Who are you?
One of the many big philosophical inner questions, right?
Am I my name?
Am I my nationality?
Am I my profession?
Am I how many thing I own?
Modern individualism is a silent force that moves through everything, and Mentalism is not exception. We assume that "I do Mentalism", when in reality Mentalism is an experience in the participant´s mind, we are just 50% of the Co-Reality and facilitators of the phenomena.
Why we do Mentalism?
Just for the applause? Just for the outer recognition?
If we truly observe ourselves with sincerity and we see the desire of be the center of the experience, we are doing Ego-Mentalism. There is no contemplation of the symbols and trascendent meanings of our act, just pure egocentric performance.
I am no one to judge, but that is the way it is for some people.
Do you want to go beyond and offer an experience that goes beyond your own persona?
We can move from Ego to Eco. I dont mean "ecology" as in conservationism or love of nature, but as interpersonal understanding that we are part as performer of the ecosystem of performance, which now is not centered in the ego of the performer but the ecological connections and functions between the agents of the interaction.
The Ego appears to be the guiding force in our life, until we realize that the Ego is an illusion. We dont need to "kill the ego" as some people say, just integrate the ecological paradigm that can allow you to see the Ego from distance, recognizing the illusionary nature of it.
Thats what we can call "Eco-Mentalism", and I observe in this epistemological observation of Mentalism a new powerful way of exploring the true potential of our art.
Lets observe one simple example in how we can integrate this eco-understanding in our performance:
Lets imagine that a beautiful key (Arkanosophy Haunted Key) is moving in our hand using our psychic powers.
That is great...but ego-centered. YOU are the source of energy, the participants are mere observers.
What if we open that source and we imply that is the connection of energy the source of psychokinetic movement? This is different to collective efforts, because is not about individuals, but the interpersonal connection and ecodynamics.
Is not just the body of the participant, but the mind that can reach beyond the body. Is a subtle, but huge difference.
Now... that means that I need to change all my performance pieces to this?
Not at all. Eco-Mentalism is not a "way to perform", but an invisible inner philosophical paradigm that can guide us naturally to expand our views in performance.
This ecosystemical observation looks like avant-garde in the study of Mentalism, but it is a true comeback to the original shamanistic ways of the Mystery Performers, when everyone was part of the experience not just as passive observants, but a conscious node of intention.
If you want to learn more about this fantastic on-going personal study, you can get "Zoom one-on-one Sessions" and explore this complex topics in a deeper way
We can focus our creativity in various sources. Some people uses creativity to create new methods in Mentalism, others in new performance pieces, and we can also focus our mind into the philosophical grounds in which we are.
Lets move from Ego
to Eco.
(if you want to go deeper you can read the work of Bill Plotkin, Otto Scharmer and Social Ecology)
CONVERSATION