The universe didn't force you not to believe in magic. You could have spent your whole life believing magnets are magical stones, that the electromagnetic force is magical energy, and that computer engineers are wizards who conjure spirits from magic. And you could have been 100% factually and scientifically correct.
But you chose to believe that magic is by definition not real, because you didn't want to live in a world of whimsy and wonder. You defined magic as supernatural, in opposition to the natural world. While every scientist knows that nature is just a word for everything that exists. You chose to define magic in a way that it wouldn't exist, denying it through tautology and not through science.
Why did you choose that?
That's because this person is arguing semantics, poorly, in bad faith.
Magic isn't real. No one is choosing to live in a world without whimsy, there are plenty of ways to be mystified by natural phenomena. Look up coronea borealis - suddenly you'll be captivated by the night sky again (at least a part of it, I'm still having trouble determining which of these stars is actually Arcturus). For an even simpler example, fireflies. If you aren't captivated by fireflies because they don't actually have fire in them, you're probably just an idiot (or allergic to them, though I've never met anyone allergic to fireflies). Magic is simply a way for the primitive mind (and by association primitive society) to explain away things that seemingly had no tangible cause.
Magic isn't real because the collective knowledge of humanity has matured past the need for it.
See, its particularly wild because they started off by asserting that atheists assert that magic is definitionally not real.
Then they described themselves as an anti realist solipsist who does not believe in reality.
I'm not a solipsist. Antirealism and solipsism are as different as socialism and communism. I'm an antirealist. And yes, I don't believe in reality. Thus, to me, everything is magic.
You write like someone who's never been hungry.
Yeah, it's really weird, I just don't experience hunger. If I don't take my eating disorder meds, I lose dangerous amounts of weight while feeling totally full and sated. I can work a 12 hour shift on a few crackers and water and it's fine, except for the dread I feel when I look at the scale and realise how much work it'll be to regain that weight. And it's not like I can easily afford enough food to regain the weight, I'm poor.
See, I don't agree with most of what you've said in this thread. That being said, having seen your responses, I also don't think you're a bad person.
I would recommend that you seek some kind of help because no amount of powerful thinking will allow you to escape the reality that is needing to eat food and drink water. These things do have a measurable effect on the mind, whether you want them to or not. If your interpretation of reality is preventing you from doing this, then it is a problem (or this may be the root cause of your interpretation, I don't know enough about you to say).
That being said, I'm not going to police what you think. If your interpretation let's you live life with a more positive outlook, go for it. Sincerely, though, start eating and drinking water regularly. I understand times are rough, but you can't neglect this - it will kill you. Hopefully that isn't something you want.
I hope you have a nice day.
Oh yeah no my lack of appetite is a huge problem, that's why I sought a doctor and got prescribed eating disorder pills. I was just stunned by your insight. You know almost nothing about me, and you still knew I have an eating disorder without being told. We weren't talking about anything to do with food but you nailed it.
Well, thank you for the compliment, but I merely guessed. The reason I guessed hunger was because, having intimately known it myself, it's something that will force you to interact with 'reality'. I understand that those with eating disorders have managed to harness that 'mind over matter' perspective, which is probably what's led to your own unique perspective.
Allow me to apologize for the way I've conducted myself. I was expecting you to become angry, as I'm used to seeing with online engagements where one side is shut down the way that you've been in these comments. It was wrong of me to talk about you in any way that's not positive, as your composure proves your intelligence.
I may not agree with you, but I certainly find you interesting. You have earned my respect. Please, though, try to make sure you eat more than crackers throughout the day. If not for your sake, then for the sake of more interesting conversations in the future.
Yes, I go to great effort to eat as much as possible every day. A few weeks ago I attended a workshop on emotional eating. Everyone else was there to learn how to stop emotionally eating, but I went there to learn how to emotionally eat, and I succeeded. Turns out the key is to make yourself believe that nothing will make you happy except food. You need to take on a quiet sort of dread and maintain it through the meal. I learned the skill, but I don't use it very often because it's a lot of work to endure such misery. It's my emergency tactic in case I'm not eating enough and I can't get any food down the normal ways.
And I don't do 12 hour shifts anymore. Fuck that.
That's an interesting concept, it almost seems unhealthy - obviously unless you're struggling to eat enough yourself. Is that the advice you gained, that you should dread not having food while you're eating it? Forgive me if I'm overstepping, but it makes more sense to me that you should dread not having food outside of the actual meal - that way when you're eating you can enjoy your food and alleviate the dread. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you've written?
Are there any foods you particularly enjoy? Maybe another trick you can try is trying something that you've never eaten before, that way you can add the extra layer of exploration onto your meal.
Do you feel hunger pangs at all? I'm curious what your normal relationship with food is, is this something you learned to push through or is it something else?
Yeah, 12 hour shifts are impossible. I was working 80 hour weeks at one point and I will never go back if I have the ability to avoid it. How often were you taking those shifts?
Enjoying food every day just isn't an option. Yeah, I can enjoy a 5 star meal at a great restaurant, or chocolate, but day to day food isn't enjoyable, and it can't be. Even if I were rich and could eat at a fancy restaurant every day, the novelty would wear off and it would be back to normal. Your enjoyment of food mostly comes from your sense of hunger. I don't have one. I usually get about three bites out of a given meal that taste good. The rest is work.