With the increasing fascination with computers today, it is always important to remember that the most fascinating machine is your mind. This is a point that illusionist Craig Karges shared with his crowd at the closing of his show. Karges definitely proved this power of imagination through his engaging and mind-blowing performance. This included lifting a table by solely placing his hands on the surface and using his strong focus and imagination.
For one of his most impressive tricks, he chose random audience members and asked each one a different question about a fantasy car that they would all help to create.
The first audience participant said she would like this dream car to be a lime green Ferrari, followed by the third and fourth audience members that made up a license number and a price for this fantasy car. The audience was left in complete shock and excitement as Karges took out a note from his wallet, which he had written to himself the night before, that described the exact same car that the random audience members had just created. This left audience members excited and in utter disbelief.
Karges describes himself as not only an illusionist, but also a psychologist that studies human behavior by putting people in situations and seeing what they do. He displayed this concept as he chose a young girl from the audience, and told her to hide a coin in one of her palms. As she squeezed both hands together tightly and rose her arms straight out, Karges had to guess which hand the coin was in. Karges guessed correctly the three times she did it, by studying her answers to his questions and her non-verbal clues.
“How did he know that,” was one of the many wondrous questions heard by members of the crowd as Karges surprised audience members.
His use of strong mental determination and focus led him to guess a man’s pet’s name and a woman’s complete address, among other personal information, that could only leave the question of how.
Karges described his show as just a show, and that his main focus was not to make people believe, but more to entertain. Yet, his intriguing ability to make the impossible appear to be a reality left most audience members with no choice but to believe.
Craig Karges’ performance aims “to show the magic of his mind, while playing with yours,” as he stated in his intro. His aim was unquestionably fulfilled, as he made a page out of a book disappear from the book and reappear in a photo frame in a matter of seconds and in plain view of the audience.
This show is no wonder why Karges was named “Entertainer of The Year” by the National Association of Campus Activities and has made appearances on shows like Jay Leno and Larry King Live.
Nevertheless, Karges continues to travel to different universities and prove his strong belief that your mind is only limited by your imagination and you should use it to reach your full potential.