Thanks to Nielsen Magic for permission to use the above image. Our senses - the sense of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch - allow us, as human beings, to experience the world around us.  Without our senses we would, quite literally, be living within a void.  Imagine, if you will, living a life without the benefit of your five senses.  Granted, it is a difficult scenario to grasp.  Suffice it to say that a person would not be able to function as a human being, if one were able to survive at all.  Without the use of our senses we wouldn't be able to experience the world outside of ourselves.  In fact, we would not even be able to experience or sense our own self. We rely heavily on our senses on a day-to-day basis.  In fact, we have the tendency to take our senses for granted.  And why wouldn't we?  If we didn't put trust in our senses we would literally go crazy, questioning every sensory experience that came our way. As with our previous discussion, we make assumptions that our senses will provide for us sufficient information that will allow us to go through our day without too much difficulty.  And for the most part, this is true.  However, as we discovered earlier, just like with assumptions, our senses can also fool us.  And they can fool us bad!  An experienced conjuror - and a good con-artist - has a good understanding of, not only how people rely on assumptions, but also how their senses can be manipulated to create a desired effect. To be clear, when we say that one or more of our senses has been fooled what we are really saying is that our mind has performed a gross misinterpretation of the information that it has received via one or more of our senses.  Our eyes may have seen, our nose may have smelled, our ears may have heard, our tongue may have tasted and our skin may have felt the sensory information presented to them as accurately as it was possible for them to see, smell, hear, taste and touch.  However, the mind, through its natural processes, has failed to interpret these sensory perceptions accurately. In the next several pages we will look at each sense one at a time and in detail.  At least one effect will be provided for each of the senses to illustrate how they can be fooled.  I encourage you to try each of the effects as described.  You just might amaze yourself.  In fact, some of the effects illustrate to a frightening degree just how easily our senses - and, hence, our mind and thoughts - can be manipulated.  And if you can manipulate and fool your own mind and senses while you are aware that you are doing this, just imagine what can be accomplished by an unscrupulous person where you are not aware that this is taking place.  Hopefully, these next few pages will provide you with a bit of insight and knowledge - information you can put in your arsenal - to combat the paranormal, parapsychological and pseudoscientific nonsense that inundates our world today. So, if you are ready, select a sense below to begin the journey to make sense of nonsense via our senses. | Home | Index | Blog | Conjuring | Skeptics | Logic | Resources | Talk | Tricks | Thanks| © Copyright 2010, MAGICMINDS Productions.