Derren Brown is perhaps my all-time favorite skeptic. He does not come across one of the mean-spirited debunkers who find pleasure in making the lives of True Believers miserable. His performances are a delight, full of mystery, suspense, and surprise. Additionally his shows have teaching moments in which he reveals portions of the tricks he used to guide, control, and entertain.
Derren Victor Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions, photographic memory, and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat. Since the first broadcast of his show Derren Brown: Mind Control in 2000, Brown has become increasingly well known for his “mind-reading” act. He has written books for magicians as well as the general public. His caricature artwork has received gallery exhibition and is available in a single volume documenting his portrait collection.
– Wikipedia
It’s very easy to become caught up in deception and the illusions we want may want desperately to believe. In Unfolding: Awakening, Drew advised Tyler to guard against the true enemy, fantasy.
I had a friend about 15 years ago who went so far as to convince himself that a well known stage magician could only have made his trick work through the use of teleportation.
This ability to believe in the unreal is not limited to people exploring the fringes of our existence.
I once heard an interview of a person who climbed Mount Ararat as part of a scientific expedition to search for Noah’s Ark. They found wood at a high elevation and excitedly convinced themselves it was from the ark, took pictures of their findings, themselves, and bundled up a few precious samples for further study. Carbon dating of the wood revealed to them it was only several hundred years old.
Mainstream science is not immune either. That’s why all accepted theories must be falsifiable. If ideas can not be stated in a way that they can be challenged through experimentation or argument, then we run the risk of accepting untruths as facts.
I’ll be sharing a few of Derren Brown’s best messages educating us on how our minds work. Derren also exposes how some people/groups attempt to trick our minds to take advantage of us.
– Jeffrey A. Limpert
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References:
http://derrenbrown.co.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_Brown
Image Information:
The image in this post is used with
permission of http://derrenbrown.co.uk
Amazon – Unfolding: Awakening