Mentalism Center

A powerful piece of wisdom that we can cultivate and nurture during this week from Dale Carnegie, the writer of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and many other powerful books.

(by the way, did you check our "Influence Book Test"?)

This quote has various levels of observation, lets contemplate the practical applications for us as Mystery Performers.

What is your intention when performing?

Do you want to impress people? Be the center of the party?

Convince them that you are psychic?

Offer people and artistic experience of mental mystery?

The structure of those questions are normally the common way in which we grow and mature in Mentalism. First we want to be center of attention, be the one that has something unique to say. Then we deal with the notion of "credibility", acting as if we are the pure center of attention.

Then, through experience and openness we language the reality of performance in a different way. Yes, in the Inner Reality we are the agents of responsibility. It is my duty to practice and rehearse, but then in the mysterious act of performance, the focus shifts. In the Outer Reality, the audience and ultimately the experience of mystery are the true focus.

We are supposedly experts of the mind, but we rarely use the true potential of our mind. It is easier to trick people (and ourselves) but at the long term, it is far simpler to just take the complex path of self-knowledge and encounter your own inner potential of authenticity.

Another reading that we can do is the inner attention that we can have during performance. If you didnt practice your techniques, or if you didnt truly rehearse your performance, your mind energy will flow towards those aspect, losing deeper connection and interaction with your audience, as well as distracting your audience from the true value of performance.

People can feel that. Maybe the cant recognize the specific reason why the performance was not the best, but they feel that your mind was in other place.

Dont let that happen to you. Your practice and rehearse are the stages in which you can focus your mind in all those subtle aspects, but then as soon as you start your performance, all those details must be part of your subconscious.

This week, manage your focus and be aware of the deeper potential of your mind.

Thanks Dale for your constant inspiration!

There are a lot of fantastic creative Mentalists around the world, but there are no many deeper sources of true mature understanding of symbolism and mysteries in Mystery Performance. My friend and mentor Kenton Knepper is a powerful inspiration not just for myself but for many around the world.

A classic notion in several wise texts say that "babies drink milk and adults eat meat", which is a reference to the importance of growing up from the reductionistic and simplistic notions and evolve to deeper observations. We have enough tricks in Mentalism that are really just one basic level of learning. If you want to advance in your studies, you need to go towards deeper subjects such as symbolism, self development, drama classes, deeper psychologies and other conversations that you can only get in personal relation with a competent guide.

If we are not aware of the importance of effective communication, influence, suggestion and symbolism, we will just do tricks without any awareness of the potential of them.

Now, this quote from Kenton is confusing to many: "How can I understand something without rationality?" you may ask.

True understanding is not just knowing, but embodying by intimate experience. By definition, a symbol is a token of mysterious meaning. They dont just work as signs, with structured objective meaning, but symbols are alive entities that are essentially unknown (Robert Edinger talks more about this in "Ego and the Archetype" if you are interested)

So, in order to truly understand symbols you need to experience them, observe them in your daily life and contemplate them so you can project your own mind in them.

Kenton offers great training for all levels in his site wonderwizards.com , go and check his services!

At Mentalism Center we offer several online course. If you are a beginner, the Mentalism Course is for you, and if you want to go deeper into symbolism, "Metanoia" is the course for you, using those four interesting symbols in practical ways for Mystery Performance.

There are some fundamental aspects of being a Mentalist that cant be said, not because of lack of linguistic competence, but because they go beyond explanation. They are mysteries that can reveal to you, in a slow manner, as soon as you are open to receive those new insights.

If you are ready, join us and book your "Metanoia" sessions!

Thanks Kenton for your constant inspiration!