Does magic exist?

Well, does it matter?

If magic is not objectively possible, as nearly all scientists and similar empiricists believe - then it's still subjectively occurring in our perceptions. And perception is something that definitely exists, and is a tool to be wielded. Whether what's perceived exists outside of the mind or not? That can be irrelevant in many cases.

I have felt Reiki as a non-physical force, manifesting as sensation even though there was no tangible physical contact. Is this illusion on the part of my mind? Perhaps. But it can feel incredible - in all senses of the word "incredible". So it's real enough to have an effect on me.

That bully in your office may not actually be taking some kind of quantifiable life force from you like a vampire. But it can feel like that bully is, and this feeling can be accurate - because thought and consciousness occurs in symbols which are wired into the primate brain. Where the primate's brain feels the bully's actions as an attempt to lower him in the status of the tribe - our conceptual brain processes it as a metaphor, so it can be included in our conceptual thought.

That lovely member of the opposite sex who surprised you with a smile may not have actually sent you a thousand megawatts of joy. But the effect is just as same as if that person did - and one such smile a day would have actual long-term physical effects. You would not only smile more yourself, you would have less stress and probably start eating better.

What matters most is what works. The reasons how something may actually work are definitely of interest, but come a distant second.

And it does appear that magic, whatever it is, works to the extent and degree that you *make* it work - that you invest in it with your belief system.

By this definition any number of things we think of as non-magical really are largely magical - for example, a modern monetary system. Fame. Even a country.

So it does not matter whether or not magic "really" exists - if people believe in it, people make it real with their actions.

Knowing this power of perception, and the pragmatic ways to deal with it, are important parts of Mind Fu.