Do you believe in psychic abilities and/or magic/k?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: no, but ritual magick can feel like it works because essentially you're preparing your mind for an outcome. You do banishing rituals every day, you're gonna feel like the negative influences on you seem less. Psychic abilities I am much more sceptical of; you may have them, you may do it, but until I've had some real evidence my answer is gonna stay no. I do believe many things are possible in this universe but this one I'm not convinced of yet, also just because there are many possibilities in the universe, it doesn't mean that they actually occur.

This is one of those times where i dont feel like i can say simply yes or no.

it depends on how you view magic.

I once had a great conversation with a friend about troubling issues within my own mind. Over the course of a few hours all the rubbish reactive emotional responses came out and i found myself admitting things openly that i had never admitted before. I felt like a weight had been lifted and then my friend professed 'see, thats true magic man. a thought can make you aware of an issue but when you say it out loud and are heard it becomes real, and in turn we start to understand and accept'.

This felt like a truth to me. it felt right. It felt like magic.

Simply put, yes. A world without magic would be a very boring place. Granted that depends on your definition of magic but I believe extraordinary events take place.

Nothing is true; all is permitted.

Psychic abilities probably do exist but it seems they are not repeatable or scientifically provable in the traditional sense - yet. There are various precog studies that I do find compelling though (e.g. http://www.wired.com/2010/11/feeling-the-future-is-precognition-possible/) I really liked Edan's explanation of the true power of magick . . .

Despite this I'm inclined to agree with those who have said before that we shouldn't get too excited about 'miraculous' events, magick or psi. They are a distraction from the undeniable miracles of our existence and our regular day to day lives. What chance do we have of appreciating those if we become fixated on developing mythical superpowers?

To quote Douglas Adams: "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"

J. K. Barger wrote: Nothing is true; all is permitted.

Thank you, Ezio.

I agree though. What one mind believes is true, another will believe it is not true. Science is all well and good but until they can completely explain how things were done in the past, i.e. the pyramids, Rome, Easter Island, Stonehedge, etc than I can only deduce that they were either better people than us, they used Magick to manipulate the world around them or both. Either way, we can't even come close to replicating what they did with the "tools" they had available. This is just my two cents.

On a side note, I think it is awesome that we have so many people here that have opposing views but we can talk about them openly and calmly without anyone having hurt feelings or trying to force their opinion as the right one. It is very refreshing to see again.

MTFBWY all
-Silvermane

Silvermane wrote: Science is all well and good but until they can completely explain how things were done in the past, i.e. the pyramids, Rome, Easter Island, Stonehedge, etc than I can only deduce that they were either better people than us, they used Magick to manipulate the world around them or both.

That's called an argument from ignorance fallacy. "They don't know, therefore my randomly picked proposition X is true". This has nothing to do with deduction. Now short of a time machine there is no way to ever find out how exactly they did it, but we know of several ways how they could have done it and in case of the pyramids of, say, Egypt and the city of Rome we actually have contemporary sources documenting some of the means and mechanisms of construction, thank you very much.

Either way, we can't even come close to replicating what they did with the "tools" they had available.

Yes, we can. Their deeds are impressive if and only if you think that people back in their day were more stupid than those around today. They weren't.

"From a certian point of view"

What I call Magik or Psychic might be different from the average practice of them. If we are talking about the average beliefs like the silly nonsense of Psi Wheels/Balls and kanises and telepathy and the like....then no. No i do not.

I do however believe in the natural strength of One's own Intuition and perception of the force around them. Able to interpret nature and yourself in a way that, to me, is psychic and magikal.

How cute.

Yes, we can pour tons of cement into a hole and shape it into a pyramid, but that still doesn't explain much of what came to be. Like you said, we would need a Time Machine to go back and find out exactly how they did things, but to discredit possible uses, such as Magick and superior intelligence, would be a fallacy in itself.

The point that I am making is that if you don't know exactly how they did it, it would be wrong to discredit what might have been. I am not saying you have to believe in Aliens or believe in Magick, but from someone so "sophisticated" and "scientific" as yourself, to ignore all the possibilities would be ignorant as well. I could be wrong and when it is proven, I would openly admit that I am wrong. I have been wrong before, it doesn't bother me to be wrong. I keep my mind open to the possibilities and continue my practice. Take this how you want and I look forward to your witty retort.

May the Force be with you,
~Silvermane

There are infinite numbers greater than five. Three is not one of them.

I assume by discredit you really mean dismiss, because there is nothing fallacious about discrediting anything nor did anybody do that.
What I did comment on is that it is fallacious to assert things on the grounds that "Those over there don't know it, so my pet theory is just as believable as any." You are free to believe in magic or superior intelligence with good or with bad reasons regardless, I'm just saying that "you don't know any better" is a bad argument.
Oh, and you don't get to call things possibilities until you can show that they are indeed possible. Likewise, I don't get to call them impossible, but then I never did do any such thing, or did I? You are saying that you cannot imagine how they could have done it without either alien help or wizardry (not directly, but you did say that with the ignorance of the opposing side you are left to "deduce" sorcery). Of course, your incredulity does nothing to demonstrate that they did and that is all I was pointing out. But on the other hand, I can just as easily say that I cannot imagine how they could have done it with said things and we are back at the beginning, except that now you have inflated your burden of proof to also include the "possibilities" as well.

"How cute".