Do You Believe in Magic?

Do You Believe in Magic?

I have been performing magic off and on for about 30 years.  You can see my magic page here.  When I was first learning magic, I was often disappointed tolearn the secret.  Well, let’s face it, I had just read The Lord of the Rings and, truth be told, I really wanted to be Gandalf.  So I was often disappointed at how simple the secrets were to a lot of the effects I purchased.

That is one of several reasons that magicians don’t tell the secret; it would spoil the magic.  I learned that my task as a magician was to put the magic back into the effect.  The combination of the secret, the story or presentation (magician’s call it the patter), and the magician’s personality all serve to make a magical effect a true magical moment.  Performing magic is really a bit like alchemy: a bit of this, a bit of that, something to make everything interact.

That is what life is like.  Sure, things can be explained scientifically.  But that doesn’t take away the magic of one of those “Aha!” moments when some idea just comes to us.  Magic seems more appropriate an analogy when we have tried and tried to remember something and then, when we finally move on to another subject, BAM!  It suddenly comes to us.  It seems more like magic when we have forgotten something at work and we remember it just when we are waking up or standing in the shower.

Knowing the principle of a rainbow or a magnificent sunrise or sunset does not take away from the magic of being there at just that moment to see it.  Knowing psychology does not take away the pure magic of a child putting his arms around you for a hug.  We can understand logically about wanting to be with someone who wants to be with us, but that does not take away the magic of loving someone.

Life can be explained scientifically, sure.  Nevertheless, it is filled with magic.  I believe children know that.  They see it in everywhere in the world around them.  They see it in the love of their pet, or in the mystery of the woods.  They even see it, sometimes, in a magician making a ball appear out of thin air or pulling a coin from behind their ear.

Do you believe in magic?

(C) 2010 Ron L. Clayton