How to Ask Great Questions, Part 1
...in Light of Magic, Persuasion and Memes
by Kevin Hogan
In other words, is he asking me if I think "magick works" and if I believe anyone can lift a book off the coffee table with intention or remote view where Osama bin Laden is. (Would someone tell the President...please) The answer to that question matters less because it's about beliefs. Specifically mine.
I verbally answer the question by "walking through a thought process" about what I think he's asking as if it is a metaphor.
For me, magick is in the religion category. It's neither good nor bad. It's about beliefs and rituals. People believe that combined with intention, performing a ritual or incantation will get them a result. Period. As you picture whatever you have in mind, your grandmother using the rosary is doing the same thing.
From the outside, rituals are pretty similar from religion to religion. From the inside there are nuances that people literally kill for.
Religion doesn't want to verify, test, or confirm. It's religion. It's about beliefs and being right.
And persuasion and marketing is not about religion, although persuasion sure has a big role in filling churches, covens, synagogues, mosques and temples...
People put up Christmas trees, drink bread and wine, light candles, walk to Mecca, go to church and pray. All of those things are rituals. For the most part they add "structure" to our life. And there is meaning in those things for the people who have beliefs about them. Of course rituals are belief imbued. They have no value if you don't explain the meaning first.... You don't see a lot of Muslims with Menorahs lit during Hanukkah and you don't see a lot Scientologists on the walk to Mecca. You don't see a lot of Christians reaching OT levels and you ...well you get the idea.
There's no meaning for what another group does, because there is no belief or even thought of a belief...but for the person WITH the belief, the rituals are MEANINGFUL... And I argue that a meaningful life is generally better than one without meaning.
So back to magick.
Is persuasion/marketing the face of magick?
What IS the Connection Between Magick and Persuasion?
That presupposes that magick "works" or is useful in causing behavioral change in other people. So, you'd have to show first that magick (what Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione do) works and then you could answer the question.
The immediate answer is no, BUT, in persuading and in the performance of magick, there is intention. There is a great deal of outcome based thinking involved. And that IS what a lot of magick is about. Thus, we can draw some parallels here and say yes, magick could be a face of persuasion or marketing...
I think it was in part the word "face" that threw me. Face...personification....a book cover of something...
All of this led to "silent persuasion" or persuasion where there is no communication. And, in fact, most persuasion is silent. There are no words.
What are some of the silent elements of persuasion?
Continue: Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |6 |7 |
Kevin Hogan
Network 3000 Publishing
3432 Denmark #108
Eagan, MN 55123
(612) 616-0732
Biography • Body
Language
Catalog/Store • Tinnitus
Influence/Persuasion o
Need
a Speaker?
• Appearances
