"It's only smoke & mirrors if you don't want to believe..."
I came up with this phrase somewhere around the tender age of 21.
I had spent an entire day watching the tube. For some reason, there had been a number of "reveal the hoax/secret" type shows on, from the classic Watergate to a reveal-all story about P.T. Barnum. Something about all that saddened me; I didn't know why people would WANT to know ALL these secrets. I mean, where's the mystery?
So, all crestfallen and such, I changed the current station - and found a similar show on magicians. But THIS show turned out to be different.
THIS show revealed how magicians had used their entertainment skills throughout the ages to entertain & lift morale in troops during many, MANY wars. It revealed a few tricks, but left enough behind to lean the viewer towards the idea of a possible, coincidental energy... leaving one with the idea that magic MIGHT be real - and to never stop believing.
This made my day. And that's when it came to me.
Many people find out so many secrets that they become jaded. My thought is because there's no more "magic" left for their inner children to believe in, they feel like they've been robbed of their childhood sense of wonder. It turns people into bitter, spiteful adults. The kind that do bad things because there's nothing good left to believe in. The kind that end themselves. The kind that give up on life & it's many amazing things. The kind that lose their minds.
So, that's when the phrase turned, so to speak. And so, to all out there who feel the despair & drudgery of everyday life, to all those broken hearts who feel as if the world has shown them more than they can stand, to the poets, artists & madmen (and women) who are looking for a reason to do as they should be doing... put trust in the idea that this world ALWAYS has more to offer. There's forces at work on BOTH ends of the scale; GOOD as well as bad.
So, please: keep hope alive... leave your cynicism aside for a bit and just FEEL the magic of existence...
... because it's only "smoke and mirrors" if you don't want to believe in it, after all.