talkmagic.co.uk

Just a quick bit of background - my "angle" is that I'm a psychic who uses his power to entertain. I do a lot of readings in my act.

This afternoon at a very wealthy garden party:

Female Spec: "So are you genuinely psychic?"
Me: "Yes I am."
Spec: "Yes I thought so. I could pick up your energy as soon as you started performing. The reading you did for me was incredibly acurate."
Me: "Thank you."
Spec: "And I'll tell you who else is psychic. Derren Brown."
Me: "Really? You really think so?"
Spec: "Oh yes. He has to be. I don't think he quite realises it himself yet though."
Me: "That's interesting. He always explains what he does as being a mix of NLP, suggestion, and hypnotic techniques."
Spec: "Ah, but that's where he's confused. He doesn't understand his psychic power yet, so he expalins it away with all this fancy jargon."
Me: "Very interesting."

Well it's a theory I suppose. I think it would amuse DB to hear that story.

The Derren Brown hysteria is silly . It's almost like little kids believing in Santa Clause. Sorry to break the news to anyone.

What are you saying?? There's no Santa Claus????

He can't be saying that, that's just plain silly. If there's no Santa Claus then who would fly the reindeer.....duh!

Someone's patented a Santa detector, you know... It's shaped like a Christmas stocking.

Of course theres no Santa.. thats just ridiculous..

There are elves though.. they live in Beijing though.. not lapland..

actually I heard Santa Claus gave up smoking because it was bad for his elf!!

No, it's because he was a strain on the National Elf Service.

Why do we all laugh and joke about spectators who take mentalism seriously, when that is the kind of thing we hope our spectators do? Even those who believe his pseudo explanations. Isnt that the point?

AndyRegs wrote:Why do we all laugh and joke about spectators who take mentalism seriously, when that is the kind of thing we hope our spectators do? Even those who believe his pseudo explanations. Isnt that the point?

I guess so. And I wasn't really poking fun at the spec. Oh, go on then - I suppose I was. But the real point was how convinced the spec was that DB had psychic powers he wasn't aware of. I wouldn't have mentioned it at all if DB was a mentalist who claimed to have psychic powers. The fact that he so strongly denies any psychic power in his act made this lady's observations so noteworthy. It brought to mind Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle.

AndyRegs wrote:Why do we all laugh and joke about spectators who take mentalism seriously, when that is the kind of thing we hope our spectators do? Even those who believe his pseudo explanations. Isnt that the point?

what you mean?

I wasnt having a go. To be honest, I find myself in a dilemma concerning this kind of thing. I find myself constantly having mass debates (get in!) with colleagues about psychics. I am a psychology teacher, and so it makes sense for me to take the 'psychological suggestion' route. This is not only more believable for me (no going in and out of character), but it means I dont have to deal with that little voice shouting 'dont be daft' at the spec, as I feel it is important to have respect for the spectator, and not secretly be thinking 'ha ha you're daft...wait til I tell everyone about this one!'.
If however, it happens that the spec is convinced I'm psychic, my mind set is 'damn, I must have been good', 'rather than 'damn you fool!'.

I have given up arguing against psychics with my friends, its far easyier to say he/she is psychic rather than just skilled, and its allways the same.. 'but he knew my name!' grr

Psychic phenomena does not exist. This is a reasonable assumption to make because no one has yet proved that it does. If they ever do present solid evidence, then fine.

Whenever this argument comes up (and when I'm around it often does) I put it this way. If you woke up one morning and found you could genuinely predict future events or interact with "spirits" or heal people merely by touching their wallets, what would you do? Ring the psychiatrist, clearly, but what would you actually do? Well personally I would run to the nearest scientist or doctor or professional institute for testing such things and ask to be tested. Tested, tested, tested! I'd want to be certified as having this gift and be differentiated from all the cranks out there. You would become the biggest celebrity on the planet, win twenty-odd Nobel Prizes, claim James Randi's $1,000,000... the world's your lobster.

What I wouldn't do is book a month-long tour of crappy end-of-the-pier theatres and spend two hours each evening asking people if the letter A means anything to them. Could it be these people really don't believe in their abilities and their -opathies after all?

But as an occasional magician - supposed purveyor of the paranormal - I am torn. When I perform mentalist effects, I make it clear I don't believe in psychic ability or anything paranormal at all. Maybe I'll offer an explanation - accurate or otherwise - about reading body language and so on, as most people do, but I simply couldn't perform anything that would leave a spectator believing in the paranormal. You've just corrupted a brain. For all the excitement and drama and showmanship, there must be an unspoken understanding that your illusions are just that.

The last thing the world needs is more irrational beliefs. We've got more than enough already!

jdcarr wrote:Well personally I would run to the nearest scientist or doctor or professional institute for testing such things and ask to be tested. Tested, tested, tested!

Or the nearest lottery outlet perhaps?

I think Andy's right. Surely this kind of response from a spectator is what everyone here aspires to. Isn't it? Wouldn't you want to be so good in someones eyes that that want to believe?

I appreciate that Derren or whoever are entertainers but conveying mystique and wonder and intirguing people enough to make them question whether what they have seen/experienced might just be real is what I think every magician would want.

Lot's of things that are unfathomable are assumed to be real by a few. Who want's the response, "oh, that's clever"? Surely we all want our spectators to leave in wonder and believe in what we do.

best

Martin