Getting rid of the magical thinking of those affected (suffering) from abuse. Alexander neveev - magical thinking

Once upon a time, when I was still a teenager, late at night I watched one of the parts of the horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. And now the disabled young man, who fell asleep and was attacked by Freddy Krueger in a dream, got out of his wheelchair, turned into a powerful magician and struck the terrible maniac with wonderful lightning.

V real life we also often want to fantasize that in a difficult situation we suddenly stand up to our full height, straighten our shoulders, proclaim powerful spells in a loud voice, clap our hands, hit the ground with a heavy staff, wave a magic wand, and as a result we emerge victorious, trample enemies and put the offenders to shame.

But can such fantasies come true? And if they can, then what is the secret: in the disclosure of their own hidden resources? In a wonderful transformation? Expanding consciousness? In awakening kundalini? In opening the chakras? In the acquisition of magical powers (whatever they are called)? Or the whole secret is in a realistic look at a difficult situation and a qualitative analysis of our capabilities and limitations, our strengths and weaknesses, moreover, such an analysis, which is accompanied by effective actions performed in the real world, and not in the imagination, astral plane or thoughts?

In that episode of "Nightmare," the killer maniac brushed aside magic lightning, took the newly-minted magician by the throat, said "I'm sorry, son, I don't believe in magic," laughed and killed the invalid. How about in real life? What happens to people who think they are magicians?

In fact, life is often much less dramatic than cinema, and modern "magicians" can live their lives without realizing that all their lives they have deceived themselves and played with spillikins. On the other hand, there are many cases when magical thinking led to the destruction of a family and a career or did not allow a person to find a job or start a family at all, made a person a slave to a sect, drove him into madness, and even led to suicide.

Therefore, let's examine magical thinking in as much detail as possible.

In fact, magical thinking in all its many forms and aspects boils down to one simple delusion:

to desire is to get what you want.

Hence all the other inherently magical attitudes:

we attract what we think;
what we fear happens to us;
the universe is meant to fulfill our desires;
thoughts are material;
if you want something badly, you will have it;
the secret is not in what we do, but in the state of mind in which we do it;
thoughts like a millionaire and become a millionaire;
etc. etc.

And if such a cognitive distortion as naive realism is reduced to the formula “what I see is what it is”, then magical thinking is reduced to the formula “what I want is what I get” or “what I think about will happen”. Moreover, there is also the opposite form: “what I don’t want will happen”, “what I am afraid will happen”.

Within the framework of magical thinking, we constantly see the impact of our desires on reality, but in reality we are just wishful thinking. Thinking magically, we deceive ourselves, create an illusory world for ourselves. And just as a magician is not a magician, magical thinking does not allow us to know the truth, but only creates various illusions for us.

But for all the problems and mistakes that magical thinking generates, its attractive power is obvious:

not someone controls my destiny, my life, but myself!
I may be the source of my own problems, but still I a source!
it is I who influence what happens to Me!

Yes, the temptation of magical thinking is even stronger than the temptation of the serpent in Genesis: the serpent said "you will be like gods", and magical thinking whispers "you are already God!"

Well, or not God, but a magician. Or not a magician yet, but soon you will. Just change something within yourself, start thinking positively, engage in visualizations and meditations, go through a wonderful transformation, receive initiation and immediately acquire magical abilities, gain control over your own destiny and control your own life.

And even if in the case of magical thinking we are talking about the fact that we are not aware of our thoughts and desires, about the influence of the subconscious, repressed memories, suppressed desires and unconscious motives, the flattering lullaby of magical thinking will still very effectively lull our minds, inflating our Ego and sucking up to our I.

Of course, all these ideas, which, on the one hand, satisfy our need for control, for predictability, on the other hand, are based on a cognitive distortion called the illusion of control.

Moreover, we are not only subject to magical thinking by ourselves, we are also specially taught magical thinking. Thousands of gurus, psychics, healers and others inspire us in every way that our thoughts are material, that exactly what we think happens to us, that the brighter we visualize our desire, the faster we will get what we want, that everyone there, positive affirmations ("I'm rich! I'm successful! I'm popular with women!") can actually lead us to success.

Essentially, magical thinking is a belief in magic. And in the modern world, unfortunately, magic, alchemy, shamanism are mimicking, they have learned to pretend to be science, author's methods, scientifically based technologies and even medicine and psychology. So if you believe in various modern forms magic such as homeopathy, ethnoscience, raw food diet, qigong, extrasensory perception, socionics, NLP, bioenergetics, reality transurfing, psychotherapy, etc., then you are subject to magical thinking.

By the way, magical thinking is special case so called dramatic thinking... Within the framework of dramatic thinking, we evaluate what is happening to us in a plot, simplified, emotional way. In this case, some relationships are simply not taken into account, others are extremely simplified, some factors influencing the situation are exaggerated, bulging, while others (as a rule, most of these factors) are ignored.

A dramatic-minded person is like a fisherman who, telling tales about how he caught a big fish, saturates his story with unexpected plot twists, describing details that were not there, and keeping silent about the completely ordinary moments that actually took place.

Indeed, it is boring to explain, for example, your illness by an unhealthy lifestyle. This is not a gripping plot. Within the framework of such a description, one cannot go beyond the framework of everyday reality. Well, a person smoked for many years in a row, well, he ate fatty fried food, well, he led a sedentary lifestyle, well, he drank at every opportunity, what's unusual?

It is much more fascinating to believe that a sudden deterioration in health is due to the fact that someone has corrupted, jinxed, that higher powers are giving a sign of the need to move on along the path of spiritual growth. And if you are lucky and the disease receded, then of course, explaining this by spontaneous remission or regression to the mean is also somehow boring, and people do not know about such phenomena.

And then a very interesting plot arises for low-grade fiction:

“Once I got sick, I realized that I was spoiled and decided to master the methods of energy protection, and now I am full of strength, health and receive money teaching other people how to defend against the dark arts”.

“I got sick once. I realized that this is a sign that it is impossible to continue living like this. I turned to occult writings, read a lot, and as a result became a vegetarian and converted to Buddhism. And now I am happy and spiritually growing every day. "

And it's still good if the plots are so rosy, the illness passes, and the passion for esotericism does not lead to the destruction of the family, career and health, to falling into a sect, to suicide. But this also often happens to those who are used to lathering magically.

But to what extent can the correct conclusions be drawn with the help of magical thinking? Is everything that is whispered to us by all kinds of gurus, teachers of the power of thought, mentors for a wonderful transformation?

Obviously, a person subject to magical thinking is like Don Quixote, who fights harmless mills, thinking that they are dragons. But under the influence of magical thinking, we not only direct our efforts into emptiness, we also do not direct them where it would be worth directing them. We not only do not see the real causes of our problems, but we also believe that the cause of our problems is that such a cause is not, and that which does not exist at all.

I will say more, in this world there are practically no problems that can be solved with a click, a simple wave of a magic wand or taking a magic pill. Most of the problems we face are systemic, multifactorial and multidimensional. Moreover, many of them, in principle, cannot be solved. But we don’t want to consider all these factors, analyze all these aspects, we don’t want to come to terms with the inevitable and accept reality, no, we want to simplify, smooth everything, and, most importantly, we want to avoid punishment and other natural consequences of our own behavior.

If, for example, all our lives we have not listened to the warnings of the Ministry of Health about the dangers of smoking and have earned some kind of chronic pulmonary disease as a result, then it will be much easier for us to believe in some miraculous method of Dr. Konovalov than to admit that we ourselves are out of our own stupidity and weakness has caused irreparable harm to our own health.

It is even harder, of course, to accept the fact that whole line health problems are inevitable consequences of the natural aging of the body. And here again various modern magicians come to the rescue: rejuvenation gurus, traditional healers, psychics, psychosomatics specialists, yogis, shamans.

Of course, the desire to look for a way out in any situation, not to give up, to look for a solution is commendable, but magical thinking will not help you find a way out, thinking magically, you will draw the wrong conclusions and make a wrong decision. Magical thinking will lead you off the right path and lead you to a dead end or lure you into a never-to-go swamp. Magical thinking will throw all your strength into the fight against windmills and distract your attention from real dragons.

So do not waste your life believing in magic, do not waste your time on magical thinking, look at the world realistically, boldly face the circumstances and try to solve your problems without looking for easy ways and clever tricks, without trying to deceive reality and, most the main thing is not to mislead oneself.

There is a need to talk about magical thinking as an "applied application" and worldview. I get the feeling that our society is rapidly reviving this style of thinking, and in the most diverse forms and variations - from religious to political.

So, let's define: magical thinking- This is a set of beliefs in the possibility of a certain way of thinking to influence the real world. There are three basic beliefs inherent in people with magical thinking.

Belief in universal conditioning and interconnectedness. In general, in the most global sense this is so, but in our situation it takes the following form: there are no accidents. Therefore, if something unexpected happens, it is the result of someone's plan. The most universal magical mechanism here is the concept of karma, which allows, in principle, to eliminate all randomness from the world. Because if we admit into consciousness the thought that anything can happen to me or to the world, and at the same time without any my or someone else's plan, then this, on the one hand, exposes my insignificance in the face of the Universe, and on the other - deprives the feeling of at least illusory, but security. For example, a man walks along the road, steps on an ant - and he dies. Is there someone's higher intention here, or is this circumstance the result of a combination of many circumstances, and if a person hesitated for a second, then another ant would die? It would be better for the peace of the surviving ants if the death of their companion was not recognized as accidental. And that with the help of special actions and analysis of the situation, the repetition of the situation can be avoided.

People who die in plane crashes, under collapsed houses, under the wheels of cars - do they die as a result of some higher plan, the law of karma, or simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time? People who survived in all these troubles - were they saved by a Higher Power, or the same ridiculous accident that destroyed the rest? It will be calmer, much calmer to accept the first option, no matter how it sounds - God, karma, Fate, and so on. It is impossible to influence the accident. And the idea of a general law allows you to "calculate" it. For example, to believe that since something has saved you now, then it will continue to save you. This is the difference between magical thinking and realistic thinking - an increase in the feeling of security is organized through the selection of the correct interpretation, and not through specific practical actions (in the case of ants, to change the route along which they run).

Another aspect of the first basic attitude is the belief in the "made-up of the world", which is characteristic of childhood. I remember how my youngest daughter answered the question if she knows where hemp comes from. "Well, first people made a tree, and then a log, and then they cut it down and the stump turned out." People made the world - this is installation in childhood... In adulthood, this attitude is transformed into the idea of universal causality - everything in the world exists for something and also happens with a certain goal. This can be seen in such a verbal construction: "tests are given to us for personal growth" (there are two aspects at once: the belief that something specifically gives tests, and that these tests have a specific purpose and meaning).

The second basic setup is belief in the objectivity of one's own subjective experience(if I feel it - then it is true, it cannot be an illusion, self-deception, hallucination). This is unconditional trust in your own perception. If I saw aliens abducting me, I would rather accept the thought of the existence of aliens than the thought that I have lost my mind. But just our perception is an extremely subjective and unreliable thing. Girls with anorexia nervosa represent the most illustrative example: Despite the fact that they look like skeletons, they see themselves in a completely different way. The perceptual curve reflects fat, not bone. And this distorting mirror (albeit of varying degrees of curvature) is in all of us. Without exception. Remember the character from “Three Men in a Boat, Not Counting a Dog” by JK Jerome, who, while reading a medical reference book, found symptoms of almost all diseases.

Another facet of faith in one's own objectivity is "common sense" - the totality of everyday experience, and because of this, it can be both very accurately reflecting reality (in the area in which a person really has a lot of experience), and very far from truth (there, where there is no direct experience). Common sense is by definition limited, conditioned by human life. It's a good thing if you keep in mind the limits of its use.

Finally, the third setting is belief in the ability of thoughts to directly affect the outside world... If we add the classic magical principle of “sympathy” - “like attracts like”, plus the first basic principle that there are no accidents, and reinforce everything with faith in our own objectivity, then you can get the idea that good thoughts attract good things and events, and bad thoughts are all bad. And at the same time, confirm it on my own experience ... I remember about the belief among Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War - not to write your name and surname on special pieces of paper that served in the Red Army instead of identification tokens. If you write, you will impose death ... And the one who survived could refer to the justice of this superstition. Forgetting about the millions of those who were not helped by this magical ritual.

Do not think about death - and death will disappear. It's like a child believes: if you hide under a blanket, you will become invisible to your parents, or to any horror stories ... There is in this third setting a hidden, but implied idea of the grandeur of a person, even taken separately (after all, with my thoughts I can influence what is happening in the Universe!) ... An idea understandable in a small primitive world, from where mythological consciousness with magical thinking originates. A person, with the power of thought and ritual, can make clouds rain down, trees - bear fruit, enemies - get sick with a terrible disease ...

In addition to the three basic attitudes, one can also name a number of features of magical thinking derived from them. modern man.

Belief in the special significance of symbols and events. If there is nothing accidental in the world, and there is some force that measures what should happen to us, then it can send us signs / signs. A coincidence is not a coincidence, but a sign. A cigar is always something other than a simple cigar. Sleep - necessarily carries some hidden meaning. This belief is not uncommon among psychologists, especially among students. Once a student asked me: “Yesterday I walked on the ice and fell, while other people not only did not fall, but never even slipped. This is not accidental, am I punishing myself for something? What would that mean? "

Strong dependence of thinking on a beautiful myth ... Here we again return to myth as the source of the magic. This feature of magical thinking was illustrated by the biologist D. Miller.

“Imagine a group of young hominids gathered around an ancient campfire, enjoying their newly acquired ability to speak. Two males entered into an argument about the structure of the world ...
A hominid named Karl suggests: “We are mortal, imperfect primates who survive in this dangerous and unpredictable savannah only because they are held in tight groups, suffering from internal squabbles, jealousy and envy. All the places we have been - just a small corner of a huge continent on an unimaginably huge ball revolving in the void. This ball has flown billions and billions of times around a blazing ball of gas that will eventually explode to incinerate our fossil skulls. I found some convincing evidence in the crawl of these hypotheses ... ".
A hominid named Candide interrupts: “No, I believe that we are the immortal spirits to whom these beautiful bodies were given, because the great god Vug chose us as his beloved creatures. Wug blessed us with this fertile paradise, where life is difficult just enough to make us not bored ... Above the azure dome of the sky, the smiling sun warms our hearts. When we grow old and enjoy the babble of our grandchildren, Wug will lift us out of our bodies so that we can eat fried gazelles and dance with our friends forever. I know all this because Woog revealed this secret wisdom in a dream last night. "(D. Miller, trans. A. Markov).

I'm sure the second story will be perceived as more attractive. When the battles of Darwin's supporters with the church began, one of the main "arguments" against the idea that a man and a monkey have a common ancestor was precisely the moral and aesthetic one - "do you really like to consider yourself descended from a monkey ?!" It's not a very pretty story, right. The idea that you are from a certain higher power, or that unknown reserves of the body are hidden in you, it is much more attractive. And emotions, as we already know, have a serious impact on the course of our thoughts.

There are many beautiful and mesmerizing stories that at the same time greatly flatter our pride. K. Castaneda with his Don Juan, stories about the "wisdom of the Toltecs", druids, the film "The Secret", V. Zeland's transurfing and much, much more. But I am interested in the following: how many of those who read Castaneda with enthusiasm and believed him seriously asked themselves the question of whether this author wrote the truth at all, does Don Juan and his teachings really exist, or is it a talented one? literary work? And no more? When I heard about the "wisdom of the Toltecs", I was interested in what the narrator knows about these same Toltecs / Toltecs, what are the primary sources of this information, what Toltec texts did he read? I ask the same about the connoisseurs of "Vedic secrets" - "where did the drovishka" come from, if nothing of the kind is contained in the four known Vedas? Does the reader of the book about the knowledge of the Druids know that NOT a SINGLE text written by the Druids, either in general, or about their teachings, in particular, has reached us?

But these are all particulars, the main thing is a beautiful story told, which is very important, confidently and assertively, without doubts about their own righteousness. Such a storyteller looks much more profitable than a scientist who constantly makes certain reservations and does not give 100% guarantees. The beautiful story is complemented by two further features of magical thinking.

Belief in the presence of "secret knowledge"... Don Juan possessed secret knowledge, like the Toltecs. Secret knowledge is encrypted in Kabbalah. G. Gurdjieff wrote his texts extremely incomprehensibly in order to protect his secret knowledge from the profane. Sages in the Himalayas sit in caves and possess secret knowledge. Shao-lin monks possess secret knowledge. Egyptian priests are generally champions in secret knowledge and methods of encryption. Psychologists and psychotherapists are people with secret knowledge :)). The Templars, the Freemasons, the secret world government ... All have secret secret knowledge. It is noteworthy that for some reason the one who talks about them is well aware of the content of this secret knowledge. The authors of the sensational, magical content of the film "The Secret" already hinted at secret knowledge with their name, and at the very beginning they directly stated that they owned it and would now open it to the audience.

Eclecticism... The magical thinking of modern man (as opposed to man of past eras) is very eclectic. Karma gets along with torsion fields, shamanic practices - with Christian fasting, modern pharmacology - with homeopathy, modern psychotherapeutic practices - with religious philosophy. I have already seen ads in the style of "psychotherapist, tarologist, runologist" (that is, he uses Tarot cards and runes in his practice, and he really dilutes them with the usual psychotherapeutic work). There is no holistic worldview, there is a mass of beliefs, techniques and techniques pulled from different systems on the principle "I like it" or "it works like that."

Belief in the presence of a miraculous savior-magician... They can be anyone - from a psychologist to housing and communal services employees, who suddenly take over and begin to fulfill their duties in good faith (as if by magic, without our efforts). Psychotherapist D. Bujenthal wrote about this fascination, the desire to believe in a magician in psychotherapy: “A few years ago, a young man across the continent wrote to me about the impact my book had on him and his hopes for change and growth. We exchanged several letters, and then he sent me a letter, where he said that he was going to Los Angeles and wants to meet with me. We agreed on the time of his visit to my office ... Entering me, the young man from the doorway said that he intended to quit his job and move to undergo therapy with me. But after fifteen minutes he burst into tears. He cried because he was disappointed in me. I mean that he was disappointed in me as a person ... ". Fascination with something and someone inevitably leads to disappointment.

But the greatest power is still possessed by "miraculous saviors" - sorcerers, magicians, fortune-tellers. If a person does not see ways to solve his problems, then he, by virtue of the second great faith of magical thinking, believes that they do not exist. And since they are not there, then one should turn to those people who turn for help to forces that are outside the limits of our everyday knowledge.

The main idea of magical thinking: this world is manageable and predictable, I am a significant part of this world and is able to control a part of reality through thought and some rituals (magic). If my strength is not enough, then you can turn to people who have more strength than me, so that they solve this problem for me and for me. A wild, chaotic and never completely predictable world hides behind the walls of these installations. A world in which there is no omnipotence, omnipotent figures, a world of limitations and self-restraints.

I have often met people with this mindset while working. In their thoughts, they often endow the psychologist with some powerful forces and wait for him to say magic words, after which everything will become clear and understandable, and all experiences will go away. "But you are a psychologist and I pay you money!" - says the client, if he begins to understand that there will be no miracle, and that in front of him is a living person, not a shaman. And I want a miracle. After all, the essence of a miracle in the context of self-help is when something very good happens for you, but without your efforts. Well, as a last resort - with the help of the power of thought and some kind of ritual or mantra.

We confuse magical thinking with positive thinking. We are pleased to think that by the power of thought we are able to change the world around us. In fact, we change our attitude towards others and they reciprocate.
Magical thinking is characteristic of children. They cannot yet distinguish reality from fantasy.
The illusion of control over the world, which is generated by magical thinking, makes it difficult to realistically assess the situation.

“You don’t get what you want, simply because you haven’t learned to think positively,” a friend explains to me, who has been attending positive thinking trainings for the third year. - To get rid of loneliness, you need to mentally "ask" someone to give you love. And if there is a conflict with another person, imagine how you put your offender in a bubble or in a cocoon - and he will stop causing you negative feelings. "

Believing that she was applying the lessons of positive psychology, in fact, my friend plunged into the world of magical thinking.

"Often positive thinking we confuse it with the magic, - comments the gestalt therapist Nifont Dolgopolov, - however, there is a huge difference between them. Magical thinking is an irrational belief that with the power of our thoughts we can change reality, affect other people, objects or events.

In the logic of magical thinking, it is enough to imagine, to imagine what we are striving for, and everything will work out by itself, without any effort on our part. While there is one significant addition to positive thinking: our thoughts and our positive attitude change not the world but our actions. And only through them they already have an impact on the surrounding world. "

Tuning in that we can find a common language with the interlocutor, we begin to behave kindly, attentively, friendly - and the conversation turns out. There is no magic here. Negative thoughts also do not have a direct impact on the world - but they make us more vulnerable, we lose faith in ourselves.

The belief that our thoughts can harm other people is the result of magical thinking

“The super popular trainings or courses in positive thinking actually teach the principles of magical thinking,” agrees Jungian analyst Lev Khegai. - The interest in him is understandable: it is much easier to "catch a wave of luck", "think with excellent prospects for the development of the Earth", "send waves of love and acceptance into the world" in the hope of waiting for reciprocity, rather than learn to build relationships with other people, understand their feelings, express your emotions, coping with losses. "

The illusion of omnipotence

Magical thinking - natural way thinking of young children who are not yet able to distinguish fantasy from reality. It seems to them that "wanting" and "doing" are one and the same.

“For a baby, the world and his own self are one,” explains psychoanalyst Nancy McWilliams in her book Psychoanalytic Diagnostics. Understanding the structure of personality in the clinical process ”. - This means that he perceives the source of all events as internal: if he is cold and the mother, noticing this, warms him, the child has the experience of magically obtaining heat by himself. The child is not yet able to realize that control is outside himself - in other (separate from him) people. "

However, growing up, the child comes to terms with the fact that neither he nor any other person has unlimited possibilities. The trace of magical thinking remains in adulthood. Thanks to this feeling of omnipotence experienced in early childhood, we feel a sense of our own competence, we feel our effectiveness.

Often, magical thinking "awakens" in us in those moments when we feel guilty about what happened to someone we know. For example, when a person who we did not love passes away. We feel guilty, as if our thoughts could have provoked his death. The belief that our thoughts can harm other people is also the result of magical thinking. But we are not gods to create the world only by the power of our desire.

Protection from fear

The belief that the power of thought can influence natural phenomena, people or events was characteristic of all primitive people. For a long time, anthropologists believed that the buffalo and horses depicted in the caves of Lascaux and Altamira (France) reproduce scenes of real hunting.

Today they are confident that the drawings of animals are evidence of the magical thinking of ancient people (the so-called hunting magic). With their help, the ancestors tried to appease fate, so that it would turn out to be supportive and provide them with abundant prey on the hunt. The first such an assumption was made by the French archaeologist Salomon Reinak at the beginning of the twentieth century.

“Magical thinking protected ancient people from fears of an incomprehensible and dangerous world,” explains Nifont Dolgopolov. “They believed that they could control him, influence the course of events. Dreams and fantasies help our contemporaries to "hide" from their existential fears, from the fear of death, loss of loved ones, and in this sense, magical thinking protects. "

Fate ... or is it a neurosis?

But the magic of primitive thinking is dangerous: it creates the illusion of control over the world and makes it impossible to realistically assess situations, people and ourselves. Even Sigmund Freud noticed that some people are always in captivity of dramatic life scenarios, live as if they are being pursued by some kind of inexorable fate.

They fall in love - their partner leaves them without apparent reason... They get married - the wife dies because she suffered from an incurable disease. Their friends betray them, their affairs decline. Everything happens as if some force or fate pushes them into unpleasant situations or brings them together with people who should be avoided.

Positive thinking and differs from magic in that it consists in a sober assessment of all options for the development of events

For psychoanalysts, there is no black magic in these life stories. These people suffer from a "neurosis of fate": an unconscious feeling of guilt pushes them to punish themselves. It is useless to go to the sorcerer who will remove the spell. Rock will haunt a person until he realizes what desires or actions seem to him so “criminal” that they cause such a strong unconscious feeling of guilt. And, undoubtedly, it is not a sorcerer who can help here, but a good psychotherapist or psychoanalyst.

Getting rid of illusions

“Recently, on my way to the airport, I got stuck in a traffic jam and, if not for the exercise I learned at the training, I might have missed the plane,” my positive-minded friend tells me. “I imagined the highway and concentrated hard on the thought that now the cars would finally go faster.”

Listening to the story of a friend who nevertheless caught the plane five minutes before the end of registration, I thought that it would be much more positive not to go by taxi across the city at rush hour or leave at least half an hour earlier.

“Genuine positive thinking differs from magic in that it consists in a realistic attitude to life and to one's own capabilities, in a sober assessment of all (and unpleasant) scenarios for the development of events,” Lev Khegai is sure. - But it is often very difficult to give up the childish belief that we can achieve what we want by influencing people or events. It is difficult to accept the fact that life is full of uncertainty and anxiety, that you need to make decisions, make choices and be responsible for your actions. But this attitude towards life is really positive. "

And then you will plunge into the abyss of your own eternity, your own infinity.

You suddenly realize quite physically that your age is numbered not in years, but in eternity, that you yourself are eternity and infinity at the same time. "

I would like to note right away that there are quite a few publications and articles on this topic. There are many points of view. A number of points of view in this article about magical thinking, magical vision of the world are not just reasoning, assumptions or hypotheses. These points of view are confirmed not only by theory, but also by real practice. The point is that everyone who thinks "not quite standard", paradoxically as it may seem, just possess, to one degree or another, "magical" thinking.

The non-standardness of thinking undoubtedly has an organic combination of the "rational" style of thinking and the "irrational" style of thinking. Moreover, the latter (irrational) is not only present there, but is the basic basis of magical thinking. Naturally, the most knowledgeable part of society quite consciously did not just guess about it. They undoubtedly used these mechanisms to achieve certain goals, either social or religious.

Naturally, this always presupposed the use of these abilities in the development of science, art, medicine, psychology, etc. And this has always been the case. But there was always a very definite attitude towards such a style of thinking, a style of existence. And in general to such people. Magical thinking is characteristic of deeply conscious, always having their own point of view, which means free, sober-thinking creative people.

Who will love this? The answer is crystal clear. True times are gradually changing. Such people were usually afraid of their surroundings due to their ignorance, although they intuitively understood that it was difficult to do without them. Now most of humanity has begun to understand that being illiterate, not talented, in our time, at least, is troublesome, and even ashamed. Although they are even proud of it. But this is a slightly different topic.

The magical style of thinking is like non-standard thinking, this is naturally one of the points of view and it is basically correct. As you know, the basis of any thinking is CONSCIOUSNESS. Or, in other words, thinking is a manifestation of the activity of consciousness, its direct confirmation. It just doesn't happen otherwise. But, nevertheless, on the other hand, thinking itself is not just a manifestation of the activity of consciousness, it is one of the facets of the state of consciousness.

Its a form of existence. One simply does not exist without the other. A paradoxical, purely philistine situation arises - who is in charge? Which reality is primary and which is secondary. Or, more scientifically speaking, which reality of them is the reality "generating" and which of them is the reality "generated"? Note, in almost any situation, in any reasoning, the same position dominates, causal.

The cause gives rise to the effect, which means it is more important. But the consequence is naturally secondary. But here's the bad thing. After all, a consequence inevitably turns into a cause immediately, instantly into a cause giving rise to the next effect, and this happens simultaneously. But who said that this process is developing exclusively in one direction? Who determined this? Nobody. This, oddly enough, is not true.

It is quite natural that a consequence, continuously generating a cause (all the way around), develops any process in the same way in the opposite direction. Our consciousness by and large (that is, our essence), develops and exists simultaneously in two time streams directed in opposite directions relative to each other and directed in opposite directions to each other.

An example is two trains going in opposite directions. And who can assert whether they are moving towards a meeting, towards each other, or away from each other? Based on the principle of relativity, these two processes occur simultaneously. For a person of ordinary thinking, at best, this is just a hypothesis, or a complete nonsense that does not deserve attention, which has no practical application.

For magical thinking, a magical vision of the world, this is a completely normal position, which has a completely normal practical use in the real life. Paradox? Not at all. The paradox exists in this situation exclusively for people with unidirectional, linear thinking.

Why have we speculated a little about this now? The fact is that it is easy to guess that there has always been a dispute in the human environment, which is primary - matter or consciousness? Is consciousness a product of brain activity (typical proctologist position), or vice versa? And much more. Simply put, magical thinking is multidimensional, at the same time multidirectional, multidimensional thinking.

It is sometimes difficult to understand from the standpoint of the "rational" facet of consciousness, but it is a fact, and this is where the "irrational" facet of consciousness enters the scene. The “irrational” has all the characteristics of a quantum fluid. * The “irrational” facet of consciousness continuously, every moment processes a truly universal volume of information.

This is a continuous stream of consciousness operating with a truly infinite volume of emotional meanings, the lion's share of which simply never enter the conscious space of the "Rational" edge of consciousness - or a discrete stream of consciousness.

I would like to note that the excessive dominance of this or that component (either rational or irrational) in our activities always leads to a rather pronounced bias.

And such a state as "magical thinking" manifests itself very weakly, and very spontaneously. Moreover, it is consciously not under control - accidentally lucky, accidental insight, etc. The person is either overly emotional and, therefore, simply reacts to the situation (reactive style of behavior), and thinking, in the absence of pronounced external stimuli, goes into a sluggish current stage of half-asleep drowsy existence (until they kick and think to move).

A striking example is the position of a crocodile, the position of a lazy cat.

Moreover, here, as usual, there is very little logic, sobriety of thinking - ‘no words, only drooling’. And naturally, endless and very tough, most often groundless claims and requirements for the external environment, the external world.

Or, on the contrary, a person is overly rational, overly logical. And here another extreme will be observed. But in both versions, the result is the same - an almost complete absence of a creative state - (ideas are born by chance, and if they happen, then in agony), and as usual, both have the same claims and endless requirements.

This is not because they are "bad", but more often they are. A person with magical thinking naturally understands this, and he usually knows how to act in such cases, when interacting with people of a similar style of existence.

Naturally, if a person really wants to get out of this unproductive state, from this vicious circle, then he will always find ways to achieve his goal.

What signs correspond to a harmonious, balanced state?

A person with a magical style of thinking is both rational and consciously irrational at the same time. He is not so much reactive in his behavior as active. It is not so much situations that shape him as he shapes situations. He creates his reality by creatively correlating himself with the world (humility is to be in a productive dialogue with the world, and not to be a slave to someone who creates circumstances in relation to you), or in an aggressive position relative to the world.

A real magician understands such a concept as "humility" in this vein, and here slave psychology is the psychology of a freeloader, or aggressive psychology - the reverse position of the same slave psychology simply does not pass. For it is simply not productive. Or, more simply, the magician is not obeys someone's will (the psychology of a slave), the magician takes into account the circumstances that have arisen and in any case actively resolves the situation in the most rational way.

He does not obey the law - he uses the law as an instrument. Moreover, and this is extremely important, he will not serve any other people's complexes, as well as his own. This position, as you understand, radically distinguishes a person of magical thinking from an ordinary person, socially conditioned, and therefore a person with socially conditioned thinking.

And these signs have always been very characteristic. Even in ancient times, a universal thesis was formulated, and it always said that: “The creating rules live by exceptions.” In this version, this is not a position of utter egoism, but oddly enough, this is a position of creative search. After all, always obeying some rules , you will never create exceptions, something not standard and not usual.

Genius, from a point of view an ordinary person, always a little crazy, because he is non-standard in his decisions.

Flexibility of thinking is one of the most important criteria for magical thinking. Therefore, any normal system, any school, first of all, pays the main attention to the development of non-standard, flexibility, conscious irrationality of thinking. The effectiveness of technology in real life is the most important indicator of the effectiveness of a real magic school. Here they not only teach how to effectively use magic algorithms to solve a variety of problems, they teach how to effectively create algorithms for solving a variety of, sometimes and more often, non-standard problems.

And this is the active position of consciousness. What does this imply? Magical thinking always presupposes active interaction with the past (the magician's past is not a departed reality, not an area of outdated and irrevocable memory, but a completely active, living reality), with the present, and naturally with the future. For magical thinking, the future is, on the one hand, probabilistic (a set of probabilities), and on the other hand, each probability is a completely real, living, physically embodied and realized facet of its existence.

In this reality, I always choose and implement one from a set of probabilistic solutions, but not all probabilities that are not realized in this reality are empty dreams and abstractions, but quite physically embodied options in other parallel worlds. That is why a magically thinking person, always realizing this circumstance, is very careful with his thoughts and ideas.

His thought is filled with clarity, concrete, and very precisely directed to the goal - targeted thinking. What is this, targeted thinking, and how can this state be achieved at least in a general approximation? He understands that his every thought is certainly physically confirmed, but is confirmed only in this reality and not anywhere else. Another thing is that in addition to understanding and awareness, constant practice and discipline of the mind is always needed.

The discipline of the mind is an indispensable sign of a magical style of thinking, a magical perception of the world. And in this world, and in all other variants of its simultaneous presence in other worlds, in other spaces. We continuously generate and embody our reality in all realities, in all spaces at the same time. There is such a simple ancient truth: “You must always correspond to your dream, your future, for the future is not somewhere ahead, it is always present and comes right now along with our thoughts”, “Rethinking and changing the scenario of the always existing past, we are right there we change reality in our now and naturally in our tomorrow ”.

Yes, it really is, we can dream about our future here and now, and create it. But in the same way, we can dream about the future of our past here and now and also create it. Everything is interconnected, everything generates each other continuously and simultaneously. And at the same time, each probability, being completely unrepeatable and unique, is realized only once in its own time and in its own coordinate system.

Magical thinking is also characterized by a position of equivalence in the world. What does this mean? What does this principle say? “Everything in the world is equal due to its absolute uniqueness and its absolute uniqueness.” Every person, every creature, every form of consciousness is one unique and inimitable “Probability” of manifestation of the world space of consciousness.

Note, all forms in the world space of consciousness are just probabilities and only in this we are all equal. Or as the ancients say - he is a different me and vice versa - I am a different he. It may be strange, but it is a fact. From this one can easily guess that there really is no death. We not only extend ourselves in children at the genetic level, we in the process of our existence generate in ourselves a progressively new reality, a new personality.

And when the physical confirmation of one of our probabilities ends, at the same moment our consciousness at the transphysical level begins to generate itself in a new physical confirmation. In the form of a new, completely unique and never unrepeatable probability. As they say, there ahead, everything depends entirely on oneself. It should only be noted that any state, any idea develops progressively.

Any program can be progressively curtailed, or it can be progressively deployed. Everything is in our hands. Thought constantly, continuously generates the world. It is unrealistic to stop this process even for a moment. Apparently, this is not provided for in the script. Even if we stop the internal dialogue and create a state of absolute silence, we are constantly in it in fact - constantly generate - create this silence.

We constantly generate in ourselves a desire - to be in this state, to be in this silence. And notice, our space of consciousness is always relative, relative to our generated silence. On the one hand, we are this silence, and on the other hand, since we are aware of this and generate it, then we continuously observe our silence, which means that we are simultaneously outside this silence.

"I think my thought" - said the boa constrictor from the cartoon about the boa constrictor and his friends. In this version, you can say - being in a state of silence, I continuously think my silence. I am everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I am an observer and observed simultaneously and continuously. Perhaps , many will say, is not much attention paid in this version to the principle of relativity? Of course not.

This is one of the fundamental principles on the basis of which the program of the discrete stream of consciousness exists and is progressively being developed.

Discrete flow embodies the principle of relativity. Every moment a person changes and naturally, he, having passed into another functional state, does not correspond to the coordinate system in which he was a moment ago. He no longer coincides with it and naturally turns out to be in a different coordinate system. And this happens continuously, constantly. Notice that it doesn't move to another coordinate system, it ends up there.

And now he is already relative to himself, to his former coordinate system, he has become different. And he remembers and perceives himself from the outside, as no longer just another person, but as himself another. He has the ability to compare himself now, with himself before (the concept of memory). Everything is relative. But, nevertheless, there are always two options in parallel and simultaneously.

This is when I remember myself then from the outside. I remember those events from the outside and this is one option - external. And the second type of memories is when, for example, I have a dream, where I directly experience those memories, those events to the smallest detail. An example is the state of a person in a deep trance state, where he actually lives some period of his life. And if now he sees poorly (age-related visual defects), but then he saw perfectly, then he sees, as he saw then.

But pay attention, while actually living that state, he is no longer relative to that event, he no longer knows about it now, he is there in his memory, in his reality. And he is relative to what he was before. He just lives there and that says it all. It's like an endless movie consisting of an endless sequence of images - files. Like a film strip.

Each frame is relative relative to another frame and between them there is an insurmountable gap, albeit an infinitesimal one, but a gap **. And each frame can know about the other, only from the outside (external observer). But as soon as he becomes one, he is no longer able to know about himself from the side of that future, he just became what he was before. This is how each of us is. We simultaneously exist in every memory - a state of integrity and at the same time are totally relative.

What an interesting conclusion arises from this situation. Each person, each creature with total integrity, continuity, simultaneously consists of an infinite number (options), we would say - manifests itself in a new universe from nothing from the point of view of an external observer. On the other hand, it, passing into another functional state, generates new system coordinates, he himself, changing, creates his universe and he himself corresponds to it.

Or, as they always used to say in Russia, what they themselves are, such are the sledges. One can naturally ask oneself a question, but what does this have to do with a magical vision of the world, magical thinking? What does the given races have to do with it. Or, as they always used to say in Russia, what they themselves are, such are the sledges. One can naturally ask oneself a question, but what does this have to do with a magical vision of the world, magical thinking?

What does this reasoning have to do with real magical practice? Yes, the most direct. Any normal person derives experience from some variants of his past existence, but mind you, most often it is like a data bank here and now. And very rarely does anyone think that it is possible not only to use memory, but to actually use those realities that exist in us in the form of our innumerable “I” as thinking evolving centers.

After all, each of our invariant "I" is not just some kind of dynamic stereotype, frozen in the form of an energy circuit, what is usually called "memory". This is one of our probabilistic, in its own way unique, constantly developing facets of our own personality. And let this our probabilistic facet of our personality work with your idea precisely as a person, and not as a simple source of information.

Imagine, to you from your hypothetical future for you, not just someone appears, but you yourself. And in dialogue with you, he gives you his idea from his (your) future. And you suddenly realize that you, enriched with your own idea from your own future, will come there completely different - the real connection of times. You are really establishing a dialogue with yourself with the past, while the past will begin to establish a real dialogue with your future.

The so-called hyperspace, hyperdynamic supertemporal circuit will appear. These technologies are directly related to the creation of their own transpersonal, transphysical reality. This is a completely unique dynamic stereotype of the space of consciousness. Thus, you use different realities of your space of consciousness along the timeline and create a qualitatively different space of thinking.

This is a magical vision of the world, magical thinking. There are quite real technologies for creating such a configuration of consciousness. And it is in the process of mastering these technologies that interesting multidimensional options for the perception of the world arise. I would like to note that to create such a configuration, twenty-two basic functional states of the space of consciousness are used.

This is not entirely from the field of modern psychology, although it has something to do with it. But the creation of the philosophical principles of such configurations will be discussed a little later in the following articles.

* Liquid helium is a quantum liquid, has superfluidity, a metal circuit placed in liquid helium acquires such a quality as superconductivity, and once the electricity passed through it moves without experiencing any resistance. Liquid helium has one interesting feature, it flows simultaneously from one point in opposite directions at the same time.

** The discrete state of either space or time always presupposes the presence of gaps between the elements. Let these elements represent infinitely small quantities, but, nevertheless, between them there will always be available, albeit infinitely small, but gaps. And their presence will always have physical confirmation. It is in this that they are irresistible. This is the principle of discreteness.