this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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askchapo
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yes, yes, absolutely not
It's both tiresome and kind of concerning how people are talking about magic so much here. If you actually believe it's real, you have an obvious responsibility to demonstrate it to the scientific community because it has humanitarian implications. If not, then save it for roleplaying games or whatever.
Agree. Woo shit is bad for society.
I have a psychotic disorder, so sometimes magic is just completely real to me despite most evidence being to the contrary. Like right now I'm in a magic kick. I can acknowledge right now that it's likely not real. In a few weeks or months I might even be embarrassed by what I believed. I mainly feel that I'm not hurting anyone with the belief, so I may as well indulge it while it lasts. The biggest danger is trying not to join a cult while I'm stuck in this headspace.
I'm not really qualified for or comfortable with addressing most of this, but could you help me understand what you mean by "believe"? Because if you are able to tell me right now, during the "magic kick," that it's probably not real and connect it to your disorder, then it sounds like you are describing that you experience it as being real but might not believe it, like how someone might have a hallucination that they know isn't real but that doesn't directly change their experience of it. Am I misunderstanding you?
Yeah, I think it's a lot like that. Other than just hallucinations, I can have delusions which are a patently false belief that have evidence against that you are incapable of not believing. I did a ritual earlier today and felt the effects. (granted it could've been a purely psychological effect because that was the main goal of the ritual anyway) But I am aware of dialectical materialism, and I know it is the accurate way to perceive reality. Just sometimes I find myself stuck in this mindset.
When I was closest to this kind of stuff I wss pushing my brain fucking hard with drugs. Mostly acid and speed so I wouldn't be sleeping for days at a time and ess tripping hard too often. It put me in a PLACE mentally that feels very similar to what you described. I also felt stuck in it while not like truly believing in my heart of hearts it was real. I don't know where im going with this entirely aside from i think I get what you're talking about
That sounds a lot like it. That's one reason I try not to mess much with drugs: I feel like my brain does some of that on its own, and I don't need to help it get there. Not meaning to judge people who do use those drugs; that's just my reason for staying away.
Ive done everything to a decent excess and can honestly say, you aren't missing much.
Thank you for explaining.
what's your idea of what magic is?
Anything supernatural. Calling something natural "magic" with no further context to explain that it's a metaphor is obscurantist.
meh.
Why bother responding if that's what you're going to say?
Because it sums my opinion of your opinion nicely. And in a low effort package too.
You asked me, didn't you? And I answered your question as straightforwardly as I could. There's no reason you needed to present such worthless, affected nose-thumbing.
Can't you just own whatever your beliefs are?
I'm shooting for a minimal empirical foundation in my conversational partners here. If you don't have the experience then I'd rather not take the conversation further.
That would be an excellent explanation if your response was "fair enough, have a nice day," or even just "Oh, okay," or "I don't think we'll get anywhere, then," but if any of those were your response, I probably would not have asked for any explanation.
When I meet rude I get a bit trolly. Sorry.
From my perspective, I just answered your question as clearly as I could and explained my thinking. Perhaps I could have used more "I" phrasing, but I still think that you're kind of "apologizing" while shifting blame.
Would you have preferred that I use a term besides "obscurantist" because it sounds too accusatory? I don't really know what else to describe it as except "mystifying," which I think wouldn't really be an improvement. Do you have any ideas?
not interested
You still havent substantiated any of your claims or given any idea what ground you stand on or addressed any arguments raised against you.
Yeah. So are we. That is not a one way street
Are you trying to do magic rn? Are you Chaos Magicking by posting ragebait as a spell to make people angry? Have you ever heard of cause and effect?
I'm not sure what you're asking here
goodbye