Magic is broadly defined, as the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will. According to Gerald Schueler “any time we will something to happen, and that something comes about, we have conducted a magical operation. In truth, therefore, we are all magicians. We conduct magical operations all day long, and take them for granted.”
To a person who has never seen or heard about plumbing, a toilet could appear quite miraculous. However, when you know how it works you denigrate its function to the mundane. It is not until you know the trick that it no longer deceives (or interests) you.
Just as those who believed the Earth to be flat (some still would if it were written in scripture it would seem, judging by the creationist view point.) were only doing so because that is what they were taught, many today dismiss magic as a sideshow phenomenon because any other view would challenge their reality deeply.
Magic asks: can we really rely on our perception of the world? I s seeing believing, or is it the other way around? Do our eyes not deceive us daily? It was Rene Descartes who said, “It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.”
Yet, illusion relies on the ease with which the mind can be deceived, or as PT Barnum put it – there is a sucker born every minute! It takes a rare kind of person to take nothing for granted, but thanks to the work of mentalists such as Derren Brown, something of the extra-ordinary is being scrutinized from the inside out.
“Although on the one hand none of what I do is psychic, equally, in the same breath, it is not hard science either." Derren Brown
We are so used to the Uri Geller’s of this world proclaiming supernatural powers (is Geller not more of a surrealist than a super-naturalist? Does his spoon-bending powers not have more in common with Dali’s vision of the world, rather than being divinely inspired?), it is so refreshing to have a man like Derren Brown on the scene.
Although his skills are nothing short or miraculous, he denounces all mysticism and anyone who claims them selves to be a mystic (a rose by any other name here?). Where as other illusionists have built their acts around glamorous assistants and elaborate props, Brown denounces the hokum by concealing the extra-ordinary within the ordinary, performing at dining tables and in empty warehouses using envelopes and clipboards.
By removing the bells and whistles, Brown underlines Schueler’s argument in his short essay Enochian Mysticism, that there is no such thing as a miracle at his table. Schueler states “the suitable means through which magical operations work are always in accordance with natural law. The laws of the universe are equal, it is only our ignorance of certain principles that makes the magicians use of them so spectacular.”
What is a miracle? If magic is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will, then a miracle is an event (caused by God through human agency) that cannot be explained by natural forces.
Tales of miracle workers have been alive in mythology from Egyptian tales of Horace; the bible is famously littered with them. But are these meant to be true stories, or just blockbuster elements added to give the text more pop?
Our ancestors created gods because they had no science. Now we cling to science as if it were the only god. In days before we could pierce the firmament with rocket ships and jet planes, it is quite understandable to see why entire pantheons of deities were created in order to bolster our ancestors understanding and awe of the universe around them.
But as history has shown repeatedly, what began as innocent notions transformed into monotheistic doctrine that, still to this day, severely hinders progress. The Catholic Church denounced Galileo in his day, just as they denounce the use of condoms to prevent the spreading of HIV in Africa today.
What would be truly miraculous would be if the religious leaders became more interested in the world they lived in, than the word they served. We have outgrown our ancestor’s ideas of what is holy and miraculous through scientific discovery and research into the natural world around us. We now know what a tsunami can do, and that it is not the work of an angry sea god.
Yet we are still in danger of being held at a standstill in our understanding if we look to science as the only way to discover the solution to all of the mysteries of life. It was Albert Einstein who said, “sscience without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Because nothing in science (yet) can account for the lesser-known laws/principles that allow someone to apparently read minds and predict future events with accuracy, as Derren Brown does. Brown says his tricks are simply the outcome of “suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship.”
What he neglected to also say was it takes practice, commitment and a willingness to find out the true wonders of human capability for your growth to become a master (what ritual magicians refer to as the Great Work.)
A great magician is a great spiritual teacher for they illuminate what we are capable of, while demonstrating the limits of our own perception: They forbid you to take anything for granted. The only difference between you and the magician is practice and a commitment to step out of the box – before it is sawn in two.
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