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joshua the magician Regular user 106 Posts |
Individuation is a process of transformation whereby the personal and collective unconscious are brought into consciousness (e.g., by means of dreams, active imagination, or free association) to be assimilated into the whole personality. It is a completely natural process necessary for the integration of the psyche.
Anybody ever have this experience in regards to magic? I feel like if you keep at magic for a while and the deeper you get immersed in the therapeutic elements of practice and creative thinking in regards to expanding your consciousness... The more the magic is assimilated in to your character. I think this process in itself is magical due to its natural transformative power. To revel in lady magic, usually leads to a magical transference situation. I think it can be a double edged sword for me because I can get tripped up on semantics for a while and then have a moment of clarity, yet not be able to stay focused enough to enjoy the process and see the big picture... Please share your wizened wisdom fellow witches and wizards!
magicly,
joshua |
funsway Inner circle old things in new ways - new things in old ways 9982 Posts |
I have long been the proponent of. "the more you pretend at magic, the more likely you will recognize it all around you." Substitute "inexplicable phenomenon" for "magic" is desired.
Certainly, the practiced elements of creating "presence" and sustaining spectator attention (engagement) prepare one to be more controlled, assertive and effective in mundane life. Consider Billy Joel Syndrome, "I am merely competent, but in a world of incompetence, this appears extraordinary." One of my bylines is, "I do not do magic, but it happens all around me and sometimes I get blamed."
"the more one pretends at magic, the more awe and wonder will be found in real life." Arnold Furst
eBooks at https://www.lybrary.com/ken-muller-m-579928.html questions at ken@eversway.com |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Self-consciousness is one of the greatest flaws a magician can have.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
Escamoteur Regular user 109 Posts |
I would say for the area of mentalism that this premise is par for the course. All magic really, but especially mentalism.
Carter |
friend2cptsolo Elite user Spent all this time on the Cafe' and all I have to show for it is 445 Posts |
Performing magic is a skill, speaking in public... a skill, becoming an effective communicator is also, you guessed it A skill.....just like a double lift or any countless sleight you might learn in magic.
Becoming a Magician is more than just performing a sleight or tricky move it is about that performance.... this has been said many times on the forum of course, we should all get it. Being involved in magic has expanded it self into my "Individual" in so many ways I could not even begin to list them but at the very least it has made me a better communicator in my day to day life. It has also taught me nothing is gained instantly. Sure this is very simple, everyone knows this right? Why does effective sales and marketing use this approach so much? "YOU will gain instant gratification by using product X! or This RAPID weightless formula will put you on the right track today!!" INSTANT success!!! We know it not to be true but continue to buy into it. How many times have you seen magic advertised the same way...."THIS ONE EFFECT WILL TURN HEADS AND MAKE YOU THE MAGICIAN YOU WANT TO BE!!!" You buy it, bring it home, learn it and you might run to show it off.... and sure people like it.... but they are not falling on floor like in the video or knocked speechless. "nothing is gained instantly" You want to be a better magician and really WOW the audience you need to practice performance, not just the sleight, right. The first time I try I new sleight.... my hands feel awkward and out of place, I can barely can perform the move.I begin to wonder if I will ever get it. Soon, with practice, it becomes something more natural, unimportant. Performance is also a skill and needs to be learned and practiced. THIS is like ALL skills..... My job integrated a new computer program across all departments, it was a very big deal...the first 6 months the bulk of the employee base in my area whined, complained and hated it. Their attitude prevented them from leaning. This was my new skill to learn..... AT first it felt awkward, it slowed down the work pace I was used to, it had longer more complicated steps to perform....But now it is unimportant I breeze through those long complicated tasks very quickly. I whined and complained through the process,yes, but I knew it was temporary. Individuation is a developmental process during which innate elements of personality, the components of the immature psyche, and the experiences of the person's life become integrated over time into a well-functioning whole. I would like to think that learning in magic has become a part of my personality in these ways also. |
joshua the magician Regular user 106 Posts |
I appreciate all the feedback. This post was merely an objective look at how the magic we practice manifests in day to day life and how being a great magician can teach you to become a great man and vis versa. I totally agree the process takes patience and self discipline but it is a process like you said.
When I was younger I got in to magic looking up to people like david blaine and the "cool" magicians. I got out of magic for a bit but then I got back in to it and now I have a deeper appreciation for david and what he did for magic. He defies everything the normal magician would look like. He's a minority who is extremely talented and is probably the most influential name in magic. He's also perfected that mysterious persona, which allows him to be so influential to the public, which is what really matters. I know a lot of people don't like the New turns he has taken with his specials, but honestly, where would magic be without him? He is an inspiration to be the greatest person you can be, regardless if you do magic, and this can in turn allow you to become a greater magician.
magicly,
joshua |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
It seems to me, to become the character he his playing the role of, an actor needs to lose, not find himself. David Blain plays a role of a Mysterious Stranger which is a fiction. The individuation process is a term created by the famous psychologist Carl Gustav Jung to describe the process of becoming aware of oneself, of one’s make-up, and the way to discover one’s true, inner self. That is the opposite of what the actor or magician playing a role of his character does. He gets to know and play his character as opposed to himself. We are not playing our self with history and all of that which the self might consist of. We are playing, playing a make-believe character, with a make believe back story etcetera. David Blains character is an illusion which you seem to believe is real.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
joshua the magician Regular user 106 Posts |
Tom, I appreciate your insight so don't take this personally. David's character is false, but there is an element of truth in it. He actually is insane and loves to test his limits, he's always been that way. This is a rare characteristic to see in a magician... Usually we are pictured as overweight nerds who screw around with scarves and clown noses. He elevated our art to the highest level our generation has seen. His concept is brilliant, and when it comes to magic he is a beast. We are lucky to have him. He has put more work in to himself, which in turn carries over to his mysterious character, then any magician I know (I.e.individuation).
To say being aware of one's inner self does not cross over in to the realm of being a magician is narrow minded, and from what you have posted on here you don't seem to be that. He even says on his special that he incorporates elements of drama, it's no secret he's playing a character. I'm simply making the point that his style should be taken as an inspiration to strive for in our magic. It's a style which incorporates multilayered seamless psychological deception. You might be right that I'm deluded by taking someone does on tv at face value, but there are certain truths to extract from him. Let me know if I need to clarify more.
magicly,
joshua |
Aus Special user Australia 996 Posts |
Magic for me I would say has integrated into my personality in a number of ways I would think. Probably the most significant is my disposition of seeking things out as they really are rather then what they appear to be, and if magic has anything to teach in terms of appearance this would be it.
One might suspect that this would make for a rather suspicious disposition but for me it manifests it's self by being vary thorough in my observations and real life endeavours. Lets face it, deception isn't just the domain of magicians, life is full of it from interior motives to out right lying to people creating illusions about their own lives, so having a cautionary approach combined with an interest of looking behind the veil of lifes peculiarity's has made my life rather illuminating to say the least. I do believe there needs to be distinctions made between what is learnt to whats is understood,from the outside observer these things would seem to be indistinguishable from each other. I remember the early days of my elementary school life where we would have a book of multiplications ranging from one through to ten and every morning we would recite every multiplication until it was seared into our brains. Ask us at that age what the answer was to any multiplication sum and we could tell you, but did we understand WHY each multiplication resulted in the way it did? Of course we couldn't because that was not how we where taught. It's not enough to learn how to do something, it's equally important to understand why something is done in a particular way, another lesson that magic has taught me. Magic also has made be a lover of books which started as an innocent intention to a life long obsession. I read anything from philosophy, history, Business to self help simply for the diversity of perspective each topic brings. Who would of thought that a simple magic book at a young age would have had such a profound impact in my life. Magically Aus |
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
An illusion is a distortion of the truth, which means it is not completely false but contains an element of truth. The characters we magicians create are normally illusions because, well, for one thing, it is pretty hard to completely lose oneself.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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