Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Prestidigitation

Living as I do with a total lack of manual dexterity, I am easily impressed by prestidigitation. Prestidigitation ("quick fingers") or léger de main (from the French for "lightness of hand") also known as slight of hand. Sleight, meaning dexterity or deceptiveness, comes from the Old Norse slœgð. Sleight of hand is often mistakenly written as slight of hand. Slight descends from the Old Norse slettr, meaning plain, flat, even, smooth, level. Prestidigitation is the set of techniques used by a magician (or card sharp) to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly.

I once worked as an assistant to a professional magician. I learned how many of the tricks were done, but couldn't learn how to do any of them. Sometimes seeing, believing and even understanding are not doing.

In life, as well as magic, we sometimes learn that reality is more than we can handle. But, I have learned to compensate by learning about things that I will never be able to do and places I will never be able to visit. It is sort of a prestidigitation of the mind.

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