Life is Magic

How often have you heard that phrase?  Yes, life is magic because, as some famous Sci-Fi writer once said, (I think it was Arthur C. Clarke, but I’m not going to look it up right now), any sufficiently advanced technology will seem like magic to those who are living in a sufficiently undeveloped society.  Magic is a power which cannot be explained.  And that’s life.

I have a theory about the origins of magic.  I believe that in the beginning, say half a million years or so ago, when people were recognizably people but hadn’t developed agriculture or writing yet, magic and religion and science and art were all pretty much the same thing.

After all, they did not have universities yet, so you didn’t have to choose a major.  You could practice medicine, or anything else, without a license.  It was the only way.

So, the ancient tribal witch doctor, the crazy old pot-stirring Druid, would be the person in the tribe who had the most scientific knowledge about herbs, and mushrooms and things like that, but it would be mixed in with a bit of artistry and magic.  Today we call that a bedside manner.

The old cave paintings which archaeologists love to say had religious significance, since it sounds nice and keeps the funding coming and also puts a nice neat end on the discussion, probably were religious in nature.  But, no doubt artists competed and their artistry was respected.

Also, say, for instance, we’re taking about a representation of the hunt.  You can see the beginnings of scientific thought.  “Hey, if we plan this ahead of time instead of just going out there and waving our spears around, we increase our chances of coming back alive, and with meat.”  Tribes who had that much scientific thinking going on prospered, and became our ancestors.

You can also see a bit of magical thinking.  “If you visualize your arrow go into the deer’s heart, then it  has already happened in your mind.  By the power of concentration you can make it happen in real life.”

These four fields hadn’t been separated yet.  They all would have been filed under “intellectual curiosity.”

Even today, although they are four separate aspects of human thought, you can see each of them influencing all of the others.  Maybe you’ve got to add comedy into the equation, too.