My children, aware of my interest in magic, gave me a wonderful gift for Father’s Day. I would always be grateful, whatever the content of the show. But this Show by the Ecuadorian illusionist of German origin Siegfried Tieber delighted me with his originality, novelty and intelligent approach. With simple elements, histrionic capacity and immense dexterity, he developed a performance quality. Magic for trained people, since most of his illusions require information, some level of abstraction and some culture to appreciate them in all their dimension. You have to have a concept of chaos and probability. In any case, a ten-year-old with a normal upbringing can fully enjoy it. I am not surprised that this young countryman has notable successes abroad, when you have the opportunity, visit him.

Why do I love magic? It is a highly rational activity, and I am a radical rationalist. All of us who come to an exhibition of this nature know that we will be “cheated” and that feeling pleases us. We assume that what we will see will not be what it seems. We don’t believe what we see. The illusionist magician is the opposite of the religious preacher or political fighter, who wants us to believe in what we cannot see. Although this does not necessarily mean that their claims are false. I am a believer, but my religiosity is based on an effort to rationally explain reality, not on a “leap of faith”. That’s why I don’t like most atheists, who are like that because their teacher or friends told them so, and most because it’s intellectually chic, including dogmatists, whose converts’ anger approaches that of Islamic State militants.

Watching a magic show is an invitation to humility. Our senses are limited tools for knowing the universe. If we did not know in advance that we were going to see an exhibition of cunning or illusionism, we would believe that the artist works miracles, that is, that he is capable of changing the laws of nature. There are still charlatans who misuse these skills to deceive and cheat people. I have personally seen cases of healers allegedly using various methods to extract scorpions, hairballs and pieces of flesh from people who wanted to be cured of real or imagined illnesses. Patients believed that they were actually dealing with supernatural events. High-level magicians work with law enforcement agencies in various countries to expose fraudsters of this type. We can censor a malicious practice, but not a belief. After all, every human being many times in his life is deceived by his own senses, confused by the unique combinations of nature or misled by wrong or malicious third parties. So, we pay to see those interesting, entertaining and even formative presentations where our vision gets confused and our brain wanders, the point is to know that the world is what we see, that is the reality we love. (OR)