Since I have started blogging about different aspects of magic and magic theory I have met and talked with many great magicians over the ideas I have posted as well over what others have posted. This has a been a great experience. One of the people I regular talk about these with is Steve Dickson a magician from Vancouver BC Canada and he presented a theory to me. This is theory is using the spectators own life experience as a way to deceive them but in they really fool themselves because of what they believe. This concept is something I have thought about and have seen other magicians mention from time to time. It is also used as a way to explain how magic fools people. However if a magician can use this concept as a method rather than a way to explain why magic fool people it can be a powerful tool.
Ok now I will talk about what this is and hopefully I make sense. Again I won’t talk about any specific effects but rather the basics of the theory to make you think. Ok every person has their own life experience that influences how they understand the world. In magic we can use this to have the spectator deceive themselves by having them rely on what they know about objects and situations from their own experiences. Ok an example. If I you see a cup you know what it is. You know it is a object used to holds liquid so that you can drink it. You know how to use it and how it works with out any explanation. You also naturally understand the properties of a cup because since you were a child you have used one, and probably everyday. The instant you see one you know what it is how to use it and what its purpose is. Your brains does this all automatically with out any kind of conscious thinking. Now as you can see how this is used to explain why magic fools people as if you do magic with the cup that goes outside what a person knows about the cup it seems like magic. If you fill a cup then turn it upside down and the liquid inside does not fall out its magic. But what I want to explain is how to use this theory to create a situation that a spectator will assume is normal because they relay on this life experience. In this because the spectator will assume a certain situation exists when it doesn’t because of what their life experience tells them. Steve Dickson gave me this great example. “We go through life knowing what we believe we know through life experiences such as pushing doors that have brass square plates on them because that’s what the plates are for, to push, we don’t need the word push on them to understand. We pull on doors with handles on them, again we don’t need the word pull to understand, the object tells us what it is and what to do”.
When using this idea in magic with objects the magician uses the life experience as a tool. By presenting a certain everyday objects the spectators assumes certain things about it and understands it’s properties. In certain effects a magician can use an object that appears to be normal, however it has been modified to create a magical experience. From the spectators point of view they assume certain things about and the magician takes advantage of this. This theory relies on the object not being switched in most cases because the audience fools themselves into it being normal by their brain assuming it’s naturals properties. Then the magician does something that is not characteristic of it’s natural properties which creates the magical effect. This works for situation magic as well were the spectator naturally understands the natural properties of a real situation from their experience and the magician has created a false version of this which then in turn creates the magic from the situation. Now again I did not mention any real effects that use this concept because I don’t want to expose any specific magic effects, but rather have magicians think about this theory. There are of course many popular effects that rely on this concept. Now my homework for you is to think about it. I know because I didn’t use any real examples it may be hard to understand but this is a great psychological tool we can use as magicians. If you have any comments please let me know! I would like to thank Steve Dickson for presenting this topic to me.
Aaron