"The fatal flaw of magic lies not in its general assumption of a sequence of events determined by law, but in its total misconception of the nature of the particular laws which govern that sequence.....
The principles of association are excellent in themselves, and indeed absolutely essential to the working of the human mind. Legitimately applied they yeild science; illegitimately applied they yield magic, the bastard sister of science. It is therefore a truism, almost a tautology, to say that all magic is necessarily false and barren; for were it ever to become true and fruitful, it would no longer be magic but science."
This whole section of "The Golden Baugh" made me shake my head and laugh a bit. As I mentioned before, my husband loves mythology, science fiction shows, all of this kind of stuff and he always expressed frustration that I just couldn't bother trying to embrace it. It all seemed senseless to me and he was always trying to convince me that it all symbolizes something and that I should not be so judgemental. Now that I have had this wonderful opportunity to study it all and see it all in a different light I have a much deeper appreciation for not only his point but I have to appreciate again how much of what I have lived and studied in my Catholic faith is really no different than many or most of these stories. The fact that I never questioned any of that but seemed to be unwilling to even look at mythology and many of these stories as having any validity is starting to seem absurd to me. Wow. Didn't see that coming!!!
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