You wish you were a kid again? In a way, when you watch magic, you are. Do you by any chance remember the routine where DC linked, unlinked, tore and restored three playing cards on the Statue of Liberty special? The magician who originated that routine was Paul Harris, and he has some fascinating things to say about astonishment.He talks about how, when you come into this world, intially everything is everything. Very slowly, you learn to differentiate things, and eventually even abstract concepts, and you're effectively putting them in "mental boxes." You learn that your parents go in one box, and that the parent box is separate from the drapes box, and so on. As life goes on, you build so many boxes around your original pure "everything-is-everything" state of mind, that you believe it's actually gone.
Then along comes someone like DC, who does something like walk through the Great Wall of China, or Flying. Just like when you experience anything else, you go to file this experience in a mental box. But wait - there's no box it will fit in! People can't fly or walk through ancient walls! But here's a guy who just did it! So, for a brief time, your mental boxes are knocked out of the way, and you experience just a touch of that original, pure moment of astonishment you may not have felt when you were born.
Astonishment, Paul Harris says, is not an emotion that's created, but rather an existing state that's revealed.
Sadly, it is a fragile experience. This great feeling often lasts for less than 10 seconds. After that, you usually store it away in the "It used mirrors" box, the "it went up his sleeve" box, or even the classic "I don't know what he did but I know it was all a trick" box.
That's really too bad, because it gives the image that, since the magic itself was faked, that any experience generated by it couldn't be very real or valuable. Getting someone to recall that original white-light moment of astonishment they first felt coming into this world is very real, and a very valuable experience. Perhaps someday more people will learn to watch magic by trying to extend the experience, and "surf" in the center of the "big gasp".
If so, those people will get to re-live a small part of their childhood again. Never lose that!
-Scott C.
"I can't really do magic. I can only help you see it."
-Peter Samelson
Astonishment Site: http://members.aol.com/scottcram
"Kid Hunt!" 
