FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS FANTASY

Magic thinking is mentioned a lot today...and it does not have a good rep. Those who mention it, usually with disdain, follow it with a harrumph. That much resistance invites examination, according to me.

I'm not married to the idea but it may be that desire is the basis of magic thinking, therefore not inherently bad. Desire is just another tool in our walking-around world. It is ego, of course, that takes desire and builds on it with fantasy. Fantasy, then, is the culprit.

Maybe it would be helpful to inspect our desire, turn it until we find its mirror image. I tend to believe that identifying the mirror image of our perceived needs is a gateway to discerning God's will for us in the instant. Therefore, instead of just badmouthing magic thinking, this could be our practice work for identifying God's will for us here.

Hey! That way we even find the gold in a self-determined objective. With spiritual understanding as our base and our guide, our self-determined objective upgrades to a self-determined desire. With a little help from within, that becomes the necessary first step toward building a faith that works.

Thank you.