S .S .O .T .B .M .E . REVISED AN ESSAY ON MAGIC
EDITED AND REVISED BY RAMSEY DUKES SSOTBME REVISED
Edited and revised by Ramsey Dukes
Originally published by the Mouse That Spins, England, 1974 Second English edition 1975 First US edition, Grey Turner/Weiser, 197 First Polish edition, 198 First German edition, 198 Second Polish edition, 199
This new revised edition published by El-cheapo for The Mouse That Spins
First e-book edition 2000 ISBN: 1-903548-00-4
© The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without prior permission of publishers. One printed copy allowed for individual use (not for re-sale)
All persons, situations in this book are fictitious, Any resemblance is purely coincidental, etc, etc.
Cover Illustration: The Blasé Bacchante by Austin Osman Spare
E-books available at web-orama.com [email protected] / [email protected] S.S.O.T.B.M.E. REVISED AN ESSAY ON MAGIC Mr Dukes, why is it that in this and other writings you insist on personi- fying complex processes as ‘demons’ or spirits’. Isn’t this just a throw-back to hat depends whether you superstitions of the past? Tbelieve the superior brain of homo sapiens was developed to handle tools, or social relationships. If you believe that the most complex processes we have to deal with are our fellow humans, then greater brainpower is available for life’s problems when you anthropomor- phise them.
But we know that the weather, or my car, is only a mechanical phenomenon. It is a ne of the first things you learn false initial assumption to address it as a in interpersonal relationships god. O is how often people behave mechanically. Mechanistic explanations are not distinct from personal ones, they are merely a subset. If, for example, my car fails to start at times when I’m rushed, the irrational question “how does it know I am in a hurry” may lead to a solution faster than the rational statement “it cannot possibly know”. The fault will probably turn out to be mechanical, just as human misbehaviour often resolves into “you pressed my buttons”. Irrational thinking can often be the faster route to a rational solution.
You really think science is no more than a hat is not what I argue in this book. dumbing down of magic? TI only want to challenge the common idea that magic is a dumbing down of science.
Science ny media cynic will tell you cannot be dumber than magic, because it that dumbing down is the key has been so much more materially A successful! to material success! No, the point is that, in terms of the faculties used, magical thinking is broader, but maybe not as deep. You do not like the fact that a society of rational beings rewards dumbness. Instead of fretting, just call it ‘Satan’s Jewel Crown’. No matter whether you fight it like a preacher, or make a pact with it like a press baron - in either case you are personifying it, relat- ing to it, and that can be magic. S.S.O.T.B.M.E.
REVISED an essay on magic