Origins of magic: review of genetic and epigenetic effects

The article on "origins of Magic" is an excellent one. And as the
authors confirm, it should be followed by further investigations. However,
we may all see magic differently. Therefore, I hope the short exchange
that I have written between a "man" and a "priest" can clarify some
aspects of magic as it "appears" to us.

"A man who wanted to believe in miracles"

Someone went to a priest and said:

Man: Father, can you tell me what a miracle is? You see, I want to
believe in miracles.

Priest: My son, from the time that you wake up until your rest at
night there are miracles after miracles. They are all around you. Don't
you see them?

Man: You say there are miracles all around me, like what father?

Priest: Like sunrise my son, like sunset, like billions of stars at
the night sky, like childbirth, and of course like death. Don't you think
these are all miracles? Don't you see the miraculous order of the steps
in all these events?

Man: (very puzzled) Forgive me father, I always thought that all
these that you mentioned were supposed to be there. I never thought of
them as miracles. I still don't get one point right father?

Priest: What is that son?

Man: What is exactly miraculous about these things after all? You
know what I mean father, don't you?

Priest: I think I do! A miracle, for most people, is something that
should puzzle them right?

Man: (excited) Yes father, exactly! For example, when I see the sun,
the moon or the stars I am not puzzled because they keep repeating
themselves. Therefore, I expect that they follow their cycles or steps as
you call them father.

Priest: Okay! Doesn't the sun puzzle you? I mean do you know all the
exact details of its formation or radiation? And are you 100 per cent sure
that what you know is true?

Man: Well, I don't know that for sure. But the scientists should know
it, right father?

Priest: Let me ask you another question before any answer.

Man: Go ahead father.

Priest: What about childbirth? Do you know all the exact details of
embryology and development? Just think about it. Your cell and a woman's
cell get together and they become one single fertilized cell. And that
single cell becomes millions and billions of specialized cells that make
life possible for another being. Do you know all the details about these
my son?

Man: Well, again, I know very little father. But, surely the
scientists should know all about these things, don't they?

Priest: Not exactly! No scientist can claim that he or she knows all
the exact details of anything. That very moment that he or she does make
such a claim, he or she stops to be a scientist. You see my son, science
is about good and clever guessworks and the best possible guessworks.
Nothing more and nothing less. This physical world that we live in is a
word of "extended" or "continuous" miracles that we get used to it, and
therefore we take it for granted. We assume that a miracle is something
that just happens suddenly and unexpectedly out of the blue. Something
that we haven't seen before, something that doesn't repeat itself.

Man: (a little puzzled) I think I got my answer father. You say we
live in a world that is nothing but a world of continuous or extended
miracles. And we can't realize this because we get used to it or that we
are conditioned to assume likewise, right?

Priest: Yes, exactly! This is in the same way that we get used to our
parents, family, priest, town, country, and the planet. We assume that all
these things where always there, and they will always be there for us.
Sadly, we only wake up to see that we were wrong, and they have all gone
into the blue.

Man: What's all these about father? I mean what is the purpose? Is
there any purpose after all?

Priest: I don't know my son. I am just like you, a human, a sinner,
an imperfect organism that just like you does belong to a species called
Homo sapiens that soon or late will be replaced by a fitter one.

Man: (very puzzled) Father! Do you believe in evolution?

Priest: I believe that Darwinian evolution or creation are different
names for God's will. You see, I believe that the old controversy
between creationists and evolutionists is actually a misplaced one. It is
nothing but a fuss. And a big old fuss, which is actually about nothing.
In fact Darwinian evolution, the Big Bang and the expanding universe,
gravity, quantum effect, electromagnetic field, and all that science aims
to discover and rediscover are "laws of nature" by which God ordains
everything. This is what I think is the case. Does this make any sense to
you?

Man: What about if Bible contradicts what you say?

Priest: If so, then we do not read the Bible "correctly"! If we do read
and understand Bible correctly, then we won't see any contradiction with
science. Even though science will be always incomplete, it does not lie!
Science should not contradict our understanding of the Bible, it should
confirm it or at least it should be neutral to it. And I believe this is
the case.

Man: I am an ordinary man father. I am not so good in such debates.
Earlier, I asked you about the purpose.

Priest: Yes of course! You see, I am neither an angel nor a
messenger. So I cannot claim that I have the right answer. So what I am
telling you is what I think. I think this world is a "test" with "puzzles"
that we should try to solve individually, as each unique person that we
are, and collectively as mankind. We have to solve the puzzle and pass the
test. In fact, not only we have to find out the missing link, which will
unite all God's creation together in an evolutionary sense of time. But,
also the missing piece of love and trust that has alienated us from God
since Adam and Eve. We have to regain God's love and trust. This is the
puzzle, which is too simple to be recognized. The devil has chained our
hearts to material life, to greed and selfishness, and this is why we
worship power and money. It is for any man or woman to unchain his or her
heart and extend his or her love to others and to God! And this is how we
should solve the puzzle and pass the test. You see my son, even the
solution for the puzzle is too simple. We simply have to unchain our
hearts. But, what is not simple is the action itself. This is because to
unchain your heart you have to give up the power of evil and all that is
attached to it.

Man: But father, how can we do this when everything is all about
money?

Priest: Do what son?

Man: I mean how can we unchain our hearts when we all need is money and
lots of money?

Priest: Have faith in the origin of good, love, and magic! Love of God
will unchain your heart. Then you can see and read what you have not been
able to do before. From birth to death we are lost in a colourful, shiny,
and foggy room with two big entrance and exit doors. We are lost as soon
as we enter into the room because the fog of our ignorance and greed is so
thick. It is so thick that we can't see the doors at all! We say all
sorts of things, and behave so arrogantly. We are disgraceful to our kind,
to nature, and foremost to God. We don't appreciate what we have. And we
envy others for what they have. We plan to live for the next two hundred
years to come. Suddenly, we find ourselves at the exit door! Then, we call
on God, and we beg for more time. For a few more days, hours, minutes, or
seconds so that we can do good things and unchain out hearts. But, we
sadly realize that nothing that we have saved in life can buy us more
time. It is already too late and the exit door is shut behind us and we
are locked out for ever. Does this make sense to you my son?

Priest: (the man seems sleeping, and the priest tries to wake him up)
My son, my son, please wake up, wake up please! (there is no response)

Priest: (deeply sad with tears in his eyes.) Oh my God, he has gone!
Good God, he came to me because he wanted to believe. He wanted to believe
in miracles. And you gave him his last miracle.

Written by:
Dr. Kazem Adl Zarrabi,
"Bio-medical and Cultural Study and Research Center (BMCSRC)"

Competing interests:
None declared