Actual magic community problem.

[OliveroG]

Hello guys, i wanted to post this topic a while back ago, but the idea wasn't solid enough, it isn't now, but it's better.

You might not know this, but i also spend a little of my time a magic forum that mostly reveals magic effects online, this place was recommended to me by a friend of mine who's starting in magic, and sometimes it is a really cool place to hang out, also, there are some fights between the members that you just want to grab popcorn.

Anyway, hanging out in that community have made me realize what is the actual problem about the magic community that's making the art sink, it was pretty obvious after a while: Patience.

Why patience? is pretty obvious when you think about it, we are in the era of the information, everything is so quick you can't believe it, with a click you're talking to someone in England, or Holand, or Vietnam, with a click you have access to tons and tons of information, everything is moving to fast that is making everyone running out of patience, which is a very important factor to work on in every kind of art.

Why patience affects magic? two main reasons, the first one is pretty obvious, since it is so easy to sell magic downloads online and get some extra bucks, people is rushing methods, rushing how? selling the first thing they get, without any sort of second though, even maybe without testing the method among other people, just the mirror, when the greatest magic classics took decades to be perfected, (An early known example is Akira Fujii's linking cigarrettes, which he said took him 10 years of working to perfect).

The second reason is about the attitude of the community itself, since there is so much magic revealed everywhere, and so much easy to get material everywhere (see direct downloads, even pirated ones), they want to get secrets and secrets and secrets non stop, this causes two things, one, they don't perfect most of the magic they have, two, they become used to the ease of getting material that fast, and that's not good, i was witness of a group of the community manipulating a member with money and psychological threatening to reveal one of his effects (this affects real life too, so it's a little more serious now).

Those are - i believe -, the main problems with the magic community today, so these are the words for you to think about, are you patient enough to spend ten, twenty, fifty years working in something to get it RIGHT? if not, you might want to check yourself as a person, and as an artist, because that's we are supposed to be, artists.

[Fin]

Well said!! I also think that part of this problem with patience and a desire to practise properly is because those two things are actually skills that we must learn. I learnt to play the violin when I was younger, and although I did not always enjoy practise and haven't touched the violin for years, it did teach me a lesson that has been invaluable to me since I have started magic as a hobby. What it taught me was that with proper practise, you can indeed become good at something, even if it seems incredibly difficult at first and may take a lot of time. Nobody becomes a good violinist in a week, or even a few years. It takes a LONG time before you start to sound even half-decent. Many of the card sleights and tricks I practise I approach with the same attitude. I have practised some stuff for months before even thinking about performing it and there are some tricks I've not performed yet but have been working on for well over 6 months. Afterall, if you are serious about magic, why bother doing a half decent trick for someone, when with patience you can make it a miracle?

I don't think this is mostly a community problem though, although it does play a part. I think that many magicians perform badly, due to lack of practise of course, but not necessarily just because it is some sort of community, internet, modern-life, or even UFO related problem; I think its just because they (like all the bad violinists who have existed for hundreds of years) just don't practise enough either through laziness, or just an inability to push themselves beyond being mediocre. They want the credit of being a "magician" and being able to perform miracles; but they don't have the mental strength or tools with which to properly learn and master the art. Every art, sport, you name it, they all have their born losers. I think "bad magic" coming from "bad performers" is basically just down to lazy humans, oh and young kids who are trying out different hobbies to try to find their niche, which I can understand. I do agree the community and the commercial side does definitely have its problems and this contributes to the overall problem of increasing lack of quality; but I think its more often just down to the nature of us humans, and that many of us are lazy, and that not everyone's Hurricane change is going to look as good as mine!

[thetophatfirm]

This isn't a topic left for the artist either! Philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, investors, and even the con-man pickpocket have these problems with their peers. I find two words that I feel are the ones that such of us do not embody; Devotion and Mastery. One is emotional, the other logical. Both are needed for a goal, short and long term. One thing I find is introducing these guys to those ideas, that usually wakes them up a little lol that or they give up hahaha

[TheWezku]

Well said. its all about dedication to your art !

If anyone haven't seen movie called The Prestige i suggest you go and watch that movie... its awesome and its about magic and dedication to your art.