0x01 - Magic and abstraction
A follow up to The tools we use.
I came to understand, what I called magic is abstraction. Tools create a layer
of abstraction. Art in itself is a layer of abstraction.
So my desire to avoid abstraction - magic - is really a desire to avoid magic
beyond the magic I am able to perform myself. I use the spells and potions I
learned or created myself, but not the ones from the market, where snake-oil and
poison is sold right next to elixirs of joy and potions of love.
As a deer friend pointed out to me, I am trans. And being
trans involves regaining agency over your self. It involves deconstructing the
layers of social abstraction that exist on gender, at least if you don't buy
into the homonational rainbow flag bullsit.
We live in a world that treades magic as a commodity. We grow up using the
potions from the market. Yet, some people (not just faggots but in general, people
breaking out of "identity") are forced to learn their own magic. To get by
without the commodified layers of abstraction wrapped around their self.
An observation of mine is, those who learned to create their own magic tend to
be avoidant of the spells from the vending machine. It's people who create their
own website instead of having a facebook page for their art, who repair their
clothes (and don't brag about it) rather than trating them as disposable, who
live with their spelling mistakes rather than using "AI" to streamline their
texts, who
feel the dirt beneath their feet and the rain dropping into their face.
Using language from scripture, I say it is people who recognize and see the
beauty of creation. Who do not bow to the golden calf.
So maybe that is an answer. It is not about the tools themslef but about where they come from, what they mean, how we relate to them.