THOUGHT OF THE DAY: On Trolldom and the concept of belief.

Magic is ”a matter of belief” to non-practitioners. Behind all old stories lies observation of Nature, not something supernatural. Intellect, voice modalities, the fact that humans are influenced by flora, fauna, minerals, colors, seasons, to have an imagination that is not disconnected to the rest of the world, the interplay between experiences and the multitude of things we already know. Are these a matter of belief? No. What is a matter of belief the Protestant Christian emphasis of “Sola Fide – By faith alone”. Along with the ideas of “with nature”, “against nature” and “above nature” (supernatural - developed by Thomas of Aquinas and later embraced by those who prefer a separation between the physical and the subtler aspect of human experience) we get this detrimental and very modern mind-loop of belief as a relevant criteria and the supernatural as a realm separate from mundane human experience.