Very true. But I think magicians of all should strive to have a definition of magic at least for themselves, even if that defintion changes every month or on a daily basis. If we don't have a goal, how do we achieve it?
Do you Suspend Disbelief?
- Thread starter MohanaMisra
- Start date
I disagree with this. Just two weeks ago, I was on a video chat with @RealityOne and another magician. David wanted to do the Bill-in-Orange, a trick I'd heard of but never seen. Here's the catch: He had the other guy, who lives about 1200 miles away from him, get a dollar bill and asked me to write down the serial number. He then proceeded to take an orange (which I had selected out of three), cut it open and lo and behold, the correct bill was inside (he showed the serial number to the camera).
Of course, to everybody reading this, the method is obvious: the two of them were pulling my leg. But in that moment, I was so drawn in by the trick that I deliberately abandoned my rational sense. After the climax I had exactly the sense of not wanting to know how it was done David and Christopher talked about. Even though I would have figured that they were in kahoots as soon as that moment had passed, I was honestly a little mad at them when they confirmed it, thus cutting short the best magical moment I've yet had.
So what's the point of this story? Yes, magicians can experience this impossible/magical moment as well. And an impossible method can only be part of the process of getting there. Think of the trick above: the method used is extremely obvious, so why did I get this magical experience?
Because I wanted to.
I willfully ignored the rational part of my brain that fed me the method, because I so desperately wanted those suspicions to be wrong, so I could experience this moment. That's the job we magicians have: to make the spectator work with us, to make them long to believe in magic so much that they'll ignore everything that wants to tell them that it's no magic.
If you didn't say this, I would've given up magic.
I severely lack trust issues.
True.
It was my fellow magician's acting skill that sold it. He made it look completely unplanned ("hang on... my wallet is in the other room") and he reacted the same way you did when the serial number matched.
The method, like most methods, is severely less exciting than the effect.
My favorite method to accomplish an effect is lying.
For me, magic is a combination of emotion with belief.
True. During the preparation and the effect, I never suspected a thing.
Since that evening, I don't trust either of them.
Occupational hazard?