was it just an accident, or did we want so much to be magic we got that way, somehow?

Edward Eager, Half Magic

Consider also:

  1. “But the orb revolveth anon; the shadow passeth away from thee. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu! For inasmuch as thou hast made the Law of Freedom thine, as thou hast lived in Light and Liberty and Love, thou hast become a Freeman of the City of the Stars.”
  2. “Burn Thou strange herbs, O God! Brew me a magic liquor, boys, with your glances! The very soul is drunken. Thou art drunken, O my God, upon my kisses. The Universe reels; Thou hast looked upon it. Twice, and all is done. Come, O my God, and let us embrace! Lazily, hungrily, ardently, patiently; so will I work. There shall be an End.”
  3. “So also death is but through accident; thou hast hidden thyself in the shadow of thy gross body, and, taking it for reality, thou hast trembled.”
  4. “In this chapter, the idea is given that all limitation and evil is an exceedingly rare accident; there can be no night in the whole of the Solar System, except in rare spots, where the shadow of a planet is cast by itself. It is a serious misfortune that we happen to live in a tiny corner of the system, where the darkness reaches such a high figure as 50 per cent. The same is true of moral and spiritual conditions.”
  5. “Black magic is not a myth. It is a totally unscientific and emotional form of magic, but it does get results–of an extremely temporary nature. The recoil upon those who practice it is terrific.”