Hi there: my name is Jon, I have a background in philosophy and English literature, and I was hoping for some reading suggestions.
I’m interested in exploring a theory of magic which does not appeal to a reductive/objective way of approaching truth, but which also does not require faith in phenomena normally inaccessible to our five senses, involve ritual or a religious superstructure, or make use of vague or metaphysically loaded language. I’m looking for something that, if it exists, is firmly grounded in the immediate, physical, everyday world but which, like consciousness, meaning, reality, emotions and psychological states, defies, or simply disappears beneath the gaze of, any mode of inquiry which detaches us from our experience and reduces a thing to its component parts at the expense of the whole, such as science or analytical philosophy.
J. R. R. Tolkien’s "The Lord of The Rings" and, most especially, his essay “On Fairy Stories” (though fiction or about fiction) are the two works which have most fueled my interest in magic.
Any suggestions or direction would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Jon
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