Not that I am surprised, but this thread is a real eye opener to the kind of people attached to magic and this forum. Tommy Wonder, in his second Book of Wonder, starts off the book by telling a story about magic as a women. I wish I was not on the road right now, so I could be more accurate about the telling - but he tells the story twice - once with the pretty lady...and once again retold with the world magic in her place.
The story talks about those that choose to do magic for the wrong reasons....and how you will never really get to know the art when you focus on things like:
- it makes me different
- it allows me to pick up women
- I can be more successful because of it
- I am the life of the party
Doing magic everyday, should start with a personal satisfaction, I think doing it because you love it should be the reason - and you love it because of how magic treats you...not because of what you get from it, as those are benefits, but from what you give to it. It is nice to be able to share it with people - but be honest with yourself - do you get up every day to do magic for people? What percentage of time do you spend working on magic, compared to performing it? I don't know a single magician that performs MORE than he practices - so who do you really do magic for? Ourselves - we love it - the good ones do magic because they want to better magic, not themselves.
And Tommy Wonder compares it to a women - the man that dates the pretty women to get more attention, status and have all his friends think he is so cool - compared to the man that loves a women because she is wonderul, interesting and clever - and he treats her with respect. He makes sure that he never does anything to hurt her, and only make her loved by all...because she deserves it.
I know many of you are young, but magic is my lady too - and it frustrates me when I read people treat her like an arm piece to get attention...I think in time you will realize if you treated magic different, you would be better off in the long run.
So, why do I perform? Because every once in awhile, I want to take the lady (magic) out to introduce her to people, so they too can see how special she is - not because I want them to see how special I am. I want them to realize that she is not just a pretty face, but an amazing person that they will never forget. I am just their to protect her...I guess that is why I get paid, haha.
Seriously though, there are bad reasons to do magic...I recommend reading Tommy Wonder's essay.
