This may be the most important Blog Post I have ever shared.
Why are we doing this?
Take a moment and think about this.
Don’t read any further until you are satisfied with your answer.
Be Honest
Why stand up in front of any audience and present magic?
What is that all about?
Who truly benefits from this?
I am going to be honest with you.
When I was in Primary School, I got into a lot of fights, physical conflict and aggressive negotiations.
This carried on well into my teens at Secondary School.
I was subjugated and victimised, not by the white boys in school, no, I suffered at the hands of boys from the Black Community.
Yes, violence from my own kind.
Why?
To this day, I cannot answer this question.
I was called Coconut, Grey Man, Honky Lover.
I am 11 years old and having this experience.
I recall a vivid conversation with another Black Boy at school. He said to me, “you don’t like black people do you?”.
I told him him to go fuck himself.
He took offence to my eloquently expressed usage of profane language – he attacked me, we got into a fight, I got into trouble with the school authorities.
I got fed up with school, it made no sense to me.
I made up my mind; School was NOT the place for me.
The best thing I ever did was tell my Teacher, Mr Bruce Hamilton.
“I am not coming to School any more”, I told him. “School is a place to learn, not to be in fear every day, I don’t like it here, I am not coming back”.
God bless you Mr Hamilton, wherever you are.🙏🏾😥
Mr Hamilton told me; “not coming School is not an option Michael, you ARE coming to School, we will put a stop to this Bullying once and for all. You can do something none of us can understand, I know you are interested in Magic, I will set it up for you to do a few of your magic tricks for the School Assembly. Once the bullies see what you can do, they will leave you alone”.
He was dead right.
I did the School Assembly, performed Sponge Balls and some other trick. That was my first experience off… APPROVAL.
In this moment, I TRANSFORMED.
No longer was I a VICTIM.
I became a CELEBRITY.
In my mind, I figured, if I could be a good magician…I COULD SURVIVE.
Mr Hamilton saved my life, he pointed me in a new direction. He took a stand for me where no one else would.
I now understand my Psychic Trauma of not being good enough, not fitting in, being an outcast.
I understand now why the behaviour of others was about their Trauma, not mine. I did not know this as a boy, I felt their was something wrong with me, why else would this be happening?
Standing up in front of an audience gives me POWER.
My ego went into over drive as a boy, I became fascinated with psychology and how I could get inside people’s heads and mess with their minds, just like Hannibal Lecter.
I decided, studying magic was for me, this is my SUPER POWER and will support me in life.
It did…
In the last ten years, I have addressed my trauma and brought peace to it and forgiveness to others.
I give thanks to The Landmark Forum for opening my eyes to the genius and madness of the human condition.
I began to create a new context – magic isn’t about me any more, it’s about others.
My magic is a heartfelt gift to others.
It is my duty to give the gift of magic, laughter and astonishment away – whether I am paid or not.
Its not about fame or fortune.
Its about: self expression, courage, passion, dedication, fulfilling my purpose, self actualisation, humanity & love.
I have come to appreciate the honesty of my audience, they have not lied to me. Their response to my work inspired me to work harder. This hard work is paying rich dividends.
Now, I stand up in front of an audience not expecting anything from them.
I am there to contribute and serve.
Every performance is an opportunity to shed my ego and be vulnerable, so that my audience will experience my authentic nature and self expression.
I do not consider myself better or worse than anyone else, I am a human being who has something interesting to share.
Now, back to my original question, why are YOU doing this?
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Thanks for reading
Mike x
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