When you create a moment of genuine, breathtaking impossibility for another person—when you reveal a thought they have never spoken aloud, or predict a choice they have yet to make—what is your ethical responsibility to them? The experience of profound astonishment can be a powerful and even emotionally vulnerable one. And with that power to create wonder comes a deep and unwavering responsibility to the audience.

This is a thoughtful exploration of the unwritten, but absolutely critical, ethical guidelines that govern a performance of elegant impossibility.

The Prime Directive: Do No Harm

The first, last, and most important rule is to ensure that every member of the audience feels safe, respected, and psychologically cared for at all times. The goal is to create a sense of wonder, not a sense of exposure or anxiety.

This means a performer must become an expert at reading people. They must know how to “fish” for information in a way that allows them to steer well clear of any topic that is genuinely embarrassing, traumatic, or hurtful. If I am trying to divine the name of a person someone is thinking of, I learn to ask questions in a way that helps me avoid a painful memory, like the name of a deceased loved one. My goal is to make my spectator the hero of the story, and you cannot be a hero if you are made to feel foolish or exposed. The performance must build the audience member up, never tear them down.

Honesty Within the Deception

This may sound like a paradox, but it is essential: while the methods of the performance are, by necessity, deceptive, the performer must be relentlessly honest about their intentions. This is a critical foundation of trust.

This is why I will never, under any circumstances, claim to have supernatural powers, psychic abilities, or the capacity to speak with the dead. To do so would be a profound ethical violation. The performance is always framed for what it is: an artistic exploration of the fascinating quirks of human psychology, suggestion, influence, and perception. It is a form of theater, not a demonstration of paranormal phenomena. This intellectual honesty is the foundation of the brand. The experience is “smart and conversational,” and that requires a baseline of trust and ethical clarity.

Leave Them Better Than You Found Them

The ultimate goal of an ethical performance is to leave the audience in a better state than you found them. The experience should not just be amazing; it should be uplifting.

An effect that appears to reveal a “forgotten” happy childhood memory doesn’t just create a moment of impossibility; it gives that person the genuine psychological gift of re-experiencing a positive emotion. An effect that empowers an audience member to believe, for a few moments, that they have an incredible skill is a way of boosting their self-confidence. The astonishment is not the end goal. The astonishment is the vehicle for creating a moment of genuine human connection, inspiration, and positivity.

The ethics of astonishment are a quiet, but critical, part of the show. The audience should never have to worry about their safety or the performer’s integrity. The wonder should be in the experience itself, not in questioning the character of the person creating it.

Internal Links: The Unseen Script: How Language Shapes Your Reality, The Role of the Skeptic in an Age of Belief

External Link: A look at the ethical responsibilities of documentary filmmakers, a field with similar challenges, from the Poynter Institute