Real Magic

[talon]

Not all acts of magic are done with oogity boogity stuff. In Numenism, we study and work with patterns, and the acts of magic don’t have to be surrounded by ritual or hedged with safeguards. Some of the most powerful acts of magic have been done by people who didn’t know they were working magic at all. Let’s take a look at some of the more publicly accessible acts of magic. By studying them, you will better see how Numenist patternworking is done.

Numenist magic is accessible to anyone and it works. A lot of people work with this sort of magic unaware of what they are doing. Perhaps they are working this magic for selfish reasons, or from a sense of duty or obligation. They are doing what they perceive must be done, and they go about it in the only methods they have available to them.

In Numenism, we study these patterns, and learn the more efficient ways of fulfilling the patterns. Sometimes, a little too much knowledge paralizes us for a while - too many choces, and all with slightly different outcomes; which is the best to use? It could be a blessing to enter these situations blind.

On the other hand, going into some of these situations fully aware of all the consequences, armed with knowledge and details to insure the desired outcome, makes the actions one takes easier to bear, particularly when they are accompanied by painful side effects. [info]laughterdance dealt with such a situation not too long ago, and endured a lot of stress. In the end, though, she knew she did the right thing, and what she did will make things easier for those who follow her.

A more public act of magic is the McDonald’s Coffee Lawsuit.

First, accessible information on the case:

The Stella Liebeck vs McDonald's lawsuit:
http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.html and
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

Now, the pertinent details:

Mrs. Liebeck received less than half a million dollars [1] after
spending 7-8 days in the hospital and requiring several skin grafts
for the *third* degree burns she received to her thighs, buttocks, and
genitalia. She only sued after McDonald's refused to pay her medical
costs. Until she sued, she didn't even know she was the latest in
over 700 such complaints against McDonald's. McDonald's at that time kept
their coffee more than 20º hotter than other restaurants, at 185-190º,
a temperature which can cause third degrees burns in 2 - 7 *seconds*.
The average temperature for serving coffee is 135º.

Liebeck's lawsuit was far from frivolous. Since the lawsuit,
McDonald's keeps their coffee at 158º, so the lawsuit had some real
value for other customers. Had she not been brave enough to stand up
for herself - and all the other people harmed in this way by
McDonald's - McDonald's would have continued serving dangerously hot
coffee.

If any one of the prior 700 people who had been injured by McDonald's
excessively hot coffee had acted as Mrs. Liebeck did, far fewer people
would have been harmed. Of course, had McDonald's truly wanted to
serve their customers (and still make a profit), they would have
adjusted the temperature of the coffee years earlier, when the first
complaints of excessively hot coffee first surfaced. Because each one
of those prior 700 people reneged on their responsibilities as
conscientious consumers, they allowed other people to be harmed, thus
engaging in both enablement[2] and negative magic.

In summary:

Mrs. Liebeck took her responsibilities seriously, and in an act of
supreme magic [3], altered the patterns to make drinking McDonald's
coffee a safer act for all the people who bought coffee after her.

I’m sure you can, based on this one incident, find the pattern and see it in other recent events.

[1] Let's put this compensation into some perspective - at that time,
McDonald's was earning over 1.7 million dollars profit a day serving
coffee. What Mrs. Liebeck received for a lengthy hospital stay,
several skin grafts to correct the damage from the burns, permanent
scarring, a permanent loss of her ability to have sex, and permanent
difficulty in walking was less than *8 hours* of profit from
McDonald's coffee sales. Plus, she successfully altered the patterns
of reality by forcing McDonald's to change the temperature of the
coffee they serve.

[2] By not challenging McDonald's on their dangerous business
practice, these 700 people allowed McDonald's to believe they could
get away with causing harm.

[3] Not all magic is worked in special circles - some of the most
potent magic is performed in our courts, in our schools, in many other
public places. And you don't have to be a trained magician to
effectively work magic, either.