I'm currently taking an Astronomy class this semester for fun. I just learned something that really blows my mind. Apparently, when we look at the stars in the sky, we are seeing them as they were in the past and not how they exist now. This is based on the concept of light-years and the fact that the universe is expanding.
This seems so poetic to me. The stars were already poetic to begin with because they are bright and surrounded by darkness. This increases the allure of stars to me because it simply makes them more magical. Since I am seeing these stars how they were years ago, it defines them as optical illusions. Since optical illusions are the foundations of magic (along with the art of misdirection), stars are therefore magic.
Another aspect of wonder about looking at stars is the link to space and time. Space has always seemed like a beautiful concept to me. It feels boundless and open, despite the existing limits of the observable universe. Time is also magical in its own way because our watches work by the existence of Earth's magnetic field. The magnetism of magnets and the attraction of these magnets by invisible forces also seems not of this world. Thus, again, these facts lead me to believe that stars are all magical, beautiful, and not of this world.
This majestic nature of stars is probably part of the reason that Star Wars is so popular. People like magical concepts. This inevitably also transcends to fairy tales, which are wrought with magic and varying appearances (whether beautiful or ugly of characters, disguises, etc). People like to believe in magic.
I assert that magical forces exist. I also assert that the world is a better place for believing in magic. However, with this new information about stars, I now also believe that reality and magic may indeed be synonymous when people acknowledge scientific truths.
