I am not interested in magic - certainly not in using it - however, it may be yet another manifestation of the paranormal. If it is, I suppose we need to think about what it actually tells us about the nature of the greater reality.David
Well, David, I have little doubt that "paranormal" events actually happen. That they sometimes might happen as a result of magic, of intention, could be true, but if so it's something I'd be loathe to try: one can't be certain one's intentions are pure or in the best interests of oneself or others. Like they say, be careful what you wish for on account of possibly
unintended consequences.
The best attempted magic (if it could be called such), might be saying a prayer requesting that the universe help
if and
only if it can be done without deleterious side-effects. We used to use the phrase "God willing" more than we do now (and Muslims still regularly say "inshallah"). We're saying by this that we'd like something to be a certain way, but only if it doesn't involve derailing a higher plan.
Who knows, maybe God or the universe or MAL might have a little leeway and can respond to such an explicit plea. If it doesn't because an unwanted event must happen on a particular occasion, then prayer can't work, but no harm in asking if one means well. However, a subtle point is that asking MAL for help could be making the tacit assumption that without asking, we won't be helped -- when in fact, just maybe, if things can be that certain way, MAL will see to it without our needing to ask. This is an image of God at all times acting in the best interests of humanity, an image that requires faith and trust. If so, it's what might lean one towards accepting whatever occurs regardless, and not being too demanding with wanting something else.
Quite often in life, I've wanted something that has come to pass, only to find that eventually I've discovered it might have been better if it hadn't -- and vice-versa. Things have tended to go my way most often when I've not known what I wanted and just went with the flow. I really have been very lucky at specific times of my life when it seemed I was just drifting. Who is to say that that wasn't MAL "taking care of me" without my trying to influence events?
And maybe that's what accounts for my instinctive (or maybe intuitional) attitude to life. As I said in my previous post, there could be magic in my life, but if so, it's rarely if ever been consciously pursued by me. Put in religious terms, I've mostly had faith and trust in God without ever having thought of it in such terms: "que sera, sera" as the song has it.
Trying to practise magic could be viewed from one perspective as arrogant; as trying to alter the course of events as if one were literally MAL or God or whatever. Maybe it's possible to a minor degree to consciously change events, but this seems such an egoic aim to me. According to Idries Shah (I'm paraphrasing), the Sufis believe that we have free will, but when we attain self-actualisation, we accept that the only will that makes sense is the will of God, which all our actions should mirror. We freely choose not to exercise our own will, which inevitably arises from the ego, and follow God's or MAL's will, as it were, in an instinctive way.
Sufis (and holy figures in all religions) frequently are said to have had paranormal powers, but if so, my thinking is that it's because they've lost their egos and are "mirroring God's will". Trying to "practise magic" before the loss of personal ego is to my mind asking for trouble, and best avoided. Shah says that the onset of such powers frequently comes when the student is approaching self-actualisation, but at such a time egoic attractions can still be overpowering. Students may become sidetracked and abandon the path to truth at the last minute.
The female Sufi saint, Rabia (who had long ago vowed only to ask God for something, and no-one else), is said (by Attar) one day to have been in the kitchen whilst her servant was cooking; the latter needed an onion and said she'd go and ask a neighbour for one. Just then, a bird flew by and dropped a ready-peeled onion into the frying pan. But Rabia was suspicious of its source (it may have come not from God, but a instead a trickster demon), and ate her bread without the onion.
This may be an apocryphal tale, but it perhaps illustrates the dangers of magic even for someone who is both pure in heart and fully self-actualised. Magic can turn one to the "dark side" so to speak, take one back into the realm of the ego. It's sometimes said that self-actualised people may refrain from exercising magic or paranormal powers for exactly this reason. And in general, one should exercise caution about accepting a teacher who does overtly exercise them.
In short, magical or paranormal powers perhaps shouldn't normally
precede enlightenment, but rather be a
result of enlightenment, and then only be exercised sparingly or not at all. Maybe Michael is in some way enlightened and his experiences are the result of that; I don't know. All I do know is that I am
not enlightened and hence am not concerned about prematurely developing such powers.