If You Were My Student…
If you were my student I would say that you may want to work at deciding what YOU believe, and be sure that is accurately reflected in your promotional material, your performance, your choice of tricks, your performing personality, clothing, etc.
It may seem odd, but people care more about YOU than your tricks. This is true of us even when we feel unworthy. People want to relate and know more about any performer, and the performer is best served if the performance matches his or her own inner world. I know that may seem difficult, but this is what I teach my students.
“Performers are those who turn themselves inside out in public” IF they are any sort of real artist. Artists share their secret inner world with the outer world. That is what makes for art. Be entertaining, sure. As a magical performer, be sure to mystify them, absolutely. Most of all, share YOU with your audience in your manner of dress, choice of effects, what you say, what your own inner relationship is to what you perform. THAT is what makes a true magical artist; one who surpasses even good entertainment. How do you do that?
Check into Genuine Amazement, Wonder Words and An Enchanted Evening for some reminders.
Make sure the inner you is matching up with the outer you in performance.
That’s what I would tell you as my student, and I hope you ponder all of this well for your own success, and the endearment of your audience.
Sometimes people respond to this claiming they are proud deceivers. They may point out that I have mentioned Picassoʼs infamous quote:
“We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand.”
Here is my reply to such a student on that attempt to wiggle out of personal, artistic, responsibility:
Picasso, as I consider this quote, was saying that art reflects or suggests some sense of truth, but it is not truth itself. If we apply that notion to mentalism, then if you believe in the power of the mind, or energy, and that we might be able to truly bend metal with our mind or energy, performing metal bending makes sense. Bending metal then would be a symbolic act that reflected something you felt was a truth within yourself. However to bend metal thinking such ideas a sham in real life, might make you as a performer feel like a sham, or a superficial artist.
Picassoʼs statement to me is more akin to “The Tao spoken of is not the true Tao.” Art can only hint at that which cannot be discussed or explained away with logic. The sublime is hinted at in art, yet art itself may not be That to which it alludes.
In the inability of art to adequately express and openly show the truly sublime, art is “a lie” as Picasso wryly put it, and his statement has since thrown many off the track of his intentions.
It is common in more esoteric thought to use words and pictures as “blinds” with a deeper insight that only very careful students can ponder and discover. It should be obvious that Picasso was not one to state the truth as he saw it plainly. His art was surely not the way life looks at a superficial level. Yet there is truth in his art, although hidden by those not looking beyond the surface.
This sort of “art is a lie” means that art is a lie in that it is an inadequate expression of a greater truth, not that you are being honest that you are lying… for how can the latter ever be, truly?
I know, I know. This is too much to think about! It is far easier just to buy a trick and do powerful things with it.
When you learn great tricks, that have the potential of power in them, then doing that trick might just hint at art. What you put into it of yourself however, and what that trick secretly means to you, is what will make that trick seem like powerful art to your audiences.
This is true even if your audience is only a friend or two, by the way.
If you were my student, I would insist that you have Genuine Amazement, Anti-tada, Wonder Words, An Enchanted Evening, Mystery By Association and It’s Suggestion.
Of course, if you are my student long term in the Inner Sanctum, you already know that.
Why? Because these works take you most quickly to where you want to go. These works will help you understand how to make magic and mentalism relate to audiences. These written teachings will get you to be the best performer you can be. These specific works help you to create original tricks and presentations, even if you think you can’t do any such thing. These works get you to connect to audiences deeply. They allow you how to be a real artist without a lot of effort. They show you how to stay away from suggestion that hurts your performance and personality, and how to use suggestion to make nothing seem like a big effect.
The Secret Trilogy that is missed by most people is the Trilogy my private Students know very well. This Secret Trilogy consists of Genuine Amazement, Anti-tada, and It’s Suggestion.
This Trilogy will change how you do everything, and how others respond to you. Be prepared though, mere tricks won’t seem as exciting to you after you learn the secrets in this Trilogy.
Many people ask me how to sort through all of my work and teaching and find the material that is best for them. Other than working with me privately, one-on-one, or in Membership programs, the best material to help you do what you want to do is revealed here.
Hope this information and insight gives you a bit to think about and feel.
Kenton Knepper
Some of these works may still be available, with special pricing for those who read this blog. See the links below to discover what is still available online of these works.
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