k

>>>I guess for me the question becomes if we stop lying to our kids about
Santa and all...do we destroy magic and as adults do WE really see (not
believe) or know that magic exists and what is magic?<<<

You can destroy magic in the mind of someone. It's possible. You can
eradicate every instance you find.

How many philosophers have tried and failed to distinguish the
difference between or determine the order of seeing and believing or
believing and knowing? I don't think an unschooling list can decide
that for anyone.

To me, there is magic in everything even, maybe especially, the
lowliest things. I see magic in smiles and laughter (what *is* it
about smiles and laughter?), horns and wrinkles
(http://www.amazon.com/Horns-Wrinkles-Joseph-Helgerson/dp/0618616799),
tastes and smells, the spices I can put in food, fire, light, music,
sound, sight.

Make your own list of favorite magic.

I recently drew something on Tuxpaint (http://tuxpaint.org), using a
feature that is actually named Magic. Karl took one look at the
picture (http://wp.me/pYi8H-3Z) and said "everybody has a reflection
of themselves." For me, that was quite a moment to hear him to say
something about what he sees in all humanity. That's magic to me.

You don't have to be superstitious or religious a bit to see or
appreciate or believe in magic. For some the word "belief" or
"believe" doesn't enter into questions about magic. Magic can be
equated with miracle or might not be. Belief, strictly speaking, can
be just doing without absolute proof one way or the other. It doesn't
have to be so exact. One doesn't have to accept something as real to
enjoy it even though it might be preferable in some ways to have a
fuller picture of truth. Even then the meaning is up for grabs. When a
person looks at an object, the eye sends signals to the brain and then
the viewer is the one who pulls together their own experiences to
decide what the signals could be about.

Oh yes. Learning itself is magic. I can guess how it works and try to
encourage and assist it but I can't guarantee it or cast the spell
that makes it happen. It's mysterious enough that we need a list like
this just for figuring out as much as we can about it.

~Katherine