“And we inspired Moses, “Throw your staff,” and at once it devoured what they were falsifying. So the truth was established, and abolished what they were doing. And Pharaoh and his people were overcome right there and humbled. And the magicians fell down in prostration to Allah, saying We believe in Allah, the Lord of all the worlds” (Surah 7:118-121)
“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” …(Genesis 3:19)
In our modern world, magic is not taken seriously, apart from as entertainment, but I am going to argue that something fitting the description and the aims of magic is very much present in our world, and it is slipping out of our inexpert fingers, much as happened to the Sorcerer’s apprentice. That thing is technology. Arthur C Clarke is famously reported to have said that, “any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic.” This is usually interpreted in a positive manner, to mean that technology is making possible the impossible in a wondrous and exciting way and divorced from any associations with spirits or unseen powers (other than electricity). But let us consider this equivalence from the point of view of religion by considering the fact that magic has been banned by religions. I want to reflect upon the significance of a famous story involving magic common to Christianity, Judaism and Islam: the story of the encounter between Moses and Pharaoh’s magicians, and to draw upon the observations of Francis Bacon on magic, who wrote at a time when magic was taken seriously yet attitudes were being reshaped in a scientific and rationalistic manner.
It is easy to assume that the religious argument against magic is its association with evil spirits, and that this shadow side of magic is not at all what Arthur C Clarke meant when he said that technology is equivalent to magic (although many famous scientists have been fascinated with the occult). However, this is not the only religious argument against magic. In the Advancement of Learning, Bacon reflected on the rationalistic justifications for magic in his own time, before arguing that magic is unlawful because its entire purpose is contrary to God’s declaration as set forth in the bible that humans must struggle to earn a living.
“For mine own judgement, if it be admitted that imagination hath power, and that Ceremonies fortify imagination, that they be used sincerely and intentionally for that purpose; yet I should hold them unlawful, as opposing to that first edict which God gave unto man, In sudore vultus comedes panem tuum. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…” (Geniesis 3:19). For they propound those noble effects, which God hath set forth unto man to be bought at the price of labour, to be attained by a few easy and slothful observances. (Francis Bacon, The advancement of learning).
Bacon defines magic as the power of the imagination to act upon external bodies, “transmissions and operations from spirit to spirit with out operation of the senses.” He said that some magicians claimed powers close to real miracle-working faith, which calls to mind the contest between Musa and Firawn’s magicians. More reasonable believers in magic with more possible claims according to Bacon, pointed to “the secret passages of things,” such as the spread of contagion from body to body as evidence. They could add today another: the way devices are connected via wifi. Bacon mentions a psychological aspect to magic: the power of the imagination, and says, “the conceits have grown, now almost made civil, of the mastering spirit, and the force of confidence, and the like.” Surely this flowed into the societal attitudes which fed nationalisms, the idea of the zeitgeist and the volkgeist, as well as ideas that we can reshape the world according to our imaginations. It also has implications for psychology. Bacon says, “for if the spirit hath power, then it is material to know how to fortify and exalt it.”
According to Bacon, this type of rationalisation is dangerous because it makes magic seem a palliation that is comforting and acceptable, because it suggests that “ceremonies (to conjure spirits), characters and charms,” work through the power of imagination alone, rather than actual “sacramental contact with evil spirits”. If we disbelieve in the possibility of magic to happen through contact with evil spirits, then its power resides within the human, becomes domesticated, and we stop fearing it. Moreover there is also no longer a clear distinction between religion and magic. Do they not both have ceremonies? Do they not both ascribe power to utterances, although one is called an incantation or charm, and the other a prayer or a ruqya? If it not in direct contact between the supplicant and God or an evil spirit, but the very act of uttering itself, cannot they both be equally useful to humans in fortifying the power of the imagination, mastering the spirit, and increasing the force of confidence? Or could they not be replaced by any ceremony religious or otherwise, or positive affirmations? This leads to an instrumental view of religion that severs a connection with anything outside the human and thus places the human as the goal and centre of any ritual. It is a twisting of the teaching of Jesus that “the Sabbath is made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,” until it matters not even if that Sabbath be a black one, so long as it benefits the participant.
But this is not Bacon’s chief criticism. His main problem with magic is that it contravenes the declaration of God in Genesis that humans must earn their living by struggle and effort alone, but magic promises an easy ride and a free lunch bought by “a few easy and slothful observances,” and so it must be illusion and trickery. This should give us pause for thought. For is not the promise of technological advances always that it should make our lives easier and effortless? But if we look back over our lives in the last few decades, can we honestly say that our lives are easier than before, or simply that they are different? Home learning during Lockdown has thrown into sharp relief the limitations of technology. Yet still we hope that improvements in technology and better and more widespread internet coverage will give us the solution to our problems? Rather, new problems will emerge. In the press this morning is the claim that Bitcoin is a threat to the environment. Are we not very like the sorcerer’s apprentice who, not wishing to wash the floor by hand, enchants a broom before realising that he cannot stop the broom from flooding the workshop? In desperation, he chops the broom in half, but then each piece becomes a whole broom that does the job at twice the pace! The news daily brings us disasters reminiscent of the plagues that afflicted the people of Egypt. My mother said the other day, “It occurs to me that perhaps we are not put here on earth to enjoy ourselves after all…whoever is in power up there does a good job of never really letting us feel sure of ourselves.”
Perhaps we need to stop trying to feel sure of ourselves. Nothing that sustains us in life can be bought for a few easy and slothful observances, and that includes the health of our bodies, the things of this world, the strengths of our inner spirits, and religion itself. We must be careful of pursuing illusions. We must be careful of who or what we worship, to who or what we ascribe power, and upon who or what we rely. One of the names of God in Arabic, is Al-Aziz, which means The hard to reach. He is hard to reach, because except as He has mercy upon us, He is reached through efforts and sincerity, and we are so often insincere and lazy. We cannot cheat our way into the promised land, which was given to the children of Israel because of their patience and endurance (Surah al-Araaf). Practices which appear superficially identical and impressive can be worlds apart – as far apart as the magic of Pharaoh’s magicians and the miracle of Moses. “They threw, and he threw”. The magicians were confident, and hoping in honours from Pharaoh, and Moses was fearful, and doubtful of himself. Yet when he threw his stick, it became a snake that swallowed all their illusions, and they fell prostrate in surrender to God, the Lord of all the worlds.
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