Bob Cassidy - Triple Edge.pdf

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©
2003 by Robert E Cassidy
All rights reserved in all media
Bob Cassidy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Corvus Manifesto
The Photon Phenomenon
Dark Impressions
Tomorrow’s Cards
3
10
22
27
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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?”
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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.”
***********************************************************
4
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.”
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