> Another thought that occured to me: I was talking to somebody once who is fairly anti-religious but apparently believes in magic. I was sort of shocked, and I asked her why this was so. Certainly, I thought, any complaints she had about lack of proof for God would be applicable regarding the existence of magic. Her reply surprised me, but I've heard it again since then. She said she believed in magic because otherwise the world would be too boring.
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> I feel sorry for people who feel this way. Assuming that there is absolutely no supernatural aspect to life at all, the universe is a fascinating place! Are we so intellectually bored that we need to believe in magic to have a bit of wonder in our lives?

I have to suspect that anyone who says something like that says it to be trendy rather than because it's a rell-reasoned belief. I can't speak for out there in sunny California, but over here in overcast New England there's certainly a trend of pretending to believe in things like that because stuff would be too boring otherwise. Heck, I've seen bumper stickers with that printed on them (albeit in more eloquent terms).

Basically, I think that the only way one could seriously say something like "I believe in magic because the world would be too boring without it" is because one is too self-absorbed to understand what the world *is.* It reminds me of that old Shel Silverstein poem about how many slams there are in an old screen door - you can't just sit around and wait for the world to be exciting. The world's out there doing its own thing, and making its own excitement. Go look for it.