Down through the ages the power and wonder of practitioners of magic have been recorded in song and story. The presence of wizards, witches, sorcerers , shamans, and gurus has always been intriguing and inspiring to the average person. These people of power, wrapped in a cloak of secrecy, presented a striking contradiction to the common ways of dealing, with the world. The spells and incantations they wove were feared beyond belief and, at the same time, sought constantly for the help they could provide.
Whenever these people of power publicly performed their wonders, they would both shatter the concepts of reality of that time and place and present themselves as having something that was beyond learning, In modern time, the mantle of the wizards is most often place upon those dynamic practitioners of psychotherapy who exceed the skill of others therapists by leap and bounds, and whose works is so amazing to watch that it moves us with powerful emotions, disbelief, and utter confusion. Just as with all wizards of the ages of the earth whose knowledge was treasured and passed down from sage to sage – losing and adding pieces but retaining a basic structure – so, too, does the magic of those therapeutic wizards also have structure.
The prince and the magician
Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the king told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father’s domains, and no sign of God, the prince believed his father.
But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace and come to the next island. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, man in full dress approached him along the shore.
“Are those real islands? asked the young prince.
“Of course they are real islands,” said the man in evening dress.
“And those strange and troubling creatures?”
They are all genuine and authentic princesses.”
“Then God must also exist!. cried the prince.
“I am God,” replied the man in evening dress, with a bow.
The young prince returned home as quickly as he could.
“So, you are back”, said his father, the king.
“I have seem islands, I have seem princesses, I have seem God,”
said the prince reproachfully.
The king was unmoved.
“Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God exist”
“I saw them!”
“Tell me how God was dressed.”
“God was in full evening dress.”
“Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?”
The prince remembered that they had been. The kid smiled.
“That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived.”
At this, the prince returned to the next land and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress.
“My father, the king told me who you are,” said the prince indignantly. You deceived me last time, but not again.
Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are magician.”
The man on the shore smiled.
“It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father’s kingdom, there are may islands and many princesses. But you are under your father’s spell, so you cannot see them.”
The prince pensively return home. When he saw his father, the looked him in the eyes.
“Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?”
The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves.
“Yes, my son, I’m only a magician.”
“Then the man on the other shore was God.”
“The man on the other shore was another magician.”
“I must know the truth, the truth beyond magic.”
“There is no truth beyond magic,” said the king.
The prince was full of sadness. He said, “I will kill myself.”
The king by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.
“Very well” he said, “I can bear it.”
“You see, my son,” said the king, “you, too, now begin to be a magician.”
from the books: The Magus by John Fowles and The Structure of Magic by Richard Bandler & John Grinder
As a coach I invite my clients to expand the workspace. Many limitations are self imposed. We are prisoners of our own minds. We wake up each morning and act out a story we have written about who we are and the role we play in our family, community, and organisation. We have a personal narrative about what is possible for us, what can be done and what cannot, and then we live our lives within that script, re-creating and solidifying the store each day. Through the intense and candid dialogue of a coaching relationship, we are able to learn about how we have been crafting these scripts and begin to see where we have placed arbitrary boundaries around ourselves.
One of the greatest values that coaching has to offer is that it demands action. Coaching beings with a conversation, but the real work starts when the Talent (coachee) goes back to his life and begin to behave differently. Through this process, he learns that previous limitations no longer exits and in fact, they never did. He expands the range in which he can act, and in so doing, increases his “response-ability.”
Renato Moreira
Renato Moreira 