Cognitive scientists use the term “Magical Thinking” to
describe a lack of causal reasoning.
According to them, the belief in superstitions, lucky charms, and rain
dances often falls into this category.
But the term can be applied to any situation where one makes judgments
based on a cause-and-effect rationale that wouldn’t hold up under scientific
scrutiny. Simply put, magical thinking
is (from a cogsci perspective) the analytical by-product that occurs when your
hopes, fears, desires, prejudices, and beliefs take over your decision-making.
Child psychologists often use the term slightly
differently. For a child, magical
thinking often refers to conditions in which the cause and the effect are
disassociated. For example, the kid sees
you grab a remote control from the table and hears the stereo turn on, but
doesn’t yet understand that the two actions are related. It is primarily this
aspect of magical thinking that stage magicians rely on when performing
illusions. In feats of magical reverse
engineering, a good magician will think about a desired effect to be produced,
and then work backwards to plan the method.
The success of the effect is then greatly enhanced by the magician’s
ability to conceal the method from the audience. In essence, the magician returns the audience
to a state of child-like perception where causes and effects are distant
strangers. Some embrace this sense of
wonderment while others resent the inflicted feelings of naiveté. Yet, it should be noted that while such
magical thinking evokes a child-like sense of the world, it does not limit us
to childish behavior.
It would be easy to believe that magical thinking is merely
the refuge of children, magic show audiences, and the superstitious; however,
we bathe in magical thinking nearly every day. Many of our decisions are based
not on scientific rationale but rather on information we receive from a variety
of sources – friends, cultural influences, mass media, etc. And many of these sources are in fact
assemblages of conflicting truths, traditional bias, and competing
agendas. When we enter a theater to
watch a magician perform we expect to be deceived. But what are our expectations when we read
the paper, watch the news, and listen to politicians?
Most would agree that a healthy dose of skepticism is
necessary for arriving at objective conclusions. But when skepticism dominates our perception
of information, two things happen.
First, our skepticism quickly morphs into cynicism. Secondly, the lack of dependable, believable
information drives a wedge in our reasoning, pushing us further into a realm of
conjecture, supposition, and intuition.
In some respects this is a troublesome place – we begin to lose the
scientia, or knowledge, that is the backbone of science, and all “truths”
become relative. Darwinian evolution is
treated as a creation story. Global
climate change is regarded as a conspiracy of activist researchers. And carcinogenic pesticides banned at home
get exported abroad only to make their way back to our salads and fruit bowls.
On the other hand, a greater reliance on our intuition and
imagination can be liberating. The
"magical thinking" of a child enables a shifting understanding of the
objects around her in a manner which determines use based on needs and desires:
an orange is only an orange if she is hungry, otherwise it is a ball; a toy; an
experiment waiting to happen. As adults,
we have been passively conditioned to regard oranges as nothing but food, or
perhaps decoration. We consistently find
ourselves impressioned by material goods that are produced and proffered with
specific, limited uses in mind. The
sheer magnitude of specialized markets evidences both a wide-scale ability to
combine materials and resources in new and innovative ways AND a collective
inability to creatively define our needs and desires for ourselves. For example, the Market has encouraged
inventors to supply consumers with at least six different kinds of electronic
rodent traps; yet, the alienated citizenry has yet to effectively deal with the
infestation of rats in public office (many of whom may owe their tenure to
Diebold’s own brand of electronic rat catchers).
In many instances, our collective decision-making doesn’t
appear to be the least bit impaired by a lack of information, a lack of
informed opinions, nor a lack of causal analysis. The research shows most agree whole-heartedly
that cancer-causing food doesn’t belong on the dinner table, that religious
agendas don’t belong in public schools, and corrupt politicians don’t belong in
office. Yet these conditions persist not
for a lack of wisdom or concern, but from a lack of will-power.
When the imagination is divorced from action, a more problematic
form of magical thinking takes place.
Often termed “wishful thinking” such a condition occurs when a child
blurs the boundaries between thinking and doing; thus, creating confusion
between wanting something to happen and actually working in a productive manner
to bring about the desired results. How familiar is this terrain to the
"adults" within our society? Is there not a similar confusion between
thinking and doing expressed in the hypocrisy of those Americans who heed
religious doctrines which champion the virtues of charity, tolerance,
austerity, and non-violence while they lead lifestyles quite to the contrary?
Too often is this childlike condition equally expressed by the
"progressive"-minded members of the public who believe that shifting
one's consciousness is, in and of itself, a political act which will lead to
significant change. Unfortunately, power maintains itself quite nicely when
people are content to simply 'think' about an alternative realty. Perhaps that
is why both Dante and Buddhists claim that the lowest levels of
"hell" are reserved for those who can do 'good' but choose to do
nothing.
Wishful thinkers may help maintain the entertaining illusion
that all is well, but they do little to combat those who will it otherwise. At
best they are like the sympathetic audience being entertained by the
misdirection at a magic show. At its
worst, wishful thinking postures as real magic.
Neither active nor engaged, it fails to reconcile the methods and the
effects. The candles are lit. The incense smolders. But there’s no spirit to speak of.
While magical thinkers experience a range of failed and
successful actions, wishful thinkers fail to act at all. In the absence of clear information, magical
thinking allows us to creatively apply our understanding in action. It enables
us to assess reality both as we are told it is and as we experience it
ourselves. And greater still, it
empowers us to shape the materials and forces in the world around us in order
to truly unleash the creative and magical power of the multitudes.
Exercises:
It’s time to start making your wishes come true. So drop your cloak of transcendental escapism
and grab your wand! Here are a few hot
tips to help you reunite the volitional act of willing with causality. As always, good luck, and please let us know
how it works for you by emailing us at: goodluck@tacticalmagic.org
1. How can you
spot the difference between the typical wishful thinker and your garden-variety
magical thinker? Wishful thinkers hope
that the fruit they buy next time from MegaFood won’t still smell like plastic
and taste even worse. Magical thinkers
start a community garden in that abandoned lot and then watch it grow into an
orchard and a park and a playground and a…
2. Why wait for
elections when you can begin building a better rat trap today?!? Although superstitions, curses, and
prophecies may be scientifically unfounded, they can still be powerful
motivators. So if you’re short on
lobbyists and campaign contributions consider introducing your elected
officials to some angels or demons. Even
if your politicians only revere the power of the dollar, their voting
constituency might feel otherwise.
3. Regardless of
Science’s opinion of will power, it’s a common fallacy to view Science and
Magick as oppositional. In the words of
ol’ man Crowley, “Please remember that Magick is Science, that the Laws of
Nature remain the same, however subtle may be the material with which one is
working. It is, to put it brutally, a bigger miracle to destroy a fortress than
an easy chair. You know this well enough; but the corollary is that it is
nearly always a mistake to try to do things entirely off one’s own bat. It is
much simpler to look for an existing force, in good working order, that is
doing the sort of stuff that you need, and take from it, or control in it, just
that bit of it that you happen to require.”
4. Like a prop in
a magic show, protest tactics do little on their own. But when used properly in a complete routine,
their potency can be truly marvelous.
Plan your next protest like a good magician, and start by focusing on
the effect you want to conjure. Then,
work backwards to derive the most appropriate methods. For example, a march through a downtown
financial district on a weekend does little to transform the status quo. But a march may serve as good misdirection
while a more cunning stratagem unfolds behind the curtain.
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