ReThink: How can we advance the art, if we are not advancing ourselves?

[Mr.MadMan]

Hey, me after a long time of digesting this and im about to rethink everything on this topic. So lets get on with this shall we .

My Though Cycle:

I have been on these forums for well over 2 years, from the beginning actually and from time to time good posts pop up that make you actually rethink everything i thought was ideal.

The art, is this even art?
There was a thread a while ago(klick)called is Magic Art, the majority thought that it was, although a big number of people disagreed.

Why?

Because we are not striving to a goal, proven by Mr. Steerpike in his wonderful thread which he just released. We are not striving towards anything, to tell you the truth we have become lazy bastards, moving our butts only when someone smacks us with a load of cash. The real spark of magic has somewhat faded away, the real sincere love for it and all that it stands for.

I mean i see guys who have been at this for 40 years and they have more love and spark to it than i do. And i love this art, more than anything in the world, currently(this implies that i don't have a girlfriend ). But why have we lost the spark?

Because we do too much, i for one: Mentalism, Spiritualism, Hypnotism, Programming, Web Design and Development, Graphic Design, School, Film class, Friends: The list goes on. Think about what was going on 40 years ago, nobody asked what sports you are in or whats you favorite hobby, they knew you either played Football or Baseball and that was it nothing more. Now we have millions of different hobbies and such and we want to try everything and even if we find the ones we like and want to do we still move on to other stuff and try to see what happens. We have a lot of knowledge in different hobbies but they are only on the tip of the iceberg, nothing more. Just basics.

I saw a film today and i quote, "Staring at the eyes of a computer screen will starve children from their inspiration, imagination and cleverness...". I find this fascinating since it is true, for me at least.

How does this have to do with advancing the art?

Well generally when two people loose their love for one another they get divorced and thats what happens to a lot of us. I mean yes people say that kids don't have their priorities straight and what not and they leave things too quickly but this is not a late thing, it has been going on for centuries, people just tend to overlook that. But if we don't have love and the will to do magic how can we even do it properly. I mean yes i can learn to be good at it but if i loose the spark and go into a routine game and thats nothing else but work.

I used to live magic, live for the name of it and nothing else. It was my life and still is but what changed was my ways of doing it. I used to go out all the time and do street, i had umph, i loved it. The spark was there but i went too far too quick, i wanted to become big too fast and the spark did not ignite.

I loved how my friend said to me when i hooked up with my ex, "A big flame at the starts means that it will burn out fast". And it did...a fast fire burns out quicker than a slow phased fire. We need to learn that and act fast, we all want to be superstars too fast and get recognition from others so that we can be good in the eyes of fellow magicians when actually we have to look at the audience and see what they think, what is their view on it and take that as solid ground.

I for one am going to pursue my dream of becoming a professional Mentalist, having my own show in Vegas and also in my home country.

We cannot advance the art, if we are not good enough to fit the shoes of the old guys.


Mikk.

 

[Mr. Jane]

Do you know why so few of us advance ourselves? One real possibility is that people are to sensitive about themselves. Look at some people like D ICE R who really criticizes his works and his own presentation, but in the end he comes up with something I'm sure is more powerful and more appealing to his audiences.

Self criticism went out awhile ago when people started talking about feeling good, and listening to yourself and not others. The problem is that the sensitivity people have built up interferes with any real progress.

If I told somebody some real criticism and would most likely sound harsh, they would disagree because it's about them. People say take w/e criticism you can get, yet they themselves often times will not listen or feel bad because someone doesn't like the way they did something.

Get past it, if I feel you contributed to something I posted but it's actually against what I do then it's fine. I may not do it, but I can understand your views and see how it could affect me or the situation. People don't understand this, at least the younger generation who have unfortunately fallen victim to so many useless built ups in their "character."

Here is some advice that will get you farther than you may care to say, If you only take criticism from those who are close then you will get as far as those people can throw you.

People who have no care what they say about you are often the best critics, because they actually will say what they want. Your friends and relatives will often times hold back and just make slight suggestions that probably won't affect your performances or anything else about you.

Advancing ourselves begins with ourself, dur. Now you just need to actually apply this, and not just say "I agree with you" because you can agree with some of the best criticism since the quotes of Confucius. Though it doesn't matter if you don't actually use it in your life.

 

[William Draven]

Here's some nugget of advice for you for self improvement: "You're only as good as your last gig."

If we wish to excel then we must first admit that we have faults. Face those faults with an open mind, construct an action plan to overcome those obstacles, and set into motion good habits that will help improve us to be better. Then constantly seek to be better than we were the day before, all the while never getting to the point of "knowing it all".

 

[Mr.MadMan]

I totally agree with both of you.

People have gone too sensitive over the past few decades. I remember talking about this in the initial thread, people don't like critisism. I know i didn't, now look at me, a fellow magician told me that im totally lost at one effect, he talked what was really up and now i have a better routine because of that. I have guys told me straight up, this is total ****, and i listen and take it into account.

Draven, that was nice advice actually. And its completley true..


Mikk.

 

[D ICE R]

Good post Mikk.

Sorry I did not check in earlier I had to do the Christmas stuff all day today.

Draven that advice is something that I have lived by through out both magic and mentalism and also when I use to play basketball quite competitively. Chris Kenner mentioned in the SWE shift preview, about when you hit a golf ball perfectly and you are just transfixed on watching it. The more you keep doing it the better it feels and the more consistently you can achieve what you felt was impossible. However on the road to achieving that you will try lots and change little things you are doing. You may even change back to what you started off doing. The real thing is that you find out what works and how to achieve the impossible and with consistency.

 

[Steerpike]

Do you know why so few of us advance ourselves? One real possibility is that people are to sensitive about themselves. Look at some people like D ICE R who really criticizes his works and his own presentation, but in the end he comes up with something I'm sure is more powerful and more appealing to his audiences.

Self criticism went out awhile ago when people started talking about feeling good, and listening to yourself and not others. The problem is that the sensitivity people have built up interferes with any real progress.

Self-examination is always painful. Most people would prefer to believe in the idea of, "Believe in yourself and you can do anything," despite the fact that it's been proven to be bull****.

As a perfectionist, I had to come to terms with the fact that I believed I should have already been at a certain point and my stress and frustration came from the fact that reality did not agree with me. It was hard to let go of that and most people would rather never have to deal with that struggle.

For a good illustration, take a look at the card fanatics here. They do endless card tricks and wonder why they're not making money like Will Draven. They think that because Liam Walsh is enjoying the club scene in England doing generic pap, that they can too.