Majokkid - Magia Records

Why I am a Materialist

It be surprising or confusing to some that I am both a materialist and practice magick. I believe that comes from a misconception of what materialism means. Wikipedia gets us off to a start:

"Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions of material things."

To this I say yes, but where I differ is what follows:

"Materialism directly contrasts with idealism, according to which consciousness is the fundamental substance of nature."

To this I say no, there is no conflict. The apparent conflict is the result of a kind of category error. Consciousness produces material and then binds itself to it. At one level of emanation consciousness is fundamental and at the next the material is fundamental.

But what is the material? Well, physics is essentially mathematics. The physical/material is whatever can be described by mathematics. Absolutely anything that exists and can be shown to exist can be described by mathematical equations. Anything with a stable predictable nature can be described by math. We mistake the map for the territory when we assert this means that the entities in these mathematical models are "real".

If anything non-physical could be proved to exist it would be physical by the definition by whatever proof could be provided. The proof itself is a type of mathematics.

Now, what may be more surprising and confusing is that I don't think magick is real, and yet I practice it. The confusion again is a type of category error. Magick is what makes reality. It isn't real because it isn't the sort of thing that would be real. Magick isn't a thing and it can't be described. Magick can only be performed and no explanation can explain it.

Transforming item/magical key concept, pendulum form. Design given to me in a dream.