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 Birreal
A paradigm of understanding
Mystery Performance

Written by Pablo Amira

Revised by Mike Vance

Thanks for respecting this art and keeping

this document to yourself

Copyright: © 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this publication

may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior
permission of the publisher.

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“As above, so below, as within, so
without…”

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 Warning:

The Birreal Theory is a constant work

in progress. I truly believe and apply
everything that I will share here, but I
also have the right to change my
mind (as everyone does).

Don’t believe in what I say, but just

be open and try these ideas in your
own path as a Mystery Performer.

As in any conversation, all the ideas

that I will offer are my subjective
perspectives and opinions, and that
factor doesn’t take any of the value
from them.

Maybe you will disagree with some of

them, and I am glad about that! The
most important thing is that you find
your own truth and reality.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Reality

The Birreal Paradigm

Inner Reality

Outer Reality

Co-Reality

Artifacts

Four Dimensions and Birrealism

Harmony

Ethics and Moral

Practical Applications

Conclusion

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The only reality I can possibly know is
the world as I perceive it at this
moment. The only reality you can
possibly know is the world as you see
it at this moment. And the only
certainty is that those perceived
realities are different. There are as
many “real worlds” as there are
people!

Carl Rogers

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Introduction
Are you ready to question reality?

Hello, my dear friend. Thanks for your

interest in this new exploration of
concepts and more specifically in the
“Birreal Paradigm”, that I hope can
give you new insights towards an
effective Mystery Performance.

From the beginning in my studies in

Mentalism, I appreciated the value of
understanding in a deeper manner
the dynamic of a performance; what
the audience perceives and what I
need to communicate to create those
perceptions and realities.

This book will be different from every

other that I have written. This is not
about secret methods or revolutionary
techniques, but rather a paradigm of
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understanding and observation that I
have been reflecting on and studying
for years, influenced by the works of
many people, not just in the Mystery
Performance world.

Concepts are important. Language

shapes reality.

We as humans are what we are

thanks to our advancements in
language. Thanks to language we can
talk, express ideas, create art, make
science and be humans. So, how we
think and how we talk about what we
do really affects things.

So if you start to see new concepts

and ways to observe what you do,
this will create in you new
conceptions about what you do.

Normally, in the understanding of

Magic or Mentalism we can find the
“trick” language, “deception”,
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“fooling” or the linear “Effect and
Method” explanation, which from my
early beginnings I realized was too
simplistic. Just observing it as a
straight line, in which the “effect” and
“method” always stay rigid, was not
something that satisfied me.

A real live performance is a living co-

creation, and it is our responsibility to
understand this so we can create
what we need to do for our audiences
and participants, guiding them
towards our final goal in performance.

Because I am a Mentalist, I apply this

paradigm of understanding in every
Mentalism performance that I do, but
this doesn’t mean at all that these
ideas are not valid in a Magic
performance. If you also perform
Magic, please transform all these
insights to your own context and
observe the potential value that these
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ideas can have for your own work.
Although this is the formal
introduction to this book, this book
itself is just the introduction to this
core idea that I am still discovering,
understanding and enjoying. I truly
hope that for you this is just the
beginning as well for new
appreciation.

This theory is not groundbreaking or

revolutionary at all. I just changed
the basis of observation and the
language, allowing new concepts to
emerge, that I feel can explain in a
deeper and better way the beautiful
and subtle aspects in the creation of
Mystery Performance.

Enjoy!

Pablo Amira, 2019

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Before you continue with your
reading, write your answers to the
questions below (if you don’t like to
write in your books, write your
answers in your notebook of ideas).

What is Reality?

How do you explain what you do

in performance?

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You don’t see what it is

You see what you see

Humberto Maturana

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Reality

This is one of the fundamental

concepts in philosophy that we will
not observe it in a deeper manner of
course in this book, but I want to
offer you some ideas that might move
you to new places of understanding,
which are relevant before we observe
the concept of “Birrealism”.

What is Reality?

Is there such a thing as “objective

reality”?

What is the difference between a

“correct perception” and an illusion?

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A simple yet complex definition of
Reality, which will construct the path
towards the Birreal Paradigm, is:

“Reality is what is perceived as real.”

In this moment, you are reading this

text, that is printed in this book. The
book is not real just by itself; it needs
your perception to exist. This book
only exists in your mind.

There are many philosophical

observations about this constructivist
way to observe reality, but one author
that truly moves me is the Biologist
and Epistemologist Humberto
Maturana. If you are interested in his
views on perception, illusion and the
nature of reality, you can research his
powerful works, especially his

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collaborations with Cybernetist Heinz
von Foerster.

YOU are the creator of realities, both

in your own life and in performance.

What you consider reality is actually

what you are experiencing at the
present moment. So, if you follow this
path, you will realize that the only
difference between an illusion and
“correct perception” is just an after-
thought.

A present experience is always real.

After the experience, I am able to

reflect on that experience as illusory,
or as accepted as valid and part of my
sense of reality. So, from this
observation, we can see that we
create permanent illusions, which are
transformed into permanent realities.

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This is highly powerful in our context
in performance, and opens the notion
of the Birrealism and the validity of
BOTH realities that we experience in
performance as real.

We are subjective beings, so it is not

possible to separate the observer of
an experience and the observed
experience. This simple notion affects
our performance every time.

All my interests in life, such as

Psychology, Philosophy, Spirituality,
Esoteric Explorations, Learning
Facilitation, Music and other arts,
gave me a simple realization:

Every experience is real and valid.

An experience is real as soon as it is

perceived as real. There is no such
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thing as “reality” outside the
perception of someone who perceives
that reality. This has huge
implications in all matters in life, but
particularly in performance, it allows
you to understand that in Mentalism
(as in any other endeavor) we are
creating a real experience, not an
illusion or false perception.

Mystery Performance IS real, because

all experiences are real.

The classic observations and

differences between Mental Magic and
Mentalism are a clear example.

Mental Magic is a magical

performance, using the mind as a
theme. Mental Magic is done by a
Magician which uses mind-related

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themes in his acts. People know that
the demonstrations are not based in
potentially credible mind/psychic
abilities, but the person onstage is
acting, thus the “suspension of
disbelief” is used during the
performance.

A Mentalism experience is created

only when the act has credibility. The
performer doesn’t offer a “false
perception” or an “illusion” to his
audience. The Mentalist is creating a
reality in which mindreading,
precognition, psychokinesis and other
presented phenomena are really
happening, so as Lee Earle said, we
are constructing “activation of belief”.

We offer this act so people can

perceive them and experience a real
moment in their lives. They decide if
what they just perceived can be real,

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but a Mentalist offers them with that
intention.

Do you know that multiple realities

can occur at the same time?

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Birreal Paradigm

So, what is this “Birreal” concept all

about?

Basically, it’s a way to understand our

personal real experience in
performance as a double-
simultaneous experience, in which we
create two realities, the Inner and the
Outer Reality.

The Inner Reality is what you

experience personally as real, BUT
your audience doesn’t need to
perceive it (e.g., the application in
performance of your core method(s),
your script, your staging techniques,
etc.).

The Outer Reality is what you

experience personally as real AND
your audience perceives (everything
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that your live performance lets your
audience perceive).

BOTH ARE REAL

And this is an essential aspect to

observe. This understanding moves
the conversation beyond the polarity
of true-false, or the “deception”
approach for Mystery Performance.

In your awareness as a Mystery

Performer, you need to be conscious
about both at the same time. Your
audience must ONLY perceive the
Outer Reality. As soon as they
perceive parts of the Inner Reality,
the experience of mystery starts to
decay.

“Oh, they caught my billet peek.”

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That is because you allowed that
aspect of the Inner Reality to be
perceived in the Outer Reality. You
were not excellent enough to
camouflage your actions (we will talk
more about this later).

So, an effective Mystery Performance

experience is one in which ONLY the
Outer Reality is perceived by your
audience.

Labelling both spaces as “reality”,

allows you to understand that what
you do in the Outer Reality is not a
theatrical effort. You are not
pretending to be a Mystery Performer.
You ARE being a Mystery Performer,
and you use the resources and
artifacts from your Inner Reality to
convey a real experience in the Outer
Reality.

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Also, labelling what we do in a non-
perceived manner (from the audience
perspective) as “Inner Reality”, allows
us to observe in a deeper and more
serious manner what we do. As a
Mentalist, I love the beauty of our
techniques and tools, and as soon as I
can appreciate them as real and
beautiful, I can start my detachment
of those same aspects, towards our
goal, which is the Outer Reality in
which I have full responsibility.

Birrealism allows us to understand

our practices not by the lens of
illusion or deception, but from the
perspective of real experiences. The
reality that we construct in
performance is as real as our normal
daily reality (which is real and an
illusion). In my opinion, illusions have
nothing to do with Mystery
Performance, because true Mystery
(with a capital M) is not an illusion.
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 You are not presenting illusions;
you are presenting realities.

YOU are a crafter of both realities at

the same time. For that reason it’s so
important to have excellent practice
and rehearsal. People shouldn’t
perceive a slight glimpse of the Inner
Reality of your methods and applied
techniques.

If you ask your participant to focus on

a loved one, you need to create a
moment in which, in the Outer
Reality, you are really getting that
thought.

This is called by other authors as the

“process”, and I agree with that
concept. People need to perceive and

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feel the moment that you
communicate in your Outer Reality.

What happens if you don’t offer a

process? People will try to understand
the perceived reality and they will
start to wonder about your secret
procedure, your core method, or
worse…your trick.

There is no such thing as the “key to

success”. EVERY performance is a
new moment to be excellent, and it is
our responsibility to do the best we
can with our understandings,
competences and presence to discern
how we can create the best
experience for them in performance,
and this is only done with excellence
in mind.

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#*"
Inner Reality

The Inner Reality is what we as

performers experience during
performance.

Your core method, subtleties,

principles, your subtext, your
communicational interaction, your
staging techniques, your pauses, your
silences, everything that you practice
and rehearse, are part of your Inner
Reality.

This dimension of personal experience

is normally conceptualized in classic
literature as “Method”, which since
the beginning of my studies and
practices, I have observed as an
over-simplification. One of the
problems with this “method”
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conceptualization is that it forces us in
an unconscious manner to think just
on the “core method”, or worst, “the
trick”.

Let’s analyze that word in the context

of a phrase for a moment. Imagine
that you introduce your performance
with this line:

“I want to show you a trick.”

What are you actually saying with this

line is: “I will show you something
that I practiced (or just bought),
something that I know that you don’t,
and I am implicitly challenging you to
catch me.”

For me, Mystery Performance is not

about a “lie”, “deception” or “fooling
others”. We have a wonderful
opportunity to open new doors of
understanding common reality as
inherently mysterious with our acts,
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but we insist on these reductionist
concepts.

What we do in our Inner Reality,

obviously, will have repercussions in
the Outer Reality, and our task is to
camouflage everything that is needed
to create the Inner Reality, so from
the Outer Reality, it looks like a
relevant process.

“As above, so below, as within, so

without;

as the Inner Reality,

so the Outer Reality.”

If we believe that everything we do is

just tricks, deceptions and false

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perceptions, there will be
correspondence with our Outer
Reality. In simple ways, if we believe
that what we do is legitimate, people
will tend to perceive it as legitimate.
If your intention is focused on the
audience experience of Mystery and
not in your ego, any reality that you
feel is congruent with your identity
will be valid.

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Outer Reality
The Outer Reality is the experience
that we facilitate our audience to
perceive.

It is crucial to understand it in this

manner, because the Outer Reality is
not the same as the experience that
each person will perceive during
performance. We must be conscious
about the fact that each person in our
audience will perceive a different
experience. We assume that most
people will perceive the same reality,
but if you have enough experience in
performance, you will realize that this
is not always the case, and this a
wonderful mysterious space in which
we exist as performers.

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 Only the Outer Reality is the
fundamental reality of the
Mentalism Experience.

It doesn’t matter which is the Inner

Reality used. Mentalism is only real in
the live experience of performance,
thus the perception from your
audience is the reality of your efforts.

That is why a Mystery Performance is

not defined by the Inner Reality. It
doesn’t matter which methods you
use; it’s all about what you create
with them.

The Inner Reality is in service to the

Outer Reality.

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Co-Reality
The Co-Reality is the collaborative
unique event that both performer and
audience experience.

Something amazing could happen

when we combine our Outer Reality
with the perception of each of the
members of our audience. At that
moment, the “Co-Reality” is created.

The “Co-Reality” is that shared new

reality in which both the performer
and the audience are living entities. A
performance is a collaborative effort,
in which the mystery performance is
alive and exists.

The concept of an audience is an

illusion. There is no such thing as

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“one perception” when we perform.
We think of it in that manner to make
things easier of course, and one of
the goals at the beginning of every
performance is to unite people and let
them know that they need to be
present as one, of course, but we
need to realize that the audience
doesn’t perceive our Outer Reality in
a collective manner. Yes, we can
assume that most of them will
perceive very similar events, but as
soon as we know that EACH member
of the audience has a unique
experience, we can open our
understandings to more complex
ideas regarding performance.

So for this reason, we are NOT

responsible for what people perceive.

How can we?

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We are only present in that moment,
sharing our performance, but we
don’t know people’s preconceptions
about the themes that we use.

We can use all our efforts to create an

effective mystery performance, but
that doesn’t mean that we can always
achieve it. And this is wonderful!

The Co-Reality is not our entire

responsibility. We can’t be responsible
for what our audience experiences.
This is the reason why disclaimers are
not fully effective in performance.

We can only take full responsibility of

what we communicate in the Outer
Reality; that’s our 50%. Their
individual experience is the other
50%.

Without an audience, you are not a

performer. Without their perception,

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you are unable to do what you can
do.

So, we are then only responsible to

offer excellence in performance,
which only comes from proper
rehearsal and understanding of each
moment that your offer, and I believe
that this “Birreal Paradigm” will allow
you to understand what you do in a
more effective manner.

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Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a
very persistent one.

Albert Einstein

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Artifacts

In both realities, we have what I call

“Artifacts”, which are the applied
techniques that allows us to construct
a reality of mystery. We have “Inner
Artifacts” and the “Outer Artifacts”,
which are expressed through the
Procedure (Inner) and Process
(Outer).

The combination of the Inner Artifacts

is our procedure.

The combination of the Outer Artifacts

is our process.

In the procedure of your Inner Reality

you can recognize various Inner
Artifacts, which are not (or must not
be) perceived by our audience—the

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core method (billet switch, peek,
force, etc.), the language patterns,
script, staging, non-verbal
techniques, ALL our applied
techniques that are relevant in the
creation of our Inner Reality.

Because those aspects are inevitably

expressed in the Outer Reality, we
must be conscious of how we can
camouflage them in a way that they
feel natural and part of the process of
the performance, so we need to be
conscious about how we transform
our Inner Artifacts to Outer Artifacts
in an beautiful manner.

Let’s see a simple example: You need

to peek the content of a billet (let’s
say using the classic Millard Longman
Acidus Novus). How can you do this
needed procedure in a way that you
don’t need to hide the action, but

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instead, camouflage it in your Outer
Reality it in a natural manner?

A classic technique for doing this is to

focus the attention onto the
participant’s palm for a moment. This
conscious and explicit action that you
are creating in the Outer Reality, as a
relevant action in the process, allows
you to lower your gaze naturally, and
thus, do you peek.

Let your procedure be a process.

Don’t hide what you do, but
camouflage it in such a way that
everything that is perceived by your
audience feels necessary.

What if you don’t reflect about this?

You will expose the procedure (which
is rational by nature) and the Inner
Artifact, thus allowing your audience
to perceive something that they don’t
need to perceive.

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The responsibility in this is YOURS.

In this example, a simple eye-to-eye

gaze can be your Outer Artifact in a
mindreading experience.

It’s in that moment in which your

audience can sense that you truly got
the thought from his mind, and not
from secretly watching the writing.

If that process is congruent with your

identity as a performer, do it.

If you can read minds using

psychological deduction, create a
process in which those congruent
Outer Artifacts can shine. So, if you
don’t want to fail in mediocrity, you
need to observe EVERYTHING that
you do from the Outer Reality.

That is the key to a powerful

performance, a well-designed Outer
Reality, with clear Outer Artifacts.

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Nothing is real.

John Lennon

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Harmony
As soon as you start to observe this
paradigm of Inner and Outer
Realities, you will understand a
phenomenon that happens sometimes
in Mystery Performance.

Sometimes, our Inner and Outer

Realities are the same! And that is
what I conceptualize as “Harmony” in
our endeavors; harmony between
both realities, in which you have
nothing to hide or camouflage (or just
a little bit).

Everything that you do in the Inner

Reality is perceived in the Outer
Reality. The mystery actually comes
from the authentic demonstration that
you are performing.

Pendulum work is a beautiful example

of this. Pendulums are moved using a
true mind power called “Ideomotor
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Response”, so you can show this to
people, and let them experiment with
pendulums, explaining the
phenomena, and the desired goal of
mystery is still present.

Obviously it depends on the theme

and narrative that you are offering at
the performance, but if you talk about
the power of the mind and how
focused thoughts can literally affect
you in unconscious manners, just the
simple thought of a movement can
move the pendulum. This is our inner
artifact and also the outer one. The
procedure is the process. The “secret”
core method is the beauty that you
offer to be experienced.

Another example is Contact

Mindreading or Hypnosis. You are
applying legitimate techniques that
don’t need any camouflage.

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This is not workable for all
performances of course, but this
offers us a valuable observation.

ALL routines that you perform

must feel in harmony.

ALL routines must offer Outer

Artifacts, which can allow your
audience to understand how your
performance is done.

One of my goals in performance is to

create as much harmony as possible
between the Inner and Outer
Realities. For that reason I also love
to give Readings, because it is a
completely harmonic manner to
create a mysterious experience.

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 Let reality be reality.

Let things flow naturally forward in

whatever way they like.

Lao Tzu

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Four Dimensions
and Birrealism

We as human beings are in constant

four dimensions of existence. We
have the body, the mind, the soul and
the spirit; our physical, our mental,
our emotional and our spiritual selves.
These dimensions are present also
through the “Birreal” lens, allowing us
to observe each of those dimensions
both in the Inner and Outer Realities.

Inner Reality:

1. Body: The physical techniques that

will allow you to reach your goal. As
an example, if you want to execute a
proper center tear, covering the
stealing of the center piece, you need
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to rehearse with your body so all
actions are natural and camouflaged.
Also, if you want to center focus on
the participant during an experience,
he must be center stage and you at
his right or left side, depending on the
situation.

2. Mind: Our mindset in performance

matters, no doubt about it. Those
aspects that people don’t consciously
get during our demonstrations are
part of the thoughts that we need to
consciously have in order to let our
body and all the rest of the
dimensions do the proper work.

3. Soul: Our emotions towards

ourselves, our emotions towards the
audience—all those inner emotions
are also part of our toolkit.

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 4. Spirit: If you allow yourself to
explore your spiritual self—a ritual, a
breathing exercise, a blessing before
and even during your performance—it
can allow you to structure a powerful
Inner Reality towards a powerful
Outer Reality.

Outer Reality:

1. Body: Because our body is our

physical self, both Inner and Outer
manifestations of this dimension are
normally the same, with some
differences that you can analyze in
each particular situation.

For example, in order to create a

powerful telepathic artifact, you can
simply take a different stand,
unconsciously communicating to your
audience that this is your “telepathic
posture”. Although it’s not part of
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your Inner Reality, it’s part of your
Outer Artifact, so it’s experienced as
real in the Outer Reality.

It's in this comparison between the

Inner and Outer Reality that you use
the body dimension as a dimension in
which you can critically camouflage
your secret actions, in order to
transform them into movement that is
understood as part of the process.

If I need to steal the center of a billet,

I need to consciously observe my
body from the audience perspective
so they can feel and perceive a
needed action. If you steal the center
and you want to place it in your
pocket, that action must be
understood by your audience (e.g.,
you will get a lighter to burn the
pieces).

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2. Mind: Your thoughts in your Outer
Reality are used to deliver your script,
to connect with your audience
through language, and to remember
your rehearsed performance in order
to create an effective set of actions.
Again, some of our Inner Artifacts in
this dimension will also appear in our
Outer Reality. Our positive and
optimistic mindset can even be
expressed openly, which can also add
power to the ambiance of your
performance.

3. Soul: The emotions that you

express in your performance are
highly relevant in order to connect
with your audience in an empathic
manner. If you perform for real
people, you know that sometimes we
just had a bad day and we need to be
aware of our inner state so the outer
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performance is as effective as you can
make it, respecting your own private
emotional state. So, if you are angry
or sad for some personal reason, as
soon as you are aware of that, you
can connect with your desire and
motivation to be with your audience,
and focus on other more functional
emotional states.

This has saved me in a lot of different

situations. I remember one time that
I was extremely sad for some family
reasons, but I had a show to do.
Before the performance I did
breathing exercises and mindfulness
techniques in order to calm myself. It
was not my best performance, but not
the disaster that it could have been,
all thanks to this observation of the
emotions in the Inner and Outer
Realities.

55
4. Spirit: The metaphysical and
spiritual self is also expressed in the
Outer Reality of your performance,
and it is perceived by your practices
during performance and through your
language.

As you can see, a lot of harmony is

presented between each dimension in
the simultaneous realities that you
experience. Sometimes they are the
same one, because our dichotomic
separation of Inner and Outer is just
imagination. They are not dualistic,
but dialectic entities of reality.

They both interact constantly, but in

the rational separation we can
appreciate the differences and the
needed reality that our audience must
perceive.

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57
Ethics and Morals
The concept of ethics is always
controversial, especially if you do
Mentalism or Readings, but rarely do
we talk about what is “morally
correct” or just “what is good”.

Are we liars?

The philosophy of ethics and morals is

whole different books of course, but
the “Birreal Paradigm” can let us
understand this “issue” in a different
manner.

In art, we can take “artistic license”,

so if you consider your Mystery
Performance an art, there is no need
to feel ethically responsible. You are
in a theatrical setting. You can declare
whatever you want if it is congruent
and authentic with your identity.
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Mystery Performance is not an ethical
activity, but first and foremost, an
aesthetic one, and most of the time
we lose too much time in
“disclaimers”, trying to be more
“ethical”, damaging in great ways the
aesthetic experience.

Don’t take this in an incorrect

manner. I don’t support fakes,
charlatans and con artists at all.

Be sincere with your audience. If you

truly are using your intuition, then
claim that. If you don’t, don’t claim
that.

If you take the “Birreal Paradigm” to

understand your Mystery
Performance, you will realize that we
don’t need to lie in our Outer Reality!

We are indeed applying our Inner

Artifacts and procedures in order to

59
design an Outer Reality for our
audiences.

Who cares if you have mindreading

psychic abilities or not?

You are creating the experience of

that phenomenon to your audience,
and you are not lying about that.

In order to create a sincere,

constructive and enlightening
performance, we must NOT lie, but
offer an authentic experience.

So, in observing ethics then from the

Birreal Paradigm, we can observe two
dimensions of ethics, the Inner Ethics
and the Outer Ethics.

In the Inner Ethics, we are ethically

responsible to construct a solid Inner
Reality. We are called to excellence,
and we NEED to do the best we can.
That must be your Ethos.

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If you are mediocre in your Inner
Reality, you are being unethical.

If you are doing a billet peek,

rehearse in an effective manner, so it
becomes an unconscious procedure in
your mind, well camouflaged in the
Outer Reality so it has meaning in
your Outer Artifact.

This is an ethical behavior.

Our ethic guideline in the Outer

Reality is never to be fake. And I
don’t focus this aspect on if you have
magical or psychic powers, but
actually to block the opportunity that
you have to be vulnerable and
authentic to your audience.

So, Mystery Performance is not about

“being a liar”, but letting others
experience mystery, and mystery is
not illusion or lie.

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Regarding the concept of “morals”
(which in a way is the true center of
the conversation between
performers), our mission is always to
offer them our truth (which is true
enough): light and not darkness.

Don’t lie to them. If you are not

psychic, don’t say that. Let them truly
know you, and offer a constructive
and entertaining experience.

What is the good that you can offer to

your audiences?

Beauty, poetry, empowerment,

entertainment, enchantment,
liberation, connection.

Be an agent of good energies;

empower your audience. That’s a true
contribution to the world.

62
Reality is not always probable, or
likely.

Jorge Luis Borges

63
Practical Applications

Let’s apply everything that I shared

with you in these pages to some
practical examples and applications.

You are enjoying your coffee with

your friend, and the moment is
appropriate for a performance. One of
your favorite routines is to use
borrowed objects to do a prediction of
their free decisions. The core method
that you will use is Equivoque to force
one of the objects.

So, the Inner Reality that you will

experience is that you will apply your
rehearsed script and choreography of
actions and subtle techniques to allow
your participant to feel free decisions
in your Outer Reality. Remember that

64
the Outer Reality is not the same as
the participant’s experience. Your
Outer Reality is only your intention of
reality for your participant and
audience. The real experience of
performance is created LIVE, in the
“Co-Reality”.

So, you apply all your Outer Artifacts

and memorable moments in your
Outer Reality, and your participants
feel the mystery of reading the
prediction as correct.

“Wait a moment… did you really see

like a vision while you closed your
eyes before you wrote this?”

If you did it, you can clearly state that

as true. If you didn’t, don’t lie to
people. Don’t offer yourself as a
pretender. If your Outer Artifact in
predictions is to influence people, use
65
that guideline to observe the objects,
to think a little bit and really to
calculate which object will be the
influenced one. Then perform the
routine with that influence in mind,
and then if the participant asks you if
you influenced them, you can be
sincere.

As you can see in this example, I

don’t see the dichotomic observation
of true-lie as a valid point in this
paradigm, because we start from the
point of Constructivism in Realism.

EACH one of us constructs his own

sense of reality, so what is real for me
may not be real for you, but this is
not the same as saying that I am
lying and you are telling the truth,
because basically we are not able to
recognize the truth with our

66
perception. We can only perceive
what is real for us and reflect about
the experience so after that moment
we can re-experience this as part of
our sense of reality or not.

That is the reason why, as Mystery

Performers, we are so inclined to lie in
such an easy way. Astonishment is a
wonderful and confusing emotion that
opens people to a potential new
belief, and if you are faking your
identity, you will communicate
messages that are incongruent with
yourself.

So, you are excellent and you offer

good tribute to your practice and
rehearse, offering a polished and
connected performance. Your
participant perceived not just the
“What”, but the “How” and the “Why”
of your performance.

67
As you can see, the practical
differences are not drastic or over-
complicated. Yes, this theory could
sound a little bit heavy and complex,
but again, the Inner Reality of
Birrealism is full of beautiful
complexity, but in the Outer Reality of
real-world application it is simple and
powerful.

Let’s see a stage example of the

practical use of Birrealism: performing
a Drawing Duplication.

You invite your participant to your

stage, and you show him some cards
with words. The participant chooses
one and uses that word as inspiration
for his drawing. The performer then
gives her a blackboard to draw that
word, and the performer takes one.
68
After some moments, the drawings
are shown and they are the same.

Here the core method is not relevant

(I imagine myself using my “Minimal
Duplication” from the Minimal
Mentalism III Lecture Notes) but the
most relevant aspect here (as always)
is the Outer Reality.

The Birreal Paradigm allows you to

understand in deeper ways your
“What, How and Why?” in each of the
realities.

Because we are working onstage, the

concept of staging is incredible
relevant, and part of our Inner and
Outer Artifacts without a doubt.

It is very different to take the back-

to-back staging that Bob Cassidy used
than taking a long distance staging as
in Theo Annemann’s “A Real Psychic
Test” in Jinx #3.
69
Because we are onstage, we need to
project our voice (if you don’t have a
microphone, of course) and this “Body
Inner Artifact” is highly relevant. I
have seen wonderful performers, who
are very competent, but because they
don’t focus on this important detail,
their performance was not effective at
all.

I remember another colleague that I

saw years ago who clearly didn’t
understand the importance of staging,
placing the participant onstage at
70
“Upstage Center”. This staging
blocked our view as an audience of
everything that he did. Maybe he
wanted to have a more intimate
moment, no doubt about it, but Stage
Center is the place that offers both
focus, intimacy, but also a good
perspective for us as an audience.

So let’s imagine that we use the

Annemann staging, and we placed our
participant at Stage Left, and
ourselves at Stage Right, each one
drawing. At the revelation moment, it
is necessary to bring conscious focus
to the revelation, so it is imperative to
move to downstage center.

As you can see, staging as a body-

related action is the same both in the
Inner and Outer Realities, being an
Inner and Outer Artifact that truly
gives the performance more impact.

71
If we want to observe the core Outer
Artifact presented, at the moment in
which the participant starts to draw,
the performer will actually get the
thoughts and images from the
participant’s mind.

You are not “acting”.

You are not “pretending”.

You ARE getting her thoughts in real

time.

Yes, from the Inner Reality

perspective you already know the
participant’s word, but this is not
relevant. You MUST create realities
for your audiences, not illusions or
lies.

72
Now my invitation for you is to
understand each performance piece
that you do from this Birreal
Paradigm. I am sure that this will
allow you to observe in a more clear
manner aspects such as the narrative
presented in the Outer Reality, your
core Outer Artifact (the “HOW” that
your audience can associate with the
phenomena presented) and all the
other important details that will allow
you to create a powerful and excellent
Inner Reality towards excellence in
your Outer Reality, so you can
facilitate the “Co-Reality” with your
audience in a more effective manner.

The simple concept of “Birrealism”

allows you to expand to infinite
possibilities and literally observe
everything that you do in
performance from other perspectives.

73
One of my explorations in Mentalism
is the application of Minimalism, and I
realize that Minimal Mentalism is ALL
about Outer Reality, not the Inner
Reality per se. Minimal Mentalism is
about offering people the essence of
what you want to perform. The Inner
Reality is not relevant; it can be
simple and direct or very contrived
and complex.

Normally, in my Inner Realities I am a

Minimalist. I don’t care about complex
and “fooling” methods, but I
understand the Inner Reality as a
path, not a goal. At the same time, I
don’t limit myself. I could use a more
“maximalist” Inner Reality if I chose it
for some reason.

A great example of this is Equivoque

as a technique. It doesn’t matter how
complex your procedure (Equivoque is
a very complex technique), from the
74
Outer Reality, it must be feel simple,
direct and beautiful.

And again, all Outer Realities must be

simple and clear to our audiences. If a
performance piece is not clear, we
must come back to our laboratory and
re-design both realities, so we can
reach our goal.

A simple and powerful exercise is

actually to imagine the description of
the performance from the audience
perspective:

“He asks her to focus on her best

friend, and he read her mind.”

That description can guide you

towards a correct design in your Inner
Reality, so you can work with a clear
goal in mind.

Propless? Billets? Pre-Show? It

doesn’t matter. Choose whatever you

75
want. Work towards that experience,
and if you apply everything that we
are observing here, you will literally
be able to construct mysterious
realities for others.

76
One person's craziness is another
person's reality.

Tim Burton

77
Conclusion

This is the conclusion of this book, but

the introduction at the same time.

The introduction for you to a new

paradigm of understanding. As you
can see, this is not difficult to absorb
and to apply, but maybe it will take
some time to break old structures and
patterns of thinking. Let this
information be transformed in
inspiration, in a subtle manner,
respecting your own pace.

As you can understand now, there are

two realities that you are experiencing
simultaneously as a performer, but as
there as many realities as members
of your audience, respect that, and
manage your ego constantly.

78
Mystery Performance is not about
you, but about mystery and how it’s
channeled.

As you can sense, we start here to

apply a different language that is
normally used in Mentalism or Magic
books. I invite you to expand your
language, to read, study and learn as
much as you can about everything
that can inspire you. The use of new
concepts and language will allow your
mind to literally expand, and maybe
understand other perspectives that
you just can’t get with other types of
language.

I truly hope that these ideas can

move your mind and, most important,
your heart, to new levels, so your
audiences and participants can enjoy
and appreciate this wonderful art and
practice.

79
Thanks for your interest, trust and
support. Anything that you need, just
let me know.

Pablo Amira, 2019

80
 Everything is real.

Everything is an illusion.

There is no “reality” outside your own

sense of reality.

Be sincere, don’t fake it, don’t lie.

Be real.

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