Etymology: Middle English, from Middle
French, from Late Latin illusion-, illusio, from Latin, action of
mocking, from illudere to mock at, from in- + ludere to play, mock --
Date: 14th century
1 a obsolete
: the action of deceiving b (1) : the state or fact of being
intellectually deceived or misled : MISAPPREHENSION (2) : an instance
of such deception 2 a (1) : a misleading image presented to the
vision (2) : something that deceives or misleads intellectually b (1) : perception of
something objectively existing in such a way as to cause
misinterpretation of its actual nature
I always
begin every performance of "The Art Of Wonder" with a
wonder-provoking illusion. The more air the audience "sucks"
out of the room in astonishment, the better.
Then I do
something a little different... I explain to the audience exactly
what they just experienced. An illusion. A trick of
perception deception. WONDER!
It really doesn't matter if
the audience is made up of school aged kids or a group of adults at a
60th wedding anniversary party... Magic that provokes our sixth sense
-- the Sense of Wonder -- has a universal appeal. More than
just the usual "How does he do that?", my audiences routinely tell me
how meaningful my presentations are.
That's
because I purposefully relate to their innate desire to explain all
they see. And I encourage each audience member to let themselves
be "child-like" again -- even for a moment of astonishment -- where
"believing" in something they don't fully understand is okay.
Yes, there
are often a few skeptics in the crowd. There's always someone who
knows how to do every trick and is willing to speak out to "help" the
others see the error of their ways. I like to identify these
blabber-mouths early in the show -- so I can fry them later.
You see, if
the entire audience recognizes that "Mr. Know-it-all" has just had his
perceptual world rocked -- Crazy Man's Handcuffs are my favorite
skeptic buster because I always give the rubber bands to the "victim"
and tell him/her to work on it themselves -- then the entire room fills
with the feeling of awe and wonder.
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