People learn magic for different purposes. The basic motivation for learning magic is that magic amazes and intrigues other people and ourselves. If you perform a magic trick to your friend, the usual response you get is “how did you do it?”
The first motive of that response is to satisfy a curiosity. After you have shared the secret to the magic trick you performed to your friend (which you shouldn’t), he/she may or may not choose to learn how to perform it. This is where I draw the distinction between a curiosity seeker and one who is interested in magic.
The one who chooses not to learn the magic trick after knowing the secret is merely a curiosity seeker.
The one who chooses to learn it wants to perform it in order to amaze and intrigue others just as much as he was amazed and intrigued.
Taking that even a step further, each one has one or more of the following motives:
- A natural passion for magic especially developed since childhood;
- to become a professional magician in order earn a living;
- to entertain family and friends;
- to impress ladies.
The last three reasons are extrinsically motivated while the first is one is intrinsically motivated. Humans generally want to possess power beyond their physical abilities. Being able to perform magic not only gives the audience the impression but also satisfies the performer’s imagination that he/she possesses some supernatural powers beyond his/her natural self.
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