Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 221 Muggle Philosophy
The lunch was very sumptuous.
It can be seen that Sir Stoker was in a good mood. He and Jon talked about many things at the dinner table, mostly about his life at sea over the years.
"In fact, at first I wanted to go further north and find a place to settle down within the Arctic Circle. But normal life there became a problem. The fireplace had to be burning all year round, which was a heavy burden not only for me but also for Rabil, so I finally gave up the idea."
Jon wasn't flattering, he was speaking sincerely.
"The scenery here is very nice. If I retire in the future, I will consider spending my later years here."
"In fact, when I first came here, life was not so smooth." Stock recalled, "Because this place is not a Muggle shipping lane, it was designated as a marine magical animal protection area by the Norwegian Ministry of Magic. Many magical animals that used to live near the coast were driven here."
"As for the mermaids, the Ministry of Magic didn't order them to move, but they were forced to migrate here. Originally they lived in the waters near the coast, but now that area of water is seriously polluted by Muggles and can be easily discovered, so later they migrated here en masse."
"It was precisely because of this experience that they didn't like me when they learned that a wizard had moved in here. It wasn't until later when one of their tribesmen was accidentally injured and came to my tower and I helped heal him that their impression of me changed a little."
What he said was somewhat sad. Not only were the living spaces for the magical animals on land and alien races like the giant centaurs becoming increasingly scarce, but the same was true in the ocean as well.
As long as the wizards decide to maintain the Statute of Secrecy for one more day, this situation is unlikely to change. As Muggles expand their influence on nature, they will gradually understand the world more clearly. After all, the earth is only this big.
Sir Stoke suddenly asked.
"I wonder Professor Johnson, what do you think of Muggles?"
Jon didn't realize how much meaning there was in his question; it felt like it was just a casual question.
"I don't have any prejudice against Muggles." He said, "Although Durmstrang has been pursuing bloodline since its establishment, in fact, everyone in the school is very open-minded about bloodline issues, and ability is the main consideration."
Jon was not talking nonsense about this. The school style of Durmstrang was indeed a bit of the survival of the fittest . As long as you were good enough within the rules, you could get more resources than others. It was not as fair as Hogwarts, but it was not just about bloodline.
Lord Stoker laughed.
"I think that apart from those arrogant, conceited, and stubborn old guys, most wizards should not have any prejudice against Muggles. But in the final analysis, the reason why those conservative people hate Muggles is also because of historical issues. In the past, Muggles were indeed ignorant and did many things to hurt wizards."
"It's just that since the beginning of this century, the Muggle world has completely changed."
When talking about this, Sir Stocker became interested, and he seemed to have a deep understanding of Muggle history.
"Muggles are no longer as ignorant as they used to be. They are actually beginning to understand , and in a completely different way from us, they understand the rules of the world from their own perspective."
"In my opinion, the rules of the world are not constant for wizards, and our consciousness can change matter. There is a stone in front of us. When we close our eyes and start to think about whether the thing in front of us is the stone we see with our eyes, our will will drive the magic to change the world. If we firmly believe that this stone is a sheep, then even if there is no magic wand or spell, as long as our will is strong enough, the stone before closing our eyes will become a sheep after opening our eyes."
"But it's different for Muggles. In their eyes, the rules of the world are constant. Stone is stone. There is no way that their strong will can change it even a little bit. Matter is the foundation of the world and has primary nature, while consciousness is secondary. Human consciousness cannot directly make any changes to the world."
Jon looked at Sir Stoker with some surprise.
He didn't expect that there was a wizard in the magical world who had such a deep understanding of Muggle theories, and was a wizard with a wizard family heritage.
"Whether the rules are constant or not is actually the concept of which is dominant, matter or will. I didn't expect that you also know about Muggle philosophy, sir?"
Neville and the others sitting around were basically confused, only Hermione blinked her eyes as if she didn't understand.
After seeing that Jon was obviously familiar with what he said, Sir Stoke showed a surprised expression on his face.
"Professor Johnson also knows something about the Muggle philosophy of the world?"
Jon said nonsense casually.
"Before becoming the professor of Transfiguration, I was actually a professor of Muggle Studies for a while, so I have some understanding of these. But I need to correct you on one point, sir. On the issue of whether matter, will, and the rules of the world are constant, Muggles are actually not unanimous."
"Although many Muggles believe that matter came before will and that will can only be used to understand matter, there are also many Muggles who believe that there is an omniscient and omnipotent God in this world. There are many such people even among wizards, right?"
Sir Stock said undeniably.
"Indeed, there are a large number of such people among Muggles. In fact, our existence proves that what they believe is not wrong. Maybe the so-called omniscient and omnipotent God is a wizard with unprecedentedly powerful magic?"
"But the people who made the greatest contribution to the Muggle world were people of a different kind of thinking. To us, what they firmly believed was definitely wrong, as matter could be changed according to the will of wizards. But to them, what they firmly believed was right, because without any magic, they could only passively understand the matter and rules of this world, rather than changing them."
"It is precisely because of this difference in understanding of the world that the wizarding world and the Muggle world have developed in two completely different directions. It's just that wizards have been developing for thousands of years, and the magic we master has gradually improved, but the development of Muggles has just begun."
"But in just the first few years, they have accomplished something that wizards have not done or even thought of in thousands of years."
