I. I don't investigate OBE and am not making any claims about the phenomenon other than I had an experience where my consciousness was outside of my body. You say there is no evidence that people leave their bodies and all the evidence suggests they have not.SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE/STUDY/RESEARCH PLEASE. You think you can just make a claim and expect me to believe it?
there you go making claims again. You keep on citing some research or study that shows that astral travel never leads to anything, yet continually fail to cite the research or even replicate the argument beyond a few sentences. You're not being very transparent as to how you are coming to your conclusions."
To be fair to Los here, the burden of proof is on you. You don't go out proving the negative and then there's the old extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence. I guess some folks are saying OBE are not extraordinary though, but the point about not needing to prove a negative still stands. Just as an aside.
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Absolutely.
However, what we have here is a conflation of two different concepts, hidden by a false dichotomy.
"Nobody has good reason to belief x" is a positive claim, and is completely separate from "I have not seen sufficient evidence for x".
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@Deus Ex Machina said
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To be fair to Los here, the burden of proof is on you. You don't go out proving the negative and then there's the old extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence. I guess some folks are saying OBE are not extraordinary though, but the point about not needing to prove a negative still stands. Just as an aside."
Burden of proof is on me? For what? I am not claiming anything other than a personal experience that happened to me. I summarized my experience within reason. I am not asking Los to believe me, I am asking him to show me how what I am claiming is unreasonable. He claims that he has 'evidence' that shows me that 'I' (what ever that means) did NOT leave my body. I want to see that evidence or hear that argument.
I dont want tautologies (You didn't because it's impossible. You didn't because there is no evidence) from him. I want 'reason' and 'insight' from him. If someone cannot explain their argument and address reasonable questions, then their POV has no integrity and is meaningless, objectively speaking
EDIT:
Clarifying my question to Los: I am not asking Los or anyone here to accept my claim that I (what ever that means) left my body as true. I am asking Los to explain his POV which suggests I should not accept my own claim as true. Clearly, the burden of proof is on Los because he claims there is evidence that shows this is impossible. Show me the evidence. If I am provided with evidence and reasoned argument, I shall adjust my claim accordingly, as it is the reasonable thing to do. -
@ldfriend56 said
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@Frater 639 said
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I have to point out that this is patently absurd. I've read this same POV from many others, too -- generally, in very early stages of training. I should know because I was one of them - it is what we like to call an ordeal. A further indication of why someone may argue passionately against the truth.Liber O part V specifically says that these "travels" don't really do too much, other than train to a specific type of dharana. Part VI addresses Rising on the Planes, which is written very cryptically...
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Is consciousness/mind outside of the body 'automatically' astral travel by definition? I am not claiming it was astral travel (maybe it is I dont know). My later experiences in life where I did experience 'astral realms' was nothing like my OBE. My OBE there was nothing but my room, no 'grids', no phantasms, no energy or lights. Just my normal, everyday room."
@Avshalom Binyamin said
"OBEs where you see (often somewhat dreamlike versions of) your physical surroundings instead of astral worlds are usually referred to as Etheric or low Astral."
I like Av's description here. In medical terms, an OBE seems to be more consistent with same phenomena that are present when the cholinergic system is more "actively" engaged than in "astral travel." When we have the nonlinear brain patterns that are correlated with dreaming, we see a predominance of acetylcholine in the system, which will actually help to inhibit motor activity. Thus, we "dream" of moving, but our bodies don't actually move, thank god. It could get dangerous.
"Astral travel" (proper) seems to be more consistent with the aspects of a more actively engaged aminergic system, which is why the "adventures" can be recalled in a more "linear" fashion. It is this system of "activation," that causes us to recall more readily and in greater detail. The more adrenal system byproducts introduced to the event (especially when developed over time (LTP)), it is proven that a larger synaptic bond will be developed, thus causing the memory (recalled phenomenon/symbology) to strengthen. Hobson's AIM model does a great job elucidating both systems rather well (aminergic and cholinergic), and gives a great reference to examine these phenomenon from a scientific perspective.
Both are definitely related, and are mixtures of linear and nonlinear brain patterns. However, like I mentioned above, OBEs are seemingly more predominated by the cholinergic system, whereas "astral" work is seemingly more predominated by the aminergic system. Hence, it follows that "astral work" seems to be more "controlled" by the part(s) of the brain responsible for identification, observation, and orchestration ("conscious" thought) -- seemingly more related to the neocortex as a whole, rather than more concentrated in the prefrontal cortex.
As far as the value of "astral travel," to discount it as useless would be like saying to the cardiologist, "You don't need a stethoscope to be able to perform heart surgery, so get rid of it!"
Completely confused thinking...
As far as someone actually "leaving their body," we'd have to decide what "I" is. If it is the "perspective of consciousness," then I would (in most cases) say yes. If we're talking our brain, or whatever one chooses to call this "seat of consciousness," I think it impossible to say one way or the other, due to limited measurement capability and the lack of evidence that proves where consciousness resides. It seems rather unlikely though, in the strict physical sense of the argument.
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"Decades passed before others replicated Semmelweis' experiments."
Sure, but long before any of those replications took place, the people working closely with Semmelweis still had very good reason to think he was right: he could demonstrate that this handwashing stuff resulted in significant reductions in people getting sick. He didn't have to do complicated statistical analyses of tons of data and argue, "Look! If we do enough trials, the handwashing group is a whole 5% less likely to get sick than we'd expect (but to a degree that nobody could ever notice until I did my nifty data analysis!). QED, yo!!!"
There were noticeable, detectable, demonstrable reductions of infections.
Show me some demonstrable effect of these supposed superpowers that you're so eager to hold out hope for.
Show me someone who can somehow access the random word plucked out of the dictionary next door and keep doing it.You can't because that sort of thing doesn't happen. Ever.
" I'm saying that nobody has good reason to accept your claim that "nobody has good reason to believe x"."
Ah, but you see, nobody has good reason to accept your claim that 'nobody has good reason to accept [Los'] claim that "nobody has good reason to believe X,"'" no backsies!
Seriously, stop acting like a child. Between the two of us, one is claiming (to at least be holding out realistic hope) that there are superpowers. It's completely uncontroversial to say that nobody's ever demonstrated the existence of superpowers and that if anyone could, they'd be world famous, rich overnight, and deserving of a Nobel Prize for demonstrating something that humanity currently does not have any evidence for.
Ball's in your court here, buddy. You're telling me that you actually base your belief on a couple of dudes playing with numbers to suggest that people are "psychic" without even knowing it, to an extent that has no detectable effects in day-to-day life?
That's a good one. If you seriously are persuaded by that, I've got a rock to sell you that makes you more likely to earn more money, except it works on such a subtle level that nobody can ever detect it during day-to-day life, but trust me, the math definitely shows that something unexplainable is going on. PM me your best offer.
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@ldfriend56 said
"You are the one that is making the claim, not I."
Egads, you're claiming that you somehow magically left your body and your evidence for this is...drumroll, please...that you had an experience where it seemed like you left your body.
Jeez Louise.
If your claim was that you walked your dog down to the park, I wouldn't say anything because people walk dogs down to parks all the bloody time. But if your claim is that you somehow magically left your body, no, I don't just accept that -- because as far as we know, people don't leave their bodies. People dream about leaving their bodies, sure, but nobody -- so far as we know -- has ever literally left their body and come back with new information that they didn't already know or couldn't have guessed (you know, like people don't ever wake up from dreams with new information that they didn't already know or couldn't have guessed).
Here's the thing: obviously, nobody other than you -- who's a reasonable person -- is going to think you left your body. But -- and this a big but -- you should also be skeptical of it, for exactly the reasons I've been explaining.
I mean, cripes, if I heard my couch start talking to me telepathically, I know one thing for damn certain: my couch is not actually talking to me, no matter how much it seems like it is. I would know that I would be in need of serious medical attention.
In rather similar way, having a dream you left your body is great and all, but it's not actual grounds on which to base such a grandiose claim.
Have you ever tried testing this superpower (assuming that you can project more or less at will)? Or do you just blindly trust whatever it feels like is happening?
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If your going to make up my arguments for me, then I'll just let you keep playing with yourself.
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Los it seems to you every notion can be dismantled with logic/rhetoric. I thought the point of magick was learning to see that life isn't exactly perfect order, as with thelema, there are no exact methods or results to prove anything to anyone but yourself.
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@Los said
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Show me some demonstrable effect of these supposed superpowers that you're so eager to hold out hope for.
Show me someone who can somehow access the random word plucked out of the dictionary next door and keep doing it.
"To what end Los? To satisfy your nasty nature? This is not my Will, this is your will.
Based on my research of your Internet presence here, Lashtal, and that blog of yours you keep shamelessly promoting via other people's sites, I would never invite you to a dinner with me. But should I, I could show you the fruits of my labors. I could show you my lovely kitchen which I adore because I'm a big fan of cooking for pleasure. I could show you my home office where I have two magnificent computers and multiple monitors ranging from 17 inch to 46 inch and Sony multimedia sound system. My house. The east to west rectangular room I built a fully functional "temple" in (perfect for no more than three people as far as size goes, splendid as all for just myself).
In other words, I would show you the fruits of my labors. And if I even liked your personality just slightly enough I'd invite you to stay with me some time. And you'd witness my behaviors; my regulations as another friend called them. You'd see me up every morning, hungover or not, underslept or not, at 4:30 am. You'd see me wash and clean the things that need washing and cleaning. You'd see me getting to work typity typity typity type type type. You'd watch me enjoy my pets. So on and so on. You'd witness discipline.
As you got to know me you'd make note of one most definite truth; I DO NOT TELL LIES. This is very important to me. Everything that I depend on has to be true because I'm allowing myself to depend on it. I depend on the existence of electricity, the existence of the the Internet, telephones (most other things I could work around with solutions of my own). Everything that exits my lips has to be true because I depend on the results of my voice to get me the things I depend on. Also, I'm aware that other people are dependent upon me (even though we have no blood or other specific relationship outside of commerce, I know they are dependent upon me). For this reason I cannot tell a lie. It is more than an ethical opinion for me, it is a way of life - it is in fact a matter of life and death.
The more time you spent with me you'd see I have a purpose to my life. I'm not saying that this purpose was created by some divine so-and-so sitting on a throne for aeons hoping I'd come along and figure out my particular purpose; but I will say that a higher source of information than just my lowly fleshly persona is the fount of this purpose. And I find for myself that when a need arises, or if externals such as weather or whatnot create a situation beyond my control that leads to a need of rescue, or whatnot (name your poison), I can say after practicing a magical operation "this will be so" and it becomes so. Not out of thin air, not without reason and cause and effect lines that anyone could acknowledge, but regardless you seem to miss the point in your mother's basement there (I'm only guessing or teasing, you decide) that my life is indeed a magical life. You can rationalize all you wish, you can intellectualize and compartmentalize all your humanity to your heart's content, but I remain convinced (and I suspect you would too if you were allowed by me to hang out and participate in my life with me) that things arrive for me from a greater source than mere logic can explain.
These things, these thaumaturgic magics that I do from time to time do work because it is my Will to be fulfilled, not some egoic need to prove my pride or validate an argument. This is not something I do on the basis of a whim or to satisfy your ego with your specific demands of "make this so, and I will believe it is so," but what I do "that I may accomplish my Will."