Born with magic or no way... why so many stories tell that to us?

[WhiteMonkey]

Hey

Inwas just wondering why in so many stories and movies they always say that u must be born wit magic or you will never have it. Apearantly u also cannot learn it in such stories.

What so you guys think where does such ideas come from? Is it just to keep normal people from trying or do they have a root in history?

All the best

[ButterflyWoman]

It's just a writer's cliche, something they use if they don't want to explain why everyone isn't magical or have special abilities. In some super hero universes, you have to be born a "mutant" to have special powers. In others, you can become a super hero (or a super villain) by some random act or accident (being bitten by a radioactive spider, just to name one very famous one).

Essentially, it's just a way of telling a story.

[Myst7799]

Hello WhiteMonkey,

Magic at various points in history was considered (and still is in various religious organizations) evil, being 'touched' by the devil. Writers dependent upon the era wrote about magic both to sell books, to enlighten the populous under the guise of fiction, and to frighten the general populous away from the topic. It was considered 'taboo' and dependent on the area, dangerous to publicly admit up until around 100 years ago to be mystical, read tarot or Palm, and even was frowned upon to openly discuss magic, or your enjoyment of researching the topic 40 years ago stateside. You were considered a freak.

For example, the classic hairline widows peak caused me a great deal of grief as a child growing up, because I was enrolled in a religious grade school. Having a widows peak is the mark of a witch, per many storytellers. I was harassed and beat up a lot (until my dad taught me how to fight) because of religious ideologies that horribly dominated Europe during the Middle Ages, and into the 1700s stateside.

I've always been able to see and hear spiritual imprints, and sense energies, and learned quickly to never ever acknowledge what I see, or bring it up until the person was vetted. I agree with one common theme authors of such stories state, it's torturous to have an ability that you cannot acknowledge or discuss openly. However anyone that has a unique ability can teach someone that has an open mind. Similarly to what Robert Bruce details in his books, now there's some awesome metaphysical magic going on there. :thumbsup:

I apoligize for my rant WhiteMonkey, it is an excellent question, but the question also poked an old wound. Magic does not need to be fantastic, it can be as simple as seeing the most beautiful green from a healthy plant, the shining light from a happy pet when you come home, or the soothing warm energy from a fossilized stone. I believe magic is science, and human capiabilities that we do not understand yet.

I sense you are younger, and it makes me very happy that you have a place to ask this question safely with an open audience also looking to engage in open frank discussions. :mrgreen:

[buzzcock]

Some people just don't have enough midichlorians.

[ButterflyWoman]

Some people just don't have enough midichlorians.
Yes. This. ;)

A bit more thought on this and I have a little more to say.

Storytelling is absolutely part and parcel of humanity. You tell yourself stories in your mind about how things are or how things were, stories about who you are and what happened to you, everything is stories. EVERYTHING. It's possible to argue that "No, that thing really happened!" and, certainly, you experienced some stuff, but the story about what it was and a lot of other stuff about the experience is all storytelling. Some people tell stories that are considered more accurate, some tell stories that others think are pretty far-fetched, but we all tell stories, to ourselves, and to others.

Stories are how culture is passed on, how news is disseminated. You have a "news story", yes? It's a story about "what happened". We hope this is fact-based, but it's not always, even if they call it news, but that's another discussion. ;) Some stories are for instruction, some are for entertainment, some are metaphorical (I would argue that most stories are metaphorical, but, again, that's a different discussion). The position of storyteller exists in all cultures and always had and undoubtedly always will.

So. Why would a storyteller of any sort tell stories about magical beings who are only that because they were born that way? Probably because their audience isn't magical, or the storyteller intends to discourage them from trying to be magical (because of cultural expectations, religious indoctrination, etc.). Stories where someone is born ordinary and becomes magical (powerful, has special abilities, etc.) are found in cultures where there is an underlying belief that people can "become great" and "rise above" even the most humble of origins.

Fact is, you can tell a LOT about a culture by its folklore and traditional stories and mythology, because once you understand the purpose of storytelling, you can start to see patterns and understand what was going on with the people and those in authority. There are whole fields of academic study devoted to folklore and mythology, specifically for this purpose.

So the answer to why so many stories have the premise that you have to be born special is that so many cultures believe and want to enforce the belief that you probably can't really rise above your station, although if you're somehow magically special (like a "chosen one" or some sort of promised king or the child of a deity or something) you might be able to do this (which accounts for the people who really do manage to break free of social restrictions and limitations).

I could probably do a whole thesis on this topic. Hmmmm..... ;)