The lights slowly dimmed and the energy-buzz of excited voices began to wain. The silence became more and more intense as we all sat still in the darkness … waiting … hardly daring to breathe. Except for the sensation of our seats, we could have all been floating in space.

A spotlight appeared, soft at first and then quickly sharpening into a white-hot beam of intensity. Despite a needling stab of pain, few if any could look away. We were captured, mesmerised and held in the question of, “what next?” and ready to receive all of the delicious possibilities.

Then, suddenly, magically, he was there! Captivated in the light, a blaze of glorious colour, a Magician had appeared. One thousand delighted children screamed their approval for the magician was now present and magic was in the air.

And so began an afternoon of tantalising illusion and mystery. Within the light, a master trickster caused people to disappear, reappear and later, having cut them in half, he made them whole once again. On-stage there were boxes and containers, contraptions and devices, sparkle and glamour, swords and knives, gorgeous assistants and always the prankster - enchanting, orchestrating and creating magic.

A question hovered in every mind – “Is it real?” Were we really seeking an answer? No! For we knew that the answer would end it all and the magic would cease to exist. Once the magic ceased then it would be time to return back to the ordinary lives that we lived. Once the lights came on it would all be normal and boring. “Please, let this last forever,” cried a thousand silent minds.

The show seemed to go on-and-on and then somehow, together, we knew it was nearly over. The figure in the spotlight raised his arms for a final time; his brilliant red cape exploding out behind him. Everything became still, yet his cape seemed to defy gravity and float suspended in the air. In that moment, in that tiny fragment of time, we adored him utterly for he was the trickster, the prankster, the magician that is in all of us and we loved him. Then he was gone … and so was the magic … or was it?

In September 2005 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland, Lions hosted magic shows for around one thousand children and their parents. Through their various business connections, Lions engage magicians to perform each year, bringing mystery and raising questions in the lives of thousands of children. Bravo!

Is it real? How did he do that? Wasn’t that amazing? Can I see it again? Can I take him home? May I have some magic at my birthday? Will you get me some magic lessons? Did he go to magic school? Why don’t we learn magic at my school? Wouldn’t it be great to be a magician? What would it take to be the magic?

Isn’t it the wonder of magicians and their illusions that they always raise a question in us, for example, “How did he do that?” or “Where did it go?” We don’t get an answer do we? Doesn’t it always remain magic that way and isn’t it so special and fun for that very reason? That is why we go back again and again. Isn’t it, that when we get the answer, the magic ends?

For magic lives in the question and dies in the answer; it is found in the journey and lost at the destination. Questions allow energy to move, to flow and to be free; answers bind us, hold us and imprison us into fixed places, which create limitations as all other possibilities fade from view.

In our left-brain, technically oriented world, people are seeking answers and solutions to all of the questions of the universe; perhaps thinking that when all of the puzzles have been solved, they will know everything and be contented. What they will know is that they are bored to death and that their lives have become mundane and humdrum in the process. Where has the magic gone?

Have you noticed that ‘question’ has the word ‘quest’ in it? Quest is the ‘act of seeking’ and the ‘ing’ is a prefix meaning present. Isn’t that interesting? Could it be that when we ask a question we ‘seek the present’ that is the ‘gift of now’ and in the now, all gifts are present?

What question could you ask to receive the gift and the magic of you?

What would it take for you to be the magic in your life?