Bob Cassidy - Triple Edge.pdf - Bob Cassidy(1) - mcgregor2001

Bob Cassidy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Corvus Manifesto

The Photon Phenomenon

Dark Impressions

Tomorrow’s Cards

Triple Edge

The Corvus Manifesto

"Corvus?” I asked the old conjure man.

“Maybe it should be ‘corvine’. Doesn’t sound right, though.

I’ll stick with ‘corvus’. What you call things is important;

it’s something a lot of mentalists don’t understand.

“Hanussen understood it, though. All the great ones did.

Not one of them used the word ‘mentalist’. People just don’t

know what that is. You say ‘mind reader’ they know what you

mean. You say ‘clairvoyant’, ‘thought reader’, ‘psychic’ – they

know what those mean, too. You say ‘mentalist’ –they have no

idea.

“I think the reason so many performers use the term is

because it’s a show business word. You call yourself a

‘mentalist’ and you’re more or less saying that you’re doing an

act, that it isn’t psychic or supernatural.”

“Well, at least it’s honest,” I pointed out.

“Honest? How is it honest? Just because we know what a

mentalist is doesn’t mean the public does. The average mentalist

gets asked ‘So what exactly is a mentalist?’ and he says

something like ‘I use my five senses to create the illusion of a

sixth. What I do is completely natural and scientific and can be

done by anyone with sufficient study and practice.

“That’s honest? It’s just so much bullshit if you ask me.

And even if they fool themselves into thinking they understand

what you are talking about, what are you offering them? A chance

to witness your highly developed but otherwise normal abilities?

Where’s the challenge in that?”

Bob Cassidy

“You talk about suspending disbelief. What for? So they can

believe that the normal things they’re seeing are normal things?

Why not just tell them you are doing tricks? At least they may

feel challenged enough to try to figure them out. And if you

tell them they are tricks - and they feel challenged by your

assertion - they WILL figure them out; their explanations may be

wrong, but in their minds they will be satisfied that they know

how you did it.

“ They probably won’t bother, though. Nobody pays money to

see fake mind readers or psychics.”

***********************************************************

Doctor Crow is sometimes a little obscure with his

references, but on this night he was much more lucid than usual

A bit of explanation, though, might be helpful.

Some mentalists - myself included - build their acts around

the premise that they can read minds. Others take the more

conservative and, in their view, more believable approach that

the things they do are not psychic and that they are not mind

readers, fortunetellers, spirit mediums or practitioners of any

type of paranormal or occult skill - they state that the things

they do are simply based on applied principles of science and

psychology and can be accomplished by anyone willing to undergo

sufficient training and practice.

Many performers feel that the latter is a much more honest

and practical approach. They feel it makes their work acceptable

to a much broader audience than just those who are believers in

psychic or paranormal abilities. Doctor Crow disagrees with this

completely. Without the explicit or, at least, implied claim

that the performer is “real”, disbelief cannot be suspended. And

without the challenge that is offered by the paranormal claim,

the undecided or the skeptics will find little to entertain

them.

The same element of challenge is seen in standup comedy.

The performer is billed as a comedian. Implicit in that billing

is the claim that he or she is funny and will make you laugh.

There is the challenge –“make me laugh.”

***********************************************************

Triple Edge

The Doctor continued, “If you claim paranormal abilities,

you’ve thrown down a gauntlet. The peoples’ response is, ‘Okay,

then, read my mind,’ or, ‘Tell me my future,’ or, ‘Talk to the

dead.’ And if you’re competent at what you’re doing, it’s not

going to take much to convince them –because they want to

believe you. And that’s where my manifesto comes in.

“People want to believe such things are possible. They

don’t want to hear that it’s all just a trick or something

clever. They don’t want to think you are fooling them, because

no one wants to be made foolish. And they certainly don’t want

to sit there and watch you do ‘normal’ things better than they

can – they may ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ a bit, but a lot of them will

think you’re just a show-off.

“People need to believe as much as they need to eat or

breath. And that’s why you’ll never have to worry about the

exposers or the skeptics. Nobody ever made a favorable

impression on the general public by stealing away their beliefs

or telling them they’re stupid.

“Now if you don’t want to lay down the challenge – if you

don’t want to give the people something to believe in, something

to uplift them – if you just want to show them some ‘normal’

things that can be done by anyone whose studied enough – then

why bother wasting your time putting in all the work it takes to

become a decent mentalist?

“Why not just hum a few popular or clever tunes? Say

something like, ‘I am going to hum for you folks. Now I am an

extremely good hummer, but that is merely because I have

practiced and have applied myself in my study of the art of

humming. I assure you that anyone among you can, with sufficient

practice, become as accomplished a hummer as I.’

“And, if you are lucky, people will say, ‘He’s a fine

hummer, isn’t he?’

“And that’s pretty much my manifesto. It’s what I believe to be

true.”

“Well,” I replied, “I’m sure it will give my readers a lot

to think about, and for that, Doctor Crow, I thank you.”

Bob Cassidy - Triple Edge.pdf

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