At the earliest stages of human history there were magicians, priests and shaman .
They gained special status for mastery in duping and thrilling the human mind offering Transcendent Experience.
(Make me believe the impossible!)
Magicians were variously called Prophets, Miracle Workers and Demi-gods. By what special power?
Magicians made a sort of pact with their audience. They would amaze and mystify them IF the audience would only play along.
Six categories of "magic":
1.Disappearance
2.Production (something out of nothing)
3. Transformation (one thing becomes another thing.)
4. Motive Power (objects with the ability to move on their own.)
5. Natural Law Violation (levitation, going through a wall, etc.)
6.Transposition (two objects change places)
Humanity relied on the STORIES told about these exploits for their vicarious thrills. STORIES exaggerated the exploits into momentous achievements at the hands of a superpowerful God instead magic.
Magic was divided into Good and Evil magic. God was behind the Good and Satan was the cause of the Evil.
Every religious sect begins with elements of the six.
Consider:
Muhammed is said to have been ILLITERATE and yet he produced perfect Arabic verses. The concealment is in the misdirection of the presentation. Was Muhammed in fact illiterate? How would any of us know this for certain? Should we merely accept this premise? Did someone write for him?
How to get people amazed at what you write? Tell them you are illiterate and yet, somehow, wrote!
Joseph Smith had plates of gold which he translated using a seer stone. (Yes, a rock with a hole in it!) By sticking the stone in a hat and burying his face in it! He "translated" from behind a curtain, no less! We are told that a great many witnesses actually "saw" these gold plates. Should we accept all this as given? The remaining examples of the original words of Joseph Smith are in awful rural english with grammatical errors and run-on sentences, yet; the modern Book of Mormon scriptures have been...ummm..."adjusted" so that you'd never know that at all!
Moses went up on a mountain and nobody was allowed to come near. He returned with tablets of stone actually written by the finger of God himself! Oh--the tablets were broken, naturally(by Moses) and Moses had to replace them by carving some himself! This isn't suspicious behavior, is it?
Charles Taze Russell was specially chosen by God to be his mouthpiece by allowing Russell to interpret scripture and Pyramid measurements to know in advance when Jesus would return. There are millions of people today who subscribe to the religion Russell started because they believe this! Or, do they? The story has changed many times and the trick goes on.
Remember the pact? The magician helps the audience achieve a transcendant experience by showing them a seeming miracle.
The audience wishes to be fooled.
Brains are rewarded (pleasure chemicals released) each time we are fooled! The enormous pleasure of witnessing a miracle creates an enormous sense of well-being.
If I were a magician who told how easily his trick was done, my audience would be let down and the excitement of transcendance would become commonplace.
That is my reveal! Every element of religious belief is rewarded when you allow yourself to be fooled! But, when you see through the trick, you can only feel cynical.
1975 was my last "reward". By peeking behind the curtain on that reveal I and millions of others got the largest reward of a lifetime.
For seven years we were excited, amazed, thrilled and engaged in a momentus worldwide publicity campaign that resulted in........fooling ourselves!
Fool me once; shame on you.
Fool me twice; shame on me.
Once you know the lady isn't sawn in half and that it is a special table that hides the torso it isn't much of a thrill. The Truth of being tricked
is wanting to believe that their really IS magic.