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%SPIRITUAL POWERS GOOD DEVIL MAGICAL HOLY SACRED IT 040424
  %I-THOU SCIENTIFIC SCHOLARLY UNDERSTAND REVERENCE 040424
%CONTROL NONCONFORMISTS RISKS MANAGEMENT DOMINATION 040424
 %ARROGANCE HUMILITY SIMMPLICITY PATIENCE RIGHTEOUS 040424
%DANGEROUS IMPOSSIBLE VISION HOPE DESIRE GOAL RIGHT 040424
  %COMPENSATE GREED LAZINESS INDOLENCE ADDICTS WARS 040424

        Many   people    have  become  the   victims    of
believing   that    both   spiritual-powers-for-good   and
spiritual-powers-for-evil   are  in  some  profound  sense
magical; i.e.,   cannot be  understood in any reliable way
akin  to scientific  and scholarly  understanding.    Such
people  often   do  not   make   any  clear   distinctions
between  that  which is "magical"    and   that  which  is
"holy",   "sacred"   or  worthy  of "reverence".

      If  simple people do not distinguish between  water,
alcohol, kerosene  and gasoline, they will not do well  in
fighting fires!

      If    simple   people    do   not   do    well    in
recognizing    the   differences    between     arrogance,
humility,    simplicity, certainty, arrogance, domination,
patience, and  self-righteousness they will not do well in
fighting "evil" within their own EVIL-RELATIONSHIPS.

      It   is  dangerous  to  be  unable  to  detect   the
differences  between what is "magical",  "holy",  "sacred"
and/or worthy of reverence.

      Magicians  present performances which make  it  look
like   they   have   done  something   which   is   beyond
understanding,   "magical".   What seems to have  happened
seems   to   have   been   utterly   impossible.     Their
presentations  are   sometimes   based  upon  the  use  of
mirrors,     limited perspectives,      special-equipment,
unbelievable-speed,  dexterity,  and special other unusual
skills.

      Some  people  come  to  believe  that   "all-things-
imaginable"   are possible;  and that it is impossible  to
imagine  anything that is really impossible.   Yet  it  is
possible  to  imagine   many  things  which  are   utterly
impossible:

      1.  Pushing  planet  Earth through the  sun  without
destroying planet Earth.

      2.  Pushing   planet Earth into orbit  around  the
most distant star ever photographed.

      3.  Providing planet Earth with a coal supply  which
has a mass equal to  ten times the mass of our sun ---  so
as to not run out of coal in the foreseeable future.

      4.  Taking  ten  percent  of the  water  supply from
planet Earth to  planet   Mars --- to create well  watered
lands  upon  which  the excess population of planet  Earth
could live in comfort after a short trip to Mars.

      5.  Providing   ten   hours  of  lectures  to  every
person  on   planet  Earth and thereby get all  people  on
earth  to live in peace, tranquility and shalom.

      Human  imagination  can  readily   pass  beyond  the
realms  of possibility.   What good does it do to  imagine
accomplishments   which  entail  internal   contradictions
to   and/or   the  radical  departure  from  the universal
patterns  of   behaviors  of  object   as   described   by
unimaginably  reliable  scientific  laws  and  by reliably
confirmed   comprehensive theories of great integrity?

      What  good  is done by imagining that "others"   can
and will compensate for our greed,  laziness,   indolence,
addictions,  domination,  arrogance,   self-righteousness,
violence, wars, etc?
                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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