Some time ago, we had some typically inconclusive exchanges about magic in fiction, real life, and Catholicism. This: http://superversive.livejournal.com/67317.html, is the best discussion I have read yet on the matter, and its author is the most intelligent and penetrating intellect I ever met on the Web. Word of warning: he is a Catholic convert. But I honestly think that the person who does not find this essay interesting must be dead in their mind. In spite of its enormous size, the only problem I have with it is that it is not long enough.