Magical Thinking

 Magical Thinkers versus Evidence Seekers

Each creates alternative worlds that they believe in.

Each actively seeks for alternative solutions that they then work for.

This brings incredibly extreme polarization in our world today; 

both in the way we see the world and in the solutions we believe in.

What is Magical Thinking?

• Belief that what we think about or say or wish for creates our world

• Belief that what we refuse to think about won't happen

Magical thinking is a term used in anthropology, philosophy and psychology, denoting the causal relationships between thoughts, actions and events. There are subtle differences in meaning between individual theorists as well as amongst fields of study. (Wikipedia)

A negative example is psychosomatic illnesses where a person convinces himself that he is sick and then starts to see those symptoms in himself, whether they are real or not. The person literally makes himself sick though; i.e. thinks himself into sickness. Sometimes it is the stress and worry that actually makes him sick rather than a real sickness. Another example is denial. We think that if we refuse to believe something or think about something, it won’t happen.

There are also examples of magical thinking that are inevitable. A plausible example is gravity. We know that if we fall out of a tree, it will hurt or jump from a building high enough, it is quite certain that we will die. Not because we can explain it or because we believe it, but rather because we have experienced it enough to believe it. Another example is the sunrise. How do we know the sun will rise each day? And how do we know it will rise in the east? It is from our own repetitive experience that we know.

So we should not seek to eliminate all magical thinking from our lives. There will always be some form or other. But we need to bring a healthy dose of skepticism by questioning and inquiring into every aspect of our lives. I think some people are willing to sell their intellect or reasoning ability short because it is just easier to believe certain things, even if it may not be true. Often we convince ourselves to believe in things because it is more comfortable to do so. We like the security of certainty and the comfort of security. There is no one standard for a healthy person to meet when it comes to magical thinking. That is a standard that we each must set for ourselves.

For me, it is a matter of integrity that I not allow my life to be run by magical thinking. I think it is also a matter of our own commitment to truth. Am I willing to do the inner work necessary to discern truth and reality from fiction. When we look at the world and the problems, where do we begin? With magical thinking or by seeking evidence first.

“Magical thinking is defined as believing that one event happens as a result of another without a plausible link of causation. For example: ‘I got up on the left side of the bed today; therefore it will rain.’"

Or “a more nuanced definition of magical thinking would be believing in things more strongly than either evidence or experience justifies.” For reference, see Magical Thinking.

In each field of living there are a variety of spectrums for magical thinking. In spirituality or religion, there is much more tolerance for magical thinking than in science. In psychology there is much more tolerance for magical thinking than in philosophy.

The key is awareness, consciousness of our own thinking. So often our thoughts hijack us into solving problems so that there is no uncertainty. We HAVE to understand and we cannot STAND mystery or uncertainty.

Examples of Magical Thinking

“Trump supporters are far from the machinations of power, so government seems like magic to them. In Trump they’ve found *their* magician.”

Trump’s ability to envision the world he wants and speak it into existence is a sort of superpower. It doesn’t matter whether it is true or not. What matters is that he believes what he says and he keeps on repeating it until his followers believe it too.

Here is a positive example. On the New Amsterdam tv show last night, they saw a need to create a paleontology wing in the hospital so that those that were dying and had no place to go and no one to care for them could be cared for. One of the hospital staff was talking to a person that she just met that was dying of cancer. Nothing else could be done. And he would not talk. He could not express what he needed to be more comfortable. So they began to talk about life in general. He said that he was a professor and had always worked with numbers. Why, the other person asked. He said because he knew they were certain. I know death is certain too but as they talked he realized that in the face of the certainty of death, there is no certainty in death at all. No one knows what’s next because no one has experienced what is next, if anything at all. The staff person said that really numbers aren’t all that certain either. What is the biggest number? How many stars are there? How many snowflakes in a snowstorm?  As they talked he marveled at this uncertainty that he had been working with all of his life. It was then that he realized that it is the fear of uncertainty that he needed to face, not the fear of death. And like any fear, when we face it head on, it inevitably loses its power over us.

Looking at the political polarity today, there is very clearly something going on that is driving the thinking of different groups in very different ways. Some people are not capable of sorting through the complexities of our nation and all of the issues that complicate it even more like COVID 19, racial protests, police brutality, Americans shooting other Americans over differences, people defending their property with guns from peaceful protesters, peaceful protests turned violent by opportunists, the environment, extreme weather, refugees and immigrants, and on and on. If we look at each of the disruptive issues of our time we can see how different groups of people want to solve them. When you get to the root of the possible solutions, we are left with evidence or magic. People have an innate need for certainty and for the most part will do whatever it takes to feel certain, even though certainty is nothing more than another story that we are told and that we tell ourselves. 

When politics stokes fears in the general population using all of the above issues, many people have no idea what to do. When people are full of fear, anger, and loss of control, they reach for any answers that will give them the comfort they want, even when the comfort and security are also just stories in their heads that they are being told and that they then tell themselves. Facts and reality and research take too much work which frankly is beyond the capacity of so many people these days. So a grand savior, a strongman riding in on his “horse” of power proclaiming, “I am the people’s president” accomplishes exactly what this person’s agenda has been all along. Make people scared enough to see him as the only answer, even though he has no answers to offer. It doesn’t matter. The illusion (story) of answers is all people need. Then their faith can take it from there. Faith in what? Anything they choose to believe in. Magical Thinking becomes the only possible answer. Evidence Seekers are the alternative which takes far too much work. Magical thinkers think and speak evidence thinkers into “evil” by using a myriad of labels and name-calling. So there you have it. The polarization of the population between Magical Thinkers and Evidence Seekers. See more in this video clip. It is quite an eye opener.

The Politics of Magical Thinking

Check out this politically balanced article from a conservative perspective. He quotes a twitter post by an old friend that I knew from a church care group that I attended.

James K.A. Smith made a valuable point on Twitter yesterday:

Trump supporters are far from the machinations of power, so government seems like magic to them. In Trump they’ve found *their* magician.

— James K.A. Smith (@james_ka_smith) March 2, 2016

“For the last century, progressives have been critics of local government and civil society. Not without justification, they’ve attacked the corruption, inefficiency, and injustice of political parties, town councils, private charities, and proposed national solutions to otherwise overwhelming problems. Conservatives bear responsibility, too. Dogmatic hostility to unions has helped marginalize the most effective form of association available to workers in large enterprises.

“The problem is that national solutions have rarely been as easy or successful as promised, while purely individual efforts are impotent. Rather than qualified confidence in energetic politics, centralization promotes a vaguely schizophrenic combination of hope that government can do everything with the knowledge it’s failed in the past. Those are the conditions in which magical thinking thrives. It’s especially appealing when the institutions that once allowed citizens to exercise control over their common affairs are neutered or moribund.

“Trump, in other words, is just a symptom. The disease is older, and also more frightening. Once we’ve lost our capacity for meaningful self-government it’s almost impossible to get it back. As Tocqueville foresaw nearly two hundred years ago:

“It is in vain to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity. I add that they will soon become incapable of exercising the great and only privilege which remains to them.”

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-politics-of-magical-thinking/

Trump, QAnon and The Return of Magic

https://youtu.be/Ca2DSsuE7jI 

This is the video documentary that helped me see the delineation between Magical Thinkers and Evidence Seekers. Very powerful look at social media and conspiracy theories.

A major point made is simply this. Anyone that is making decisions “by my gut” is really a manly way of saying “by my feelings.” No advice, no experts, no research, no facts, no science, just feelings. How does that make you feel about the leader of America and the most powerful person in the world making decisions “by my gut”? Well, we learn to see the world according to what we are told and according to what we wish for. We speak only words that express what we wish for. Anything that disagrees with our wishes is rejected or screened out and not seen at all. This includes such things as reality, facts, evidence. And we wonder why there are so many religious people using magical thinking???

Donald Trump's Magical Thinking

Please watch and share this video and learn how Donald Trump's Magical Thinking is affecting you, your life, your family, and your country!

By Frank Schaeffer the son of great theologian Francis Schaeffer, a founder of Evangelical Christianity. He grew up with other sons of the founders, Jerry Falwell Jr and Franklin Graham. 

In this video, he apologizes for for the part that he had in creating the religious right by joining democracy with evangelical christianity for the sake of power by using a platform of anti-abortion, anti-women, anti-gay, anti-immigrent stoked with fear, rage, and the fear of loss of control of their lives.

The Tyranny of Thought

Welcome to the rat race of the mind.

“Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel … like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!”

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/emmahiggs/2020/03/windmills-of-your-mind-the-tyranny-of-thought/

FYI: The Tyranny of the Mind that I refer to here is located in the psychological realm. Keep in mind there are other realms of tyranny (social, cultural, political, educational, religious) that are constantly oppressing us through conditioning, a form of brainwashing.

We must learn to go beyond thought to awareness

Anything expressed is not real… it is nothing but a perception, a concept conjured up in our minds, then formulated with words that are nothing but signs and symbols that can only point to reality.

Our reality is simply a “perception” or an interpretation of the concept or image that our mind creates.

Awareness is beyond thought and comes from stillness. This is where truth lies.

Thought is made up of words and words are nothing more than signs and symbols that point to reality or truth. Words are labels, containers, and hence limitations.

Truth is limitless, boundless, beyond containment by words or thought.

Thought comes from a place of busyness and noise; resulting in worry and fear, regret and discontent. Thought comes from past memories.

Attention comes from a center of silence, presence, stillness, awareness, consciousness within the present moment; resulting in gratitude, contentment, and peace. (see “Thoughts on Thought”)

On Prayer

 What is Prayer?

What good is Prayer?

What is prayer when the most consistent and dependable attribute of God is silence?

What is prayer when the most consistent and dependable attribute of God is invisibility?

What is prayer if, no matter how despairingly I cry out, the invisibility and silence stay the same?

What is prayer when the odds of it coming true are the same as without prayer?

What is prayer when the prayer of a righteous person feels like it means nothing? Or does the “fervent prayer of a righteous person availeth much?” James 5:16

What is prayer if my belief in God has disintegrated into the nothingness or impossibility?

What is prayer beside talking to myself?

It seems to me that whether or not my faith in God is ever restored, prayer just keeps on. I keep right on talking to myself as if there is someone else listening. It seems to me to be a basic human trait... talking to myself and/or an imaginary friend.

So maybe prayer is self talk. But what good is it? What does it do? Is it hopeful dreaming? Does it presume an imaginary friend? It sure isn’t Santa Claus showering on us the many things we desire. What is prayer doing? Who is it talking to? Who is listening? Anybody home? One thing we know for sure is that we are listening to our own prayers. Maybe that is what we need most, a voice within reminding us what we have forgotten. We know that we cannot guarantee answered prayers or even acknowledged prayers. Words fall in the void between the cracks sometimes lost forever unless I remember my own words that I cast in the nothingness, the no-thing-ness never to retrieve. Other than my possible acknowledgement of my own voice, there is no other response besides silence and invisibility.

I still find myself talking to myself as if I was praying. I ask myself, who am I talking to? But never is there an answer. Never. Unless it is me. Sometimes I end up answering myself because I so desperately need interaction, a two way conversation, instead of me jabbering away. But on I go, talking and talking, knowing full well that after 62 years, I will get nothing but silence and invisibility. That is proof in and of itself. And ultimately, the best thing for me during those times is silence, quieting the voices in my head.

Often I run out of people to relate to that are even a little bit close to where I am within. Then I listened to an interview with Elie Wiesel on Speaking of Faith. I’m not sure if I found any real definition of prayer but did get a bit of clarification of ways that prayer and faith might, just might, be woven into this life of groundlessness where people tell themselves a story that says they have a big buddy in the sky and that all authority is above the clouds and yet there is nothing to show for that story; nothing but silence and invisibility. But somehow, some of these words from an auschwitz survivor resonate deep within. I guess we all have to work with what we have. After 50 years of telling myself a story contrary to reality, I’m just amazed to hear someone tell a story of heartbreak and despair as I stand in wonder of the hope it gives. Maybe I am not alone. Maybe hope is not a gift from above but a gift we give each other. Or even a gift we give to ourselves. It seems to me that there are ways that we can give ourselves hope, reason to go on, a positive outlook, etc. based on our self-talk. For me, I used to think of myself as totally depraved like my religion taught. Well, after many years that seemed to be working directly against who I am and who I want to be. As I began to see the basic goodness deep within me, I could stop berating myself with self-talk and start looking for and identifying that basic goodness. Now that is a way that “prayer” does a lot of good as self-talk. Self fulfilling prophecy works the same way but in the reverse. If we hear how bad we are enough times, whether from ourselves or from others, we begin to believe it. And it is a very powerful sort of belief that affects everything we do.

Prayer as Becoming Still and Settled

"Deep down, we know that when we step back, breathe, allow our agitation to settle, and simply start paying attention, we often see new possibilities in situations that once seem intractable... only in this contemplative state are we able to touch the truth..." (Parker Palmer, The Politics of the Brokenhearted)

Prayer as a Testament to Despair and Suffering

“Elie Wiesel stands in the modern imagination as a towering moral figure. He’s known for his work on behalf of the Jewish people and also other peoples across the world who face suffering and persecution. At the same time, Wiesel is often cited as an intellectual symbol of reasonable religious despair. In his memoir, Night, which has recently landed on best-seller lists five decades after its publication, Elie Wiesel declared that he lost his faith forever at Auschwitz. Let's explore what that declaration meant and how it has evolved in Elie Wiesel’s life and his perspective on the world.” 

Cairn of Rememberance

So Much Forgotten

So Much to Forget

So Much More to Remember

So Much to Learn
So Much to Unlearn
So Much to Relearn

So much we think we know!

The word “remember” has become more and more significant in my life. So much of what we learn is lost too quickly and so we must find ways to remind ourselves what is important and what we learned through the pain and heartbreak of life. Sometimes it is more important to forget or to unlearn also. For me, there are very specific times that are like a paradigm shift, an eye opener, an awakening. But even when it is something that we must learn to forget, that is also something important to remember. I have a mantra that carries some of this learning: “Much of life is remembering what we already know.”

We are a very forgetful people globally and historically; beginning individually. I’ve been noticing that this is not a modern or a local phenomenon. It goes back to the very First People in each continent where we have discovered and recovered rituals and practices to remind us to remember and the importance of remembering.

For me, since I first began blogging in 2006, my first image was the Open Hand and the significance of that. So most of my posts are reminders of ways of Living with Open Hands as an expression of an Open Mind, an Open Heart, and an Open Will. To take this symbology a step further, I began to visualize each blog post as a cairn of remembrance, my pile of rocks, a monument to which I would return so that I could remember. I describe this further at the end of this post. But first, I’m interested in exploring how humankind has been using these monuments or cairns in a way that reminds and guides them along the way. As I kept blogging, I was reminded of the biblical story of the Israelites in the wilderness, a feeling I could relate to as I entered my Dark Night of the Soul in 2008. The way I understood the story is that they were on a journey to the promised land. But it seems that they kept getting lost along the way. Or, if not lost, they would get distracted and go their own way. Sometimes, I wondered if they even knew what their destination was, so they continued to wander,

wondering as they go. Often I refer to myself as a wondering wanderer and a wandering wonderer. As I describe below, these cairn posts are for me to remember the lessons I learned at that time and place. Often it was not an answer but rather a more clearly expressed question that was significant to me at that time and place. Something I must remember. And so, I found myself going back to these cairns of remembrance and rereading them so I would not forget.

WWJD

WWJD: relevant or irrelevant today?

Remember WWJD? In Christian circles 40 years ago, it posed the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” I remember it best as a leather bracelet worn as a way of identifying with Jesus and often distinguishing Jesus followers from typical church folk that look more to the ritual and rules and reputation that comes from church membership than to Jesus’ life, teachings, and example for living. Later, a movement called Red Letter Christians was formed to take a stand for very similar reasons. Red Letter refers to how some bibles print Jesus' words in red to make them stand out. Thomas Jefferson even had his own bible that had only Jesus' words and teachings in it.

All Lives Matter is a phrase that I've heard Christians use as a way of protesting against Black Lives Matter. It is very important to look at how both of these are being used so that we stop confusing very different issues and functions.

All Lives Matter is an ideology for life. It is a given. It is the umbrella under which all free societies survive and thrive. It is the cornerstone of the family, church, and any good organization or community. But it must remain the umbrella and not get confused with the targeted need within any society. 

ALM is absolutely true but it misses the point when it comes to protests, human rights, and social injustices. ALM is not a name for any protests or any new legislation. Until a need arises, there is no use in doing that. It is not standing up against police brutality and murder or for justice or equality but rather it stands up for injustice and racism as a counter protest, lately against BLM (incredibly). And if freedom of speech, press, and expression is the backbone of democracy, then where does that leave ALM when it is misused against the voices of We The People in BLM? It can become a way of opposing democracy if we are not careful and aware. And the mind boggling thing about it is that it is mostly perpetrated by white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, and Evangelical Christians.

All it takes to stand against people in need are people with hearts that are closed to the plight of the most vulnerable among us. ALM is an ideology that we must use to guide our families, churches, and communities. Everything has its place. But to use it as a stand against BLM is irresponsible. It is a refusal to try to understand fellow human beings and the pain they experience. Suddenly a social justice protest, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble is politicized and weaponized and nullified, which, as we all know, is unconstitutional.

If all lives really do matter then ALL lives need to matter. ALL means ALL. And if one group is excluded or one person is excluded, then ALL NO LONGER MEANS ALL. And therefore, ALL LIVES DO NOT MATTER. And this is what we are seeing in America today. I’ve been struck and frustrated by the absurdity of the "either … or," dualistic thinking of those that say they stand for All Lives Matter but not Black Lives Matter because somehow they think that by embracing one, then you are nullifying the other. But the truth is, our thinking must be “both … and” in order to be coherent and wise, inclusive and unconditional, Christian and American.

Since ALL means ALL then,

if Black Lives Matter, then All Lives Matter.

BUT

if Black Lives don't Matter then All Lives can't Matter

because ALL no longer means ALL.

Before we assume what Jesus might do in America here today, we must take a look at his words and his teachings, if Christians still believe in any of that. And then draw conclusions based on whether Jesus was serious about his own teachings and therefore would follow them today. WHAT WOULD JESUS DO???

Parables for Today

Jesus taught this very lesson in a number of his parables. I love parables because basically it is using an everyday story to illustrate a truth. And in truth, all of our lives are driven by stories. Some people call them myths or narratives. These organize and motivate people individually and collectively (in religion, culture, politics, etc.). No matter if they are true or untrue, myths are foundational to people all around the world. They define who we are and what we do. There are macro narratives, micro narratives, and then there is the parable, a sort of mini story or mini myth or mini narrative. 

So take the idea that we are talking about here, that there is an overarching narrative for everyone: All Lives Matter. That was a guidepost for the family that raised me and for my own kids. I’m not sure why some refuse to understand this but my kids understood right away when Black Lives Matter started that it is about time we wake up and see the racial inequalities that are happening in America and do something about it. It is shameful. It is immoral. It is unjust. And it must be changed. And one way we do this in America is through protests, the voices of the people, and freedom of expression through speech and the free press. Silence is complicity in racism. Please check out all of the types of protests in the United States over the years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_in_the_United_States

I’ve heard Christians say things like we no longer have a problem with racism today so BLM is a hoax. One prominent person has even called it a hate group. But that person is well known for lying. For further information on racism in America today, here and now, individually, collectively, and structurally; please check out this work in progress: https://livingwithopenhands2.blogspot.com/p/racism.html 

It would be presumptuous for anyone to say definitively that Jesus would be joining the protests but I can say for sure that he would not be opposing them with something like, “No! All Lives Matter!” It would be directly opposed to his own teaching, especially as seen in his parables. Let me remind you by taking a look at his most basic teachings.

Greatest commandment: This is not a parable but it is the heart of Jesus’ teachings. Actually when he was asked by religious leaders of his day what the greatest commandment is, as they were trying to trip him up, he replied, in summary, Love God and Love your neighbor. But when Jesus saw a person in need, he did not respond with a statement like, “All Lives Matter” or “love your neighbor as yourself” and the turn his back on those in need. He used parables to tell us how to love one another.

Who is my neighbor? Jesus answered this with the parable of the

good samaritan. A man had been robbed and beaten, and two religious elites passed by without lending a hand. Then a despised Samaritan man came by and helped the man. When he explained the answer to the question, who is my neighbor, he said it was the one that showed mercy to the man in need, hurt and dying on the road. The religious hypocrites are the ones that said something like, all other lives matter more to us, excusing themselves to walk on by and ignore the great commandment. They decided to let that man die. The Good Samaritan, even though he was despised by all people in the area especially the religious leaders, is the one that saw the need and showed mercy. That is one that acted as a neighbor or as an ally to someone in need. Black Lives Matter is a movement of people that are being oppressed by racism still in America along with allies of this great injustice and inequality. To me, it is really hard to say that Jesus would not be there showing mercy and being an ally to those in need because he would be violating his own teaching and he would show that he is not worthy for anyone to follow him.