Engendering an enchanting, enthralling "magical" space?

Contrasting Human and AI Identity in Magical Discourse (Part #6)

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Science, religion and the arts? How is the experience unmediated by labels to be "described" if it is denatured by labelling "it"? Deprecating magic, science has proudly built its methodology on the ability to manipulate labels and weave them into models of "reality". That reality has proven to be alienating to many in practice -- including scientists -- who have consequently turned to drugs to offer an experiential engagement with "reality" understood otherwise.

Science developed through calling into question the experiential "reality" purportedly offered by religion, a reality framed by theology through a complex pattern of labels -- indicative of mystical experience seemingly accessible only to the very few. As a step towards the fulsomeness of that experience (as promised for the afterlife), faith and belief are upheld as offering a taste of that reality. Belief systems may enhance that possibility through the use of aesthetic experiences and psychoactive drugs (sacred music, and the like).

Despite the deprecation, science makes curious use of "magic" in reference to "magic numbers" -- in chemistry, physics, or programming -- but without clarifying what is meant by "magic" in those contexts, as with the enthusiasm of mathematicians for "magic squares" and "magic constants". Of particular interest are the potential cognitive implications in the much-cited study by George Miller (The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: some limits on our capacity for processing information, Psychological Review. 63, 1956). Ironically the recent pandemic has given focus to an understanding of a dimensionless constant governing civilization and its potential collapse (Humanity's Magic Number as 1.5? 2020).

Curiously common to both science and religion is the appeal of a sense of beauty associated with the fundamental realities of which their efforts are indicative. Religion embodies that insight in design, variously expressed in sacred architecture, music, dance, and art. Science understands it to be embodied in fundamental patterns and equations -- with mathematical beauty exemplified by Euler's identity in showing a profound connection between the most fundamental numbers in mathematics.

The difficulty for both religion and science is their sense of beauty is readily held to be meaningless by many -- who may well prefer the experience offered by the arts directly. The role of poetry may be especially valued by some, especially in its effort to frame evocatively romantic relationships and the engagement with nature. Given the current crises of global governance, it is however only too evident that science, religion and the arts are not proving adequate to the challenge. The arts might even be employed to frame the extent of that inadequacy:

• Poetry-making and Policy-making: arranging a Marriage between Beauty and the Beast (1993)
• Aesthetics of Governance in the Year 2490 (1990)
• A Singable Earth Charter, EU Constitution or Global Ethic? (2006)
• Reimagining Guernica to Engage the Antitheses of a Cancel Culture (2022)
• Embodying complexity through aesthetics of multivocal sung rhetoric (2016)
• Creating one's own reality through aesthetics(2022)
• Urgency: requisite aesthetics for comprehension of new thinking? (2019)
• Comparable Modalities of Aesthetics, Logic and Dialogue (2021)
• Potential for Coherence through Engaging Strategic Poetry (2021)

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"Meeting magic"? In a quationable effort to avoid labelling, one clue is ironically offere by reference to "magic" -- much deprecated by conventional science and religion. "Magical thinking" is anathema to both as exemplifying the antiquated engagement with reality from which modern humanity as emerged.

The irony lies in the frequent reference to the quality of "magic" which characterizes venues and tourist locations of choice. Advertising consequently makes frequent reference to such a "magical" quality as a primary attractor beyond conventional labelling. The term is used by those experiencing such locations and associated events experienced there. The term may be used to frame an encounter with others, and especially one with romantic implications and consequences.

The term is naturally evident in reference to "magical meetings" and to "meeting magic", as discussed separately (Magical communication through magical thinking? 2023; Towards Transformative Conferencing and Dialogue, 1991). That said, it remains mysterious what processes enable and enhance that experience.

Curiously use of the phrase "magical encounter" is frequently made with respect to the experience of humans encountering wild animals. However the nature of the space engendered and recognized as "magical" seemingly remains elusive -- and perhaps necessarily so (Engaging with Elusive Connectivity and Coherence, 2018). The association of references to it to a "strange attractor" are then appropriate.

Gnosis or the gnostic state refers to an altered state of consciousness associated with "chaos magic", in which a person's mind is focused on only one point, thought, or goal and all other thoughts are thrust out. The gnostic state is used to bypass the "filter" of the conscious mind – something thought to be necessary for working most forms of magic.Since it takes years of training to master this sort of Zen-like meditative ability, chaos magicians employ a variety of other ways to attain a "brief 'no-mind' state" in which to work magic

Creating a "magical space" in traditional practice: A major preoccupation in the practice of ritual and ceremonial magic is the creation of a magical space -- on which there is extensive commentary. This is understood as a space conducive to the dynamics by which "magical forces" are invoked. Arguably many initiatives to enable "meeting magic" are sensitive to varying degrees to those sensitivities, if unconsciously, in seeking to invoke "magic" for the occasion -- however that is understood.

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