Pablo Amira-birreal

1

2

$"

4

Birreal A paradigm of understanding Mystery Performance Written by Pablo Amira Revised by Mike Vance

Thanks for respecting this art and keeping this document to yourself

Copyright: © 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

5

“As above, so below, as within, so without…”

6

Warning: The Birreal Theory is a constant work in progress. I truly believe and apply everything that I will share here, but I also have the right to change my mind (as everyone does). Don’t believe in what I say, but just be open and try these ideas in your own path as a Mystery Performer. As in any conversation, all the ideas that I will offer are my subjective perspectives and opinions, and that factor doesn’t take any of the value from them. Maybe you will disagree with some of them, and I am glad about that! The most important thing is that you find your own truth and reality. 7

Table of Contents Introduction Reality The Birreal Paradigm Inner Reality Outer Reality Co-Reality Artifacts Four Dimensions and Birrealism Harmony Ethics and Moral Practical Applications Conclusion 8

The only reality I can possibly know is the world as I perceive it at this moment. The only reality you can possibly know is the world as you see it at this moment. And the only certainty is that those perceived realities are different. There are as many “real worlds” as there are people! Carl Rogers

9

Introduction Are you ready to question reality? Hello, my dear friend. Thanks for your interest in this new exploration of concepts and more specifically in the “Birreal Paradigm”, that I hope can give you new insights towards an effective Mystery Performance. From the beginning in my studies in Mentalism, I appreciated the value of understanding in a deeper manner the dynamic of a performance; what the audience perceives and what I need to communicate to create those perceptions and realities. This book will be different from every other that I have written. This is not about secret methods or revolutionary techniques, but rather a paradigm of 10

understanding and observation that I have been reflecting on and studying for years, influenced by the works of many people, not just in the Mystery Performance world. Concepts are important. Language shapes reality. We as humans are what we are thanks to our advancements in language. Thanks to language we can talk, express ideas, create art, make science and be humans. So, how we think and how we talk about what we do really affects things. So if you start to see new concepts and ways to observe what you do, this will create in you new conceptions about what you do. Normally, in the understanding of Magic or Mentalism we can find the “trick” language, “deception”, 11

“fooling” or the linear “Effect and Method” explanation, which from my early beginnings I realized was too simplistic. Just observing it as a straight line, in which the “effect” and “method” always stay rigid, was not something that satisfied me. A real live performance is a living cocreation, and it is our responsibility to understand this so we can create what we need to do for our audiences and participants, guiding them towards our final goal in performance. Because I am a Mentalist, I apply this paradigm of understanding in every Mentalism performance that I do, but this doesn’t mean at all that these ideas are not valid in a Magic performance. If you also perform Magic, please transform all these insights to your own context and observe the potential value that these 12

ideas can have for your own work. Although this is the formal introduction to this book, this book itself is just the introduction to this core idea that I am still discovering, understanding and enjoying. I truly hope that for you this is just the beginning as well for new appreciation. This theory is not groundbreaking or revolutionary at all. I just changed the basis of observation and the language, allowing new concepts to emerge, that I feel can explain in a deeper and better way the beautiful and subtle aspects in the creation of Mystery Performance.

Enjoy! Pablo Amira, 2019 13

Before you continue with your reading, write your answers to the questions below (if you don’t like to write in your books, write your answers in your notebook of ideas).

What is Reality?

How do you explain what you do in performance?

14

You don’t see what it is You see what you see Humberto Maturana

15

Reality This is one of the fundamental concepts in philosophy that we will not observe it in a deeper manner of course in this book, but I want to offer you some ideas that might move you to new places of understanding, which are relevant before we observe the concept of “Birrealism”.

What is Reality? Is there such a thing as “objective reality”? What is the difference between a “correct perception” and an illusion?

16

A simple yet complex definition of Reality, which will construct the path towards the Birreal Paradigm, is:

“Reality is what is perceived as real.”

In this moment, you are reading this text, that is printed in this book. The book is not real just by itself; it needs your perception to exist. This book only exists in your mind. There are many philosophical observations about this constructivist way to observe reality, but one author that truly moves me is the Biologist and Epistemologist Humberto Maturana. If you are interested in his views on perception, illusion and the nature of reality, you can research his powerful works, especially his 17

collaborations with Cybernetist Heinz von Foerster. YOU are the creator of realities, both in your own life and in performance. What you consider reality is actually what you are experiencing at the present moment. So, if you follow this path, you will realize that the only difference between an illusion and “correct perception” is just an afterthought. A present experience is always real. After the experience, I am able to reflect on that experience as illusory, or as accepted as valid and part of my sense of reality. So, from this observation, we can see that we create permanent illusions, which are transformed into permanent realities.

18

This is highly powerful in our context in performance, and opens the notion of the Birrealism and the validity of BOTH realities that we experience in performance as real. We are subjective beings, so it is not possible to separate the observer of an experience and the observed experience. This simple notion affects our performance every time. All my interests in life, such as Psychology, Philosophy, Spirituality, Esoteric Explorations, Learning Facilitation, Music and other arts, gave me a simple realization:

Every experience is real and valid.

An experience is real as soon as it is perceived as real. There is no such 19

thing as “reality” outside the perception of someone who perceives that reality. This has huge implications in all matters in life, but particularly in performance, it allows you to understand that in Mentalism (as in any other endeavor) we are creating a real experience, not an illusion or false perception.

Mystery Performance IS real, because all experiences are real.

The classic observations and differences between Mental Magic and Mentalism are a clear example. Mental Magic is a magical performance, using the mind as a theme. Mental Magic is done by a Magician which uses mind-related 20

themes in his acts. People know that the demonstrations are not based in potentially credible mind/psychic abilities, but the person onstage is acting, thus the “suspension of disbelief” is used during the performance. A Mentalism experience is created only when the act has credibility. The performer doesn’t offer a “false perception” or an “illusion” to his audience. The Mentalist is creating a reality in which mindreading, precognition, psychokinesis and other presented phenomena are really happening, so as Lee Earle said, we are constructing “activation of belief”. We offer this act so people can perceive them and experience a real moment in their lives. They decide if what they just perceived can be real, 21

but a Mentalist offers them with that intention.

Do you know that multiple realities can occur at the same time?

22

Birreal Paradigm So, what is this “Birreal” concept all about? Basically, it’s a way to understand our personal real experience in performance as a doublesimultaneous experience, in which we create two realities, the Inner and the Outer Reality. The Inner Reality is what you experience personally as real, BUT your audience doesn’t need to perceive it (e.g., the application in performance of your core method(s), your script, your staging techniques, etc.). The Outer Reality is what you experience personally as real AND your audience perceives (everything 23

that your live performance lets your audience perceive).

BOTH ARE REAL

And this is an essential aspect to observe. This understanding moves the conversation beyond the polarity of true-false, or the “deception” approach for Mystery Performance. In your awareness as a Mystery Performer, you need to be conscious about both at the same time. Your audience must ONLY perceive the Outer Reality. As soon as they perceive parts of the Inner Reality, the experience of mystery starts to decay. “Oh, they caught my billet peek.” 24

That is because you allowed that aspect of the Inner Reality to be perceived in the Outer Reality. You were not excellent enough to camouflage your actions (we will talk more about this later). So, an effective Mystery Performance experience is one in which ONLY the Outer Reality is perceived by your audience. Labelling both spaces as “reality”, allows you to understand that what you do in the Outer Reality is not a theatrical effort. You are not pretending to be a Mystery Performer. You ARE being a Mystery Performer, and you use the resources and artifacts from your Inner Reality to convey a real experience in the Outer Reality.

25

Also, labelling what we do in a nonperceived manner (from the audience perspective) as “Inner Reality”, allows us to observe in a deeper and more serious manner what we do. As a Mentalist, I love the beauty of our techniques and tools, and as soon as I can appreciate them as real and beautiful, I can start my detachment of those same aspects, towards our goal, which is the Outer Reality in which I have full responsibility. Birrealism allows us to understand our practices not by the lens of illusion or deception, but from the perspective of real experiences. The reality that we construct in performance is as real as our normal daily reality (which is real and an illusion). In my opinion, illusions have nothing to do with Mystery Performance, because true Mystery (with a capital M) is not an illusion. 26

You are not presenting illusions; you are presenting realities.

YOU are a crafter of both realities at the same time. For that reason it’s so important to have excellent practice and rehearsal. People shouldn’t perceive a slight glimpse of the Inner Reality of your methods and applied techniques. If you ask your participant to focus on a loved one, you need to create a moment in which, in the Outer Reality, you are really getting that thought. This is called by other authors as the “process”, and I agree with that concept. People need to perceive and 27

feel the moment that you communicate in your Outer Reality. What happens if you don’t offer a process? People will try to understand the perceived reality and they will start to wonder about your secret procedure, your core method, or worse…your trick. There is no such thing as the “key to success”. EVERY performance is a new moment to be excellent, and it is our responsibility to do the best we can with our understandings, competences and presence to discern how we can create the best experience for them in performance, and this is only done with excellence in mind.

28

#*"

Inner Reality

The Inner Reality is what we as performers experience during performance.

Your core method, subtleties, principles, your subtext, your communicational interaction, your staging techniques, your pauses, your silences, everything that you practice and rehearse, are part of your Inner Reality. This dimension of personal experience is normally conceptualized in classic literature as “Method”, which since the beginning of my studies and practices, I have observed as an over-simplification. One of the problems with this “method” 30

conceptualization is that it forces us in an unconscious manner to think just on the “core method”, or worst, “the trick”. Let’s analyze that word in the context of a phrase for a moment. Imagine that you introduce your performance with this line: “I want to show you a trick.” What are you actually saying with this line is: “I will show you something that I practiced (or just bought), something that I know that you don’t, and I am implicitly challenging you to catch me.” For me, Mystery Performance is not about a “lie”, “deception” or “fooling others”. We have a wonderful opportunity to open new doors of understanding common reality as inherently mysterious with our acts, 31

but we insist on these reductionist concepts.

What we do in our Inner Reality, obviously, will have repercussions in the Outer Reality, and our task is to camouflage everything that is needed to create the Inner Reality, so from the Outer Reality, it looks like a relevant process.

“As above, so below, as within, so without; as the Inner Reality, so the Outer Reality.”

If we believe that everything we do is just tricks, deceptions and false 32

perceptions, there will be correspondence with our Outer Reality. In simple ways, if we believe that what we do is legitimate, people will tend to perceive it as legitimate. If your intention is focused on the audience experience of Mystery and not in your ego, any reality that you feel is congruent with your identity will be valid.

33

Outer Reality The Outer Reality is the experience that we facilitate our audience to perceive.

It is crucial to understand it in this manner, because the Outer Reality is not the same as the experience that each person will perceive during performance. We must be conscious about the fact that each person in our audience will perceive a different experience. We assume that most people will perceive the same reality, but if you have enough experience in performance, you will realize that this is not always the case, and this a wonderful mysterious space in which we exist as performers.

34

Only the Outer Reality is the fundamental reality of the Mentalism Experience.

It doesn’t matter which is the Inner Reality used. Mentalism is only real in the live experience of performance, thus the perception from your audience is the reality of your efforts. That is why a Mystery Performance is not defined by the Inner Reality. It doesn’t matter which methods you use; it’s all about what you create with them. The Inner Reality is in service to the Outer Reality.

35

Co-Reality The Co-Reality is the collaborative unique event that both performer and audience experience.

Something amazing could happen when we combine our Outer Reality with the perception of each of the members of our audience. At that moment, the “Co-Reality” is created. The “Co-Reality” is that shared new reality in which both the performer and the audience are living entities. A performance is a collaborative effort, in which the mystery performance is alive and exists. The concept of an audience is an illusion. There is no such thing as 36

“one perception” when we perform. We think of it in that manner to make things easier of course, and one of the goals at the beginning of every performance is to unite people and let them know that they need to be present as one, of course, but we need to realize that the audience doesn’t perceive our Outer Reality in a collective manner. Yes, we can assume that most of them will perceive very similar events, but as soon as we know that EACH member of the audience has a unique experience, we can open our understandings to more complex ideas regarding performance. So for this reason, we are NOT responsible for what people perceive. How can we?

37

We are only present in that moment, sharing our performance, but we don’t know people’s preconceptions about the themes that we use. We can use all our efforts to create an effective mystery performance, but that doesn’t mean that we can always achieve it. And this is wonderful! The Co-Reality is not our entire responsibility. We can’t be responsible for what our audience experiences. This is the reason why disclaimers are not fully effective in performance. We can only take full responsibility of what we communicate in the Outer Reality; that’s our 50%. Their individual experience is the other 50%. Without an audience, you are not a performer. Without their perception, 38

you are unable to do what you can do. So, we are then only responsible to offer excellence in performance, which only comes from proper rehearsal and understanding of each moment that your offer, and I believe that this “Birreal Paradigm” will allow you to understand what you do in a more effective manner.

39

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein

40

Artifacts In both realities, we have what I call “Artifacts”, which are the applied techniques that allows us to construct a reality of mystery. We have “Inner Artifacts” and the “Outer Artifacts”, which are expressed through the Procedure (Inner) and Process (Outer). The combination of the Inner Artifacts is our procedure. The combination of the Outer Artifacts is our process. In the procedure of your Inner Reality you can recognize various Inner Artifacts, which are not (or must not be) perceived by our audience—the 41

core method (billet switch, peek, force, etc.), the language patterns, script, staging, non-verbal techniques, ALL our applied techniques that are relevant in the creation of our Inner Reality. Because those aspects are inevitably expressed in the Outer Reality, we must be conscious of how we can camouflage them in a way that they feel natural and part of the process of the performance, so we need to be conscious about how we transform our Inner Artifacts to Outer Artifacts in an beautiful manner. Let’s see a simple example: You need to peek the content of a billet (let’s say using the classic Millard Longman Acidus Novus). How can you do this needed procedure in a way that you don’t need to hide the action, but 42

instead, camouflage it in your Outer Reality it in a natural manner? A classic technique for doing this is to focus the attention onto the participant’s palm for a moment. This conscious and explicit action that you are creating in the Outer Reality, as a relevant action in the process, allows you to lower your gaze naturally, and thus, do you peek. Let your procedure be a process. Don’t hide what you do, but camouflage it in such a way that everything that is perceived by your audience feels necessary. What if you don’t reflect about this? You will expose the procedure (which is rational by nature) and the Inner Artifact, thus allowing your audience to perceive something that they don’t need to perceive. 43

The responsibility in this is YOURS. In this example, a simple eye-to-eye gaze can be your Outer Artifact in a mindreading experience. It’s in that moment in which your audience can sense that you truly got the thought from his mind, and not from secretly watching the writing. If that process is congruent with your identity as a performer, do it. If you can read minds using psychological deduction, create a process in which those congruent Outer Artifacts can shine. So, if you don’t want to fail in mediocrity, you need to observe EVERYTHING that you do from the Outer Reality. That is the key to a powerful performance, a well-designed Outer Reality, with clear Outer Artifacts. 44

Nothing is real. John Lennon

45

Harmony As soon as you start to observe this paradigm of Inner and Outer Realities, you will understand a phenomenon that happens sometimes in Mystery Performance. Sometimes, our Inner and Outer Realities are the same! And that is what I conceptualize as “Harmony” in our endeavors; harmony between both realities, in which you have nothing to hide or camouflage (or just a little bit). Everything that you do in the Inner Reality is perceived in the Outer Reality. The mystery actually comes from the authentic demonstration that you are performing. Pendulum work is a beautiful example of this. Pendulums are moved using a true mind power called “Ideomotor 46

Response”, so you can show this to people, and let them experiment with pendulums, explaining the phenomena, and the desired goal of mystery is still present. Obviously it depends on the theme and narrative that you are offering at the performance, but if you talk about the power of the mind and how focused thoughts can literally affect you in unconscious manners, just the simple thought of a movement can move the pendulum. This is our inner artifact and also the outer one. The procedure is the process. The “secret” core method is the beauty that you offer to be experienced. Another example is Contact Mindreading or Hypnosis. You are applying legitimate techniques that don’t need any camouflage. 47

This is not workable for all performances of course, but this offers us a valuable observation. ALL routines that you perform must feel in harmony. ALL routines must offer Outer Artifacts, which can allow your audience to understand how your performance is done. One of my goals in performance is to create as much harmony as possible between the Inner and Outer Realities. For that reason I also love to give Readings, because it is a completely harmonic manner to create a mysterious experience.

48

Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. Lao Tzu

49

Four Dimensions and Birrealism We as human beings are in constant four dimensions of existence. We have the body, the mind, the soul and the spirit; our physical, our mental, our emotional and our spiritual selves. These dimensions are present also through the “Birreal” lens, allowing us to observe each of those dimensions both in the Inner and Outer Realities.

Inner Reality: 1. Body: The physical techniques that will allow you to reach your goal. As an example, if you want to execute a proper center tear, covering the stealing of the center piece, you need 50

to rehearse with your body so all actions are natural and camouflaged. Also, if you want to center focus on the participant during an experience, he must be center stage and you at his right or left side, depending on the situation.

2. Mind: Our mindset in performance matters, no doubt about it. Those aspects that people don’t consciously get during our demonstrations are part of the thoughts that we need to consciously have in order to let our body and all the rest of the dimensions do the proper work. 3. Soul: Our emotions towards ourselves, our emotions towards the audience—all those inner emotions are also part of our toolkit.

51

4. Spirit: If you allow yourself to explore your spiritual self—a ritual, a breathing exercise, a blessing before and even during your performance—it can allow you to structure a powerful Inner Reality towards a powerful Outer Reality.

Outer Reality: 1. Body: Because our body is our physical self, both Inner and Outer manifestations of this dimension are normally the same, with some differences that you can analyze in each particular situation. For example, in order to create a powerful telepathic artifact, you can simply take a different stand, unconsciously communicating to your audience that this is your “telepathic posture”. Although it’s not part of 52

your Inner Reality, it’s part of your Outer Artifact, so it’s experienced as real in the Outer Reality. It's in this comparison between the Inner and Outer Reality that you use the body dimension as a dimension in which you can critically camouflage your secret actions, in order to transform them into movement that is understood as part of the process. If I need to steal the center of a billet, I need to consciously observe my body from the audience perspective so they can feel and perceive a needed action. If you steal the center and you want to place it in your pocket, that action must be understood by your audience (e.g., you will get a lighter to burn the pieces).

53

2. Mind: Your thoughts in your Outer Reality are used to deliver your script, to connect with your audience through language, and to remember your rehearsed performance in order to create an effective set of actions. Again, some of our Inner Artifacts in this dimension will also appear in our Outer Reality. Our positive and optimistic mindset can even be expressed openly, which can also add power to the ambiance of your performance.

3. Soul: The emotions that you express in your performance are highly relevant in order to connect with your audience in an empathic manner. If you perform for real people, you know that sometimes we just had a bad day and we need to be aware of our inner state so the outer 54

performance is as effective as you can make it, respecting your own private emotional state. So, if you are angry or sad for some personal reason, as soon as you are aware of that, you can connect with your desire and motivation to be with your audience, and focus on other more functional emotional states. This has saved me in a lot of different situations. I remember one time that I was extremely sad for some family reasons, but I had a show to do. Before the performance I did breathing exercises and mindfulness techniques in order to calm myself. It was not my best performance, but not the disaster that it could have been, all thanks to this observation of the emotions in the Inner and Outer Realities.

55

4. Spirit: The metaphysical and spiritual self is also expressed in the Outer Reality of your performance, and it is perceived by your practices during performance and through your language. As you can see, a lot of harmony is presented between each dimension in the simultaneous realities that you experience. Sometimes they are the same one, because our dichotomic separation of Inner and Outer is just imagination. They are not dualistic, but dialectic entities of reality. They both interact constantly, but in the rational separation we can appreciate the differences and the needed reality that our audience must perceive.

56

57

Ethics and Morals The concept of ethics is always controversial, especially if you do Mentalism or Readings, but rarely do we talk about what is “morally correct” or just “what is good”. Are we liars? The philosophy of ethics and morals is whole different books of course, but the “Birreal Paradigm” can let us understand this “issue” in a different manner. In art, we can take “artistic license”, so if you consider your Mystery Performance an art, there is no need to feel ethically responsible. You are in a theatrical setting. You can declare whatever you want if it is congruent and authentic with your identity. 58

Mystery Performance is not an ethical activity, but first and foremost, an aesthetic one, and most of the time we lose too much time in “disclaimers”, trying to be more “ethical”, damaging in great ways the aesthetic experience. Don’t take this in an incorrect manner. I don’t support fakes, charlatans and con artists at all. Be sincere with your audience. If you truly are using your intuition, then claim that. If you don’t, don’t claim that. If you take the “Birreal Paradigm” to understand your Mystery Performance, you will realize that we don’t need to lie in our Outer Reality! We are indeed applying our Inner Artifacts and procedures in order to 59

design an Outer Reality for our audiences. Who cares if you have mindreading psychic abilities or not? You are creating the experience of that phenomenon to your audience, and you are not lying about that. In order to create a sincere, constructive and enlightening performance, we must NOT lie, but offer an authentic experience. So, in observing ethics then from the Birreal Paradigm, we can observe two dimensions of ethics, the Inner Ethics and the Outer Ethics. In the Inner Ethics, we are ethically responsible to construct a solid Inner Reality. We are called to excellence, and we NEED to do the best we can. That must be your Ethos. 60

If you are mediocre in your Inner Reality, you are being unethical. If you are doing a billet peek, rehearse in an effective manner, so it becomes an unconscious procedure in your mind, well camouflaged in the Outer Reality so it has meaning in your Outer Artifact. This is an ethical behavior. Our ethic guideline in the Outer Reality is never to be fake. And I don’t focus this aspect on if you have magical or psychic powers, but actually to block the opportunity that you have to be vulnerable and authentic to your audience. So, Mystery Performance is not about “being a liar”, but letting others experience mystery, and mystery is not illusion or lie. 61

Regarding the concept of “morals” (which in a way is the true center of the conversation between performers), our mission is always to offer them our truth (which is true enough): light and not darkness. Don’t lie to them. If you are not psychic, don’t say that. Let them truly know you, and offer a constructive and entertaining experience. What is the good that you can offer to your audiences? Beauty, poetry, empowerment, entertainment, enchantment, liberation, connection. Be an agent of good energies; empower your audience. That’s a true contribution to the world.

62

Reality is not always probable, or likely. Jorge Luis Borges

63

Practical Applications Let’s apply everything that I shared with you in these pages to some practical examples and applications. You are enjoying your coffee with your friend, and the moment is appropriate for a performance. One of your favorite routines is to use borrowed objects to do a prediction of their free decisions. The core method that you will use is Equivoque to force one of the objects. So, the Inner Reality that you will experience is that you will apply your rehearsed script and choreography of actions and subtle techniques to allow your participant to feel free decisions in your Outer Reality. Remember that 64

the Outer Reality is not the same as the participant’s experience. Your Outer Reality is only your intention of reality for your participant and audience. The real experience of performance is created LIVE, in the “Co-Reality”.

So, you apply all your Outer Artifacts and memorable moments in your Outer Reality, and your participants feel the mystery of reading the prediction as correct. “Wait a moment… did you really see like a vision while you closed your eyes before you wrote this?” If you did it, you can clearly state that as true. If you didn’t, don’t lie to people. Don’t offer yourself as a pretender. If your Outer Artifact in predictions is to influence people, use 65

that guideline to observe the objects, to think a little bit and really to calculate which object will be the influenced one. Then perform the routine with that influence in mind, and then if the participant asks you if you influenced them, you can be sincere.

As you can see in this example, I don’t see the dichotomic observation of true-lie as a valid point in this paradigm, because we start from the point of Constructivism in Realism. EACH one of us constructs his own sense of reality, so what is real for me may not be real for you, but this is not the same as saying that I am lying and you are telling the truth, because basically we are not able to recognize the truth with our 66

perception. We can only perceive what is real for us and reflect about the experience so after that moment we can re-experience this as part of our sense of reality or not. That is the reason why, as Mystery Performers, we are so inclined to lie in such an easy way. Astonishment is a wonderful and confusing emotion that opens people to a potential new belief, and if you are faking your identity, you will communicate messages that are incongruent with yourself. So, you are excellent and you offer good tribute to your practice and rehearse, offering a polished and connected performance. Your participant perceived not just the “What”, but the “How” and the “Why” of your performance. 67

As you can see, the practical differences are not drastic or overcomplicated. Yes, this theory could sound a little bit heavy and complex, but again, the Inner Reality of Birrealism is full of beautiful complexity, but in the Outer Reality of real-world application it is simple and powerful.

Let’s see a stage example of the practical use of Birrealism: performing a Drawing Duplication. You invite your participant to your stage, and you show him some cards with words. The participant chooses one and uses that word as inspiration for his drawing. The performer then gives her a blackboard to draw that word, and the performer takes one. 68

After some moments, the drawings are shown and they are the same. Here the core method is not relevant (I imagine myself using my “Minimal Duplication” from the Minimal Mentalism III Lecture Notes) but the most relevant aspect here (as always) is the Outer Reality. The Birreal Paradigm allows you to understand in deeper ways your “What, How and Why?” in each of the realities. Because we are working onstage, the concept of staging is incredible relevant, and part of our Inner and Outer Artifacts without a doubt. It is very different to take the backto-back staging that Bob Cassidy used than taking a long distance staging as in Theo Annemann’s “A Real Psychic Test” in Jinx #3. 69

Because we are onstage, we need to project our voice (if you don’t have a microphone, of course) and this “Body Inner Artifact” is highly relevant. I have seen wonderful performers, who are very competent, but because they don’t focus on this important detail, their performance was not effective at all.

I remember another colleague that I saw years ago who clearly didn’t understand the importance of staging, placing the participant onstage at 70

“Upstage Center”. This staging blocked our view as an audience of everything that he did. Maybe he wanted to have a more intimate moment, no doubt about it, but Stage Center is the place that offers both focus, intimacy, but also a good perspective for us as an audience. So let’s imagine that we use the Annemann staging, and we placed our participant at Stage Left, and ourselves at Stage Right, each one drawing. At the revelation moment, it is necessary to bring conscious focus to the revelation, so it is imperative to move to downstage center. As you can see, staging as a bodyrelated action is the same both in the Inner and Outer Realities, being an Inner and Outer Artifact that truly gives the performance more impact. 71

If we want to observe the core Outer Artifact presented, at the moment in which the participant starts to draw, the performer will actually get the thoughts and images from the participant’s mind. You are not “acting”. You are not “pretending”. You ARE getting her thoughts in real time. Yes, from the Inner Reality perspective you already know the participant’s word, but this is not relevant. You MUST create realities for your audiences, not illusions or lies.

72

Now my invitation for you is to understand each performance piece that you do from this Birreal Paradigm. I am sure that this will allow you to observe in a more clear manner aspects such as the narrative presented in the Outer Reality, your core Outer Artifact (the “HOW” that your audience can associate with the phenomena presented) and all the other important details that will allow you to create a powerful and excellent Inner Reality towards excellence in your Outer Reality, so you can facilitate the “Co-Reality” with your audience in a more effective manner. The simple concept of “Birrealism” allows you to expand to infinite possibilities and literally observe everything that you do in performance from other perspectives.

73

One of my explorations in Mentalism is the application of Minimalism, and I realize that Minimal Mentalism is ALL about Outer Reality, not the Inner Reality per se. Minimal Mentalism is about offering people the essence of what you want to perform. The Inner Reality is not relevant; it can be simple and direct or very contrived and complex. Normally, in my Inner Realities I am a Minimalist. I don’t care about complex and “fooling” methods, but I understand the Inner Reality as a path, not a goal. At the same time, I don’t limit myself. I could use a more “maximalist” Inner Reality if I chose it for some reason. A great example of this is Equivoque as a technique. It doesn’t matter how complex your procedure (Equivoque is a very complex technique), from the 74

Outer Reality, it must be feel simple, direct and beautiful. And again, all Outer Realities must be simple and clear to our audiences. If a performance piece is not clear, we must come back to our laboratory and re-design both realities, so we can reach our goal. A simple and powerful exercise is actually to imagine the description of the performance from the audience perspective: “He asks her to focus on her best friend, and he read her mind.” That description can guide you towards a correct design in your Inner Reality, so you can work with a clear goal in mind. Propless? Billets? Pre-Show? It doesn’t matter. Choose whatever you 75

want. Work towards that experience, and if you apply everything that we are observing here, you will literally be able to construct mysterious realities for others.

76

One person's craziness is another person's reality. Tim Burton

77

Conclusion

This is the conclusion of this book, but the introduction at the same time. The introduction for you to a new paradigm of understanding. As you can see, this is not difficult to absorb and to apply, but maybe it will take some time to break old structures and patterns of thinking. Let this information be transformed in inspiration, in a subtle manner, respecting your own pace. As you can understand now, there are two realities that you are experiencing simultaneously as a performer, but as there as many realities as members of your audience, respect that, and manage your ego constantly. 78

Mystery Performance is not about you, but about mystery and how it’s channeled. As you can sense, we start here to apply a different language that is normally used in Mentalism or Magic books. I invite you to expand your language, to read, study and learn as much as you can about everything that can inspire you. The use of new concepts and language will allow your mind to literally expand, and maybe understand other perspectives that you just can’t get with other types of language. I truly hope that these ideas can move your mind and, most important, your heart, to new levels, so your audiences and participants can enjoy and appreciate this wonderful art and practice. 79

Thanks for your interest, trust and support. Anything that you need, just let me know.

Pablo Amira, 2019

80

Everything is real. Everything is an illusion. There is no “reality” outside your own sense of reality. Be sincere, don’t fake it, don’t lie. Be real.

81

82

83