All people in their development go through three stages: first they believe in Santa Claus, then they do not believe in Santa Claus, but they believe in God, and later they themselves become Santa Claus …
Initially, those who believe in freebies and hope for good luck usually believe in magic: people who are unsettled in life and with infantile attitudes. The fact is that achieving results (love, health, success) is often difficult and uninteresting. It is very tempting to quickly pay a fraction of money for turning to higher powers.
A homeopath asks a novice magician: “Do spells really help?” — “How they help! Here, I already bought a car!
Having matured, wised up and faced with a cheap swindle of everyday magic, people usually begin to treat it quite negatively: they not only do not categorically believe themselves, but begin to actively engage in exposing scammers.
Adult, successful people treat magic with warm and easy sympathy, they love pranks on themselves and others, so they often disperse clouds with serious faces (this is quite energetic gymnastics), conjure, speak and tell fortunes (it turns out very fun), remove damage ( categorically and confidently), attract success (unconditional and joyful), give attitudes towards health (to health!), and to be sure, they also believe in it. As long as they do it, they believe. And when it’s time to get down to business, go get down to business.
However, the Russian population, which can hardly be called an adult, believes in magic on a massive scale. It is customary for us to practice rituals of household magic even within the walls of HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
It is necessary to pass the exam, the students are understandably not ready. What to do? You need to perform all the necessary magical rituals for good luck: for several days you can’t cut your nails, you can’t take a shower or bath (so as not to wash away knowledge), you need to sleep the last night with a textbook under you, you need to go to the exam only in the clothes that are in last time brought good luck, and in shoes under the heel you need to put a coin of 5 kopecks. Yes, on the night before the exam, you need to lean out the window, point your finger at the desired field in the record book and shout “Freebie, come!”
For a child to get a good grade, all relatives must keep their fingers crossed and scold him during the exam. You can use all the words except «fool». All students know the magic rules of behavior in the exam: They enter the audience only from the foot that usually brings you good luck. You need to enter the audience immediately after the excellent student, but you need to hold on to his hand. The luckiest are those who enter the class fifth, fifteenth or twenty-fifth. The ticket is drawn only with the left hand. You can’t stand for a long time and think about which ticket to choose — you need to take the one that you looked at right away. And then do everything (step over, take something) only with your left hand or left foot … Before the most crucial moment, you need to tie a string around your wrist. Well, it’s understandable that before entering the audience you should be told: “No fluff, no feather!”, And you should answer: “To hell!”
Magic is popular. For every 550 Russians, there is 1 psychic healer. A popular sorcerer, returning health and love, can earn more than 8-10 thousand USD. per month, an ordinary old witch without advertising rarely takes less than $200.
My colleagues and I conducted research, figured out: who are magicians, sorcerers and wizards? Is there something behind the magic? The results of studies have shown that for 100 people practicing magic, on average:
- 33 people are outright charlatans who deliberately take money from the population.
- 33 — specialists who do not believe in magic, but use it as a brand for qualified assistance to the corresponding population.
- 33 — professionals who believe that «there is something in it» and are looking for opportunities to help people along with them. They may well consciously or unconsciously use psychotherapy (up to hypnosis), the placebo effect, official or traditional medicine.
- 1 — a specialist whose abilities go beyond the usual explanations.
WARNING: HUGE REQUEST! If you know a specialist whose abilities really go beyond the usual explanations and speak of the presence of magical powers, write about it. If this turns out to be true, you will be rewarded with CU500. This is serious.
Magic rituals in psychological practice
Is magic effective? Yes, in the hands of a specialist it is effective. The magical environment distracts the mind control, the magician takes your hand, according to all the rules of NLP, anchors negative and positive events, gives suggestions in the style of Ericksonian hypnosis, and if you have to go to the cemetery at night to reinforce the real result and bury three hairs in the ground, firmly, firmly tied in a handkerchief, and if, moreover, we add actions that are quite reasonable from the point of view of a materialist, then the therapeutic result is practically guaranteed. Russian women, even without the help of magicians, wonderfully spontaneously both fall ill and recover, and with the help of a magician they will only make all this more reliable.
So what? How to relate to the use of magic in psychology? As the rector of the University of Practical Psychology, I am categorically against psychologists promoting and popularizing the rituals of household magic. And this seems to be becoming the norm of seemingly professional work.
The child is afraid to be alone in the room. The psychologist recommends to parents: “Draw a magic circle around the child and explain that the child is now safe!”
A woman cannot forget her grievances at her husband who left her. How to help her? Women psychologists will definitely recommend that she write all the grievances on paper, then set fire to it and, watching her grievances burn down, whisper a spell: “Grievances go away, new suitors come!”
Colleagues, we don’t treat with fuselage. I am against magic because magic is against the mind.
Magical thinking is used by people to calm themselves or entertain themselves. Using magical thinking, people do not understand where in the situation are significant, and where are non-essential signs — you don’t need to think in magic. In magic, people are satisfied with simple and understandable primitive explanations that are simply reassuring, but do not give real clues to the solution. Those who turn to magicians, sorcerers and fortune-tellers use the THINKING TOOL only as one of the everyday tools: if you can do without it, then why not do it? Magic eliminates the need to think what is happening, why and what to do; magic pushes a person to the easiest way: to turn to the magic of the ritual.
Magical thinking is childish thinking. At best (and more often in youth) this is a way to be a parasite: “Higher powers love and protect me. They will take care of me and do everything for me.” In the worst case (and more often in old age) it is a constant fear that the Higher powers will punish me (for my sins). Magic is always a distraction from independent bold thinking. This is the murder of a man as a rational man.
Does magic help? — helps. Soothes? — soothes. Does it give you confidence? — yes, it does: like alcohol. Alcohol also helps, it also calms and also inspires. It seems that 200 grams is allowed for a peasant, but with traditional use, a peasant quickly ceases to be a peasant and becomes a banal alcoholic. It is the same with magic — moving from the mode of helping problem people in critical situations, turning into everyday life and entertainment, magic turns into a dangerous drug.