[Buddha-l] Re: Magic

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Joy Vriens schreef:
> Hi Eric,
>
>   
>> To all you warlocks, witches, witchmasters, satanists, theosophists,  
>> etc. if there's some room left in your mental kaleidoscope, you can have  
>> your pick in the 
>> http://rapidshare.com/files/34678777/encyclopedia_of_occultism.zip 
>> If you want some real data about witchcraft and magic, try  
>> Evans-Pritchard: /Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande. /This  
>> tells you that witchcraft has nothing to do with the bourgeois clich¨¦ of  
>> a kind of religious Robin Hoodism, but is noting more then the symptom  
>> of a sick society. 
>>     
>
> There is a difference in method between science and witchcraft, but is there a difference in objective? Isn't science (especially its applications) simply a more efficient method of witchcraft? Destroying ennemies, fertility, telecommunications, rejuvenation ... So is science a symptom of a sick society?  
>
> As for the reason of the sickness of society, the Dalai Lama humbly offers the following hypothesis:
>
> <<Some of Ray's questions are softballs: Why does America seem spiritually poorer than India? "Too much greed," shrugs the monk. "Limitless desire." >>
> http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2007/06/22/getting_answers_from_the_dalai_lama/
>   

Hi Joy,
 I think a lot depends on your definition of witchcraft. Most authors 
like to make a difference between witchcraft, magic and technology. 
Technology consists in manipulating things by cause and effect. Magic 
consists in manipulating things by means of rituals and witchcraft 
consists in harming other people by means of rituals. (Harming other 
people by means of cause and effect is called warfare or crime.) Maybe 
you prefer other definitions, that's fine by me. Evans-Pritchard 
discovered that some African societies are soaked in withcraft, while in 
others people didn't seem to bother. Appearantly witchcraft is induced 
by an uncontrollable and undefinable fear for your neighbours and a lack 
of trust in the community. So if your pitbullterrier suddenly falls ill 
and the barrel of your Smith and Wesson turns out to be twisted you know 
Uri Geller passed by.

I have one for the Dalal Lama: Why is Tibet still occupied by China? 
Answere: because there are to many Chinese soldiers out there.

-- 


Erik


www.xs4all.nl/~jehms
weblog http://www.volkskrantblog.nl/pub/blogs/blog.php?uid=2950
products: http://stores.lulu.com/jehmsstudio