This week we have a quote from Marc Salem, fantastic Mentalist and most important, kind person.
He is one of my modern inspiration for several reasons. First of all, he has a clear understanding of his own identity as performer, and if you study about him, you will realize that he does what he does because he can. It is very tempting to do everything in performance, but is wise to limit yourself in service of the higher purpose of credibility.
Not because you can, it means that you should. Know yourself, discover your identity as performer and you will find more credibility, which has the impact that Mentalism offers to audiences.
Marc is someone who knows that Mentalism is for people, not for his own ego. He IS a real world performer, who knows what people really enjoy. He has a clear understanding also of the importance of "thematics" and whats the outer artifact that people is enjoying.
Am I showing how can I observe non-verbal language?
Am I showing how someone can detect lies?
Am I showing how psychological influence is done?
He is what I call a "Psychological Mentalist", in which his claims are not supernatural at all, but based in apparent human psychology and performance, which is fantastic, entertaining and powerful.
What I also love about his performance is that from time to time he breaks his own rules, doing acts that are not in his explicit or implicit claims.
First, set your own rules, and then break them with a purpose.
Focusing now in the specific quote, you can reflect about the importance that he puts in the cultural richness that a Mentalist should have. We need to be intelligent in various levels, and curiosity is one of them for sure.
READ, READ EVERYTHING. What you love, what you dont like that much, what do you feel will be useful for performance... You never know...
If you are a Psychological Performer, go and read esoteric and mystical topics.
If you are a Esoteric Performer, read the psychological and more pragmatic topics.
Dont be attach to your own paradigms.
Be curious!
Visit this site https://curiosity.com/ (or download their app). They are amazing.
Enjoy TED Talks https://www.ted.com/talks
Big Think https://www.youtube.com/user/bigthink
Open your eyes, your eyes and your mind. Again, you never know when some piece of information can be transformed in performance in an useful tool.
Have a curious week!
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