What are “Perceptions of the Mind”?

Is our perception of the world around us the same?  Is our collective view of reality, truly representative of what’s really here?  Each of us creates our own model of the world based on sensory input received from our five senses and thru our individual life experiences.  But despite how much we think we see, feel and hear, only an extremely limited amount of information we perceive ever finds its way into our conscious minds.  The human mind is simply not capable of processing, much less accessing the millions upon millions of impressions that bombard our senses daily.  In his book, ‘The User Illusion’, author Tor Norretrander comments that each of us receives approximately 11,000,000 pieces of information a second: whereas our conscious minds are only capable of accessing between 16 and 40 of them.  To avoid having our senses being completely overwhelmed we filter and prioritize those impressions and Build the world we Believe is around us rather than See the one that’s really there. 

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What is Mentalism?

While Mentalism is an extremely old practice, Hollywood has recently brought it back into the public consciousness with shows like “The Mentalist”, which is actually a pretty fair representation.  While the practice of Mentalism is used by many in day to day life, it is most commonly known as a theatrical art form.  It focuses on the ability to identify and manipulate subtle idiosyncrasies’ in the makeup of human psychology, altering how reality is perceived.  

          
Is Mentalism some form of magic?

It is a common misconception to confuse Mentalism with magic.  The principals of Mentalism are far removed from that of the magical arts.  A magician relies on sleight of hand and magical props, while a Mentalist relies on sleight of mind.  One fundamental reason for this confusion is that many well known magicians will use illusion to recreate Mentalism effects.  Having said that, Mentalists will occasionally use illusion in their effects.  This is not done to produce the effect but to enhance the entertainment value of it, add humor, create mystery and awe.  Real magic happens in the mind.

Are you a Mindreader?

The notion of reading minds has been overused and abused by charlatans and the media alike.  We have all had the experience of knowing who is on the other end of the phone just before it rings, or knowing what someone is going to say just before they say it.  Everyone has the potential to expand upon this ability.  If you lost one of your senses, your other senses would be sharpened to compensate.  That said, I think a more accurate description than reading minds is reading thoughts.  Ninety percent of all human communication is non-verbal.  People wear their thoughts on their sleeves and most of the time it’s quite obvious.  The discipline is to pay attention.  Once you detect individual thoughts or thought processes and explore them relative to other cues that are given, verbal and non-verbal, it becomes possible to influence what a person will think.  This is also known as the “Power of Suggestion”.

Do you ever fail?

The simple answer is yes, I do.  Due to the very nature of what we are attempting failure is inevitable.  Although over the years my success rate has improved dramatically.  I typically average 90 to 95%, yet sometimes I simply get close.  The audience gets to be the judge in the end..

Does it work with everyone?

People’s minds are fascinating.  Just as levels of intelligence and creativity vary, people also vary in the degree to which they are open to the process.  If you want it work, more often than not it will work.  On the other hand, some people are reluctant to participate, in which case, my success rate goes down.   I have gotten pretty good over the years at determining who are good participants. 

What do you want your audience to know?

First and foremost I am here to entertain you.  In this world of rapidly advancing technology where most answers are just a few clicks away, I want to leave an audience with a sense of mystery and awe, that any preconceived limits placed on us are just goals as yet unrealized.