Somehow the story of that action made it impossible for your eyes to see what was right in front of you.
– Teller in A life of magic with Teller, about 27 minutes in
Teller of Penn and Teller here describes the essence of all (?) magic tricks: We fool ourselves by the story we tell ourselves of how the world works.
WE FOOL OURSELVES
Based on our experiences, we use a wide range of mental shortcuts to make sense of the world. These mostly work well in daily life, which is why we keep on using them and why they often are “invisible” to us. Magicians intentionally make use of these to fool us. We fool ourselves.
SOME EXAMPLES FROM THE WORLD OF MAGIC
For instance, we see a head at one end of the box and feet sticking out at the other end. It’s natural for us to assume the head and feet belong to the same person. When the two parts are separated, we shock ourselves since what we see doesn’t conform with what we expect.
We see two guys at a table dropping objects moving in impossible ways. At first, it seems inexplicable since we know how gravity works. As the bigger scene is revealed, we realize it was all performed upside down.
HELPFUL
These mental shortcuts help us immensely in daily life. They mostly work well, and they help us use our attention, energy, and time for what’s more important.
For instance, I assume that if I step off a step in a staircase, gravity will help my foot land on the next step. If I see someone walk behind a tree, they are still there it’s just that I can’t see them anymore. If I see someone who looks and sounds just like like someone I know, it’s likely that person. And so on.
STRESSFUL
In some cases, we create a lot of stress for ourselves by using these mental shortcuts. We may operate on assumptions about ourselves and the world that are out of alignment with reality, and that’s inherently stressful.
I assume I am unlovable, despite all evidence on the contrary. I assume someone meant something terrible with what they said or did, while it was far more innocent. I assume my future will be a certain way, while I can’t know for certain.
MISS SOMETHING ESSENTIAL
We can also miss something essential. We may not notice our nature.
We assume we are this human self in the world. After all, it’s what others tell us and it’s an assumption that works relatively well in daily life.
And yet, when I look in my own first-person experience, I find something else. I find I am what the world – all content of experience – happens within and as.
I am what a thought may call consciousness, and the world to me happens within and as this consciousness. My nature forms itself into any and all content of experience. It’s all I have ever known.
This is interesting in itself, and noticing it transforms my perception and how this human self lives his life in the world.
THE MOST AMAZING MAGIC TRICK
This is likely the most essential and amazing magic trick we can perform for ourselves.
For a while, we assume that we fundamentally are this human self. It’s an assumption that works relatively well, although it comes with inherent stress.
We may not even notice this assumption. If we do, we may not seriously question it. And if we question it, it may be only mentally.
Then, our nature notices itself, and our world is turned inside-out and upside-down. Our nature is consciousness. To us, the world happens within and as the consciousness and the oneness we are. The oneness we are forms itself into our experience of everything.
We realize we operated on a fundamental assumption that’s ultimately wrong.
WE MISS WHAT’S RIGHT IN FRONT OF US
In all of these cases, we can use our assumptions about the world to miss what’s right in front of us.
We overlook that the head and feet belong to two different people.
We miss out on noticing that our stressful thoughts about the world are innocent questions about the world, that the world is not like that, and that the reversals of these thoughts also have some limited validity in them.
We miss out on noticing our nature, even if it’s what’s closest to us and all we have ever known.
The good news is that we don’t have to miss out on this. We can investigate and reveal some of the “hidden secrets”.
INVESTIGATION
Since childhood, I have had a fascination with magic tricks and find it gives me a multi-layered enjoyment. I enjoy the performance if it’s done well. (Even if it’s not there is a certain enjoyment.) I enjoy being baffled if it’s a new trick to me. I enjoy imagining how it may be done. Often, I go out of my way to learn how it most likely was done. When I realize the likely method, I may get a little disappointed (if it’s a gimmick), I may be hugely impressed (if it requires advanced skills or a lot of preparation), or I may laugh if the method is very simple and also impressive (the Voodoo needle is one example).
When I notice stress, I know I am performing a magic trick on myself. I hold an assumption more true than it very likely is. Often, I identify the stressful thoughts and investigate them. What happens when I hold the thought as true? How would it be if I couldn’t? What’s the validity in each of the reversals of the original thought? Can I find specific and genuine examples? How is it to take one of those as a guideline for my daily life? I can do the same with underlying and related thoughts. (The Work of Byron Katie.)
I also explore how my mind creates its experience of me and the wider world. How does something appear in the sense fields? In sight? Sound? Taste and smell? Bodily sensations? The mental field? (Words and mental images.) What’s there in the actual senses? What’s there in the mental field? What happens when I recognize the mental field as the mental field? Words as words? Mental images as mental images? What happens when I notice sensations as sensations? What associations has my mind created between bodily sensations and the mental field? Does certain sensations lend a sense of solidity and reality to certain thoughts? Do the thoughts give a sense of meaning to those sensations? How is it to notice each as distinct from each other? (The Kiloby Inquiries.)
I explore what I fundamentally am. I find I am what the world to me – this human self, the wider world, anything else – happens within and as. I find I even more fundamentally am capacity for all of it, consciousness and what it forms itself into. I explore how it is to live from and as this noticing. (The Big Mind process, Headless experiments.)
MULTI-LAYERED ENJOYMENT
This is a rich landscape and exploring it offers a rich enjoyment, just like exploring the many facets of magic tricks.
Just like with magic tricks, there is always more to explore and discover, and more performances to enjoy.
And just like with magic tricks, there is often some discomfort inherent in the process. That’s part of a deeper enjoyment of it all that seems to be here, whether I notice it or not.