[Avodah] Our Attitude towards Segulos

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 12:06:06PM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: 1) These forces enhance our bechira. You can't have white magic
: (nissim) unless black magic exists also. And segulos exist in both types
: - donations invoking R Meir Baal Hanes tends to reveal lost objects,
: and stepping on cut fingernails tends to cause miscarriages.

These aren't nissim or kishuf. Yes, if you have one you have to have
both. But why have either?

: 2) You mention statistics, and (predictable) patterns of behavior. It
: seems to me that metaphysical forces may exist precisely to remind us
: that we don't have it all figured out yet. Bring a radio transmitter and
: receiver back in time a few hundred years, and ask them if this force
: is physical or metaphysical.

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
    magic.
    			- Arthur C. Clarke's Third "Law" of Prediction

But this is saying that HQBH does this without stepping beyond teva.
The complexity of what we experience will always be at least a little
beyond our ability to explain it.

Which is why I again see no need to posit a second system, one which the
person would have to first be a maamin to even accept the basics of.
Haniglos lanu ulvaneinu... vehaAretz nasan livnei adam... etc...
We're given the power to engineer based on physics, not metaphysics.

So I do not see how one can simply posit it's in the same role. Again,
two distinct reasons:
- why bother having two sets of laws serving the same purpose?
- why have laws that aren't given to man as nigleh/aretz for us to work
  and plan with?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It's never too late
micha at aishdas.org        to become the person
http://www.aishdas.org   you might have been.
Fax: (270) 514-1507      		- George Elliot