David Blaine: I Nearly Died Doing This (How to Conquer Fear and Push Your Limits)

29:4912 of them died. I'm not laughing, but 12 of them died doing it as a trick. That's crazy, yeah. What was difference about the guy that was actually doing it? What was he doing differently? He was catching the bullet in a metal cup in his mouth. I think one time it sliced through his cheek, but he pulled it off. Would you ever try the bullet catch? No, I did it. Oh, yeah. Sorry, I haven't seen that. Yeah, I did it. I had my best friend. It's funny because I'm looking at Don't Shoot. so my best friend's a magician and i saw him shoot a cup far away with a bb gun i was like will you do the bullet catch with me and somehow i convinced him to do it because he didn't want somebody else to mess up and he knew he would get the mark so he did it i caught the bullet that was kind of crazy but then i wanted to do it again but i didn't want to have anybody shoot me because i didn't want to make anybody that uncomfortable so i put a string on a on the trigger of a rifle a 22 long bullet and i pulled the string and caught it in that metal cup another thing nobody should ever do so you're saying no one should apart from you putting yourself at risk ideally nothing else should get hurt during the trip yeah for sure yeah that's right and and i do tricks with frogs and things like that i've never injured a frog i they're my daughter's pet frogs i've kept them for years they've been with us and then i give them to somebody that's when they get too big then i give them to somebody that's gonna care for them but yeah so so my doctor's kids now have uh uh these giant frogs that's been inside and by the way they They try to hold them and the frogs won't let anybody, nobody can pick them up.

31:38And I hadn't seen the frog in like a year or something. And I came to his house and they were filming it. And I put my hand in and I'm not kidding. The frog walked right onto my hand and I lifted it up and he just sat there. We underestimate these creatures, right? But there's some sort of, I don't know. Intelligence. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Through scent or saliva. Whatever it is. Yeah. Which is crazy. You are so right. We really do downplay the intelligence, especially of animals. Yeah. But even humans. But people around us. Yeah. We don't recognize it. And the body. Yeah. And the body. That's right.

32:18Do you think it's interesting how the world's, we've focused on becoming more comfortable? What do you think that's doing to us? That's right. That's good. Because I agree. That being comfortable for me, I think, is always the worst thing ever. When you're comfortable, you achieve nothing, you learn nothing, you do. So it's like when you're out of your comfort zone, when you're breaking that, it's like that's when everything becomes intense and we're alive, right? And that's probably what you experienced when you took yourself out of your comfort zone and lived with this incredible monk is then suddenly you're living in the moment.

32:54you're living in this this heightened sense of awareness that and that's all from breaking the comfort zone yeah and it's so interesting because you're so right like we just we all naturally though and that's what you were saying when you were talking about the guy earlier who nearly couched his eye out something that you said which is so subtle but so powerful you were like but when he's doing it his body's not repelling it and that's why somehow it works out and i was about it that everything you do defies what we want to do because we're looking for comfort but it's like how do you prep yourself to actually want discomfort like how do we prepare our minds and brains to actually seek out discomfort because just as you said it's actually better for us even for survival even for growth of the species but we don't we we kind of go backwards into reclining Netflix and chill like that's the vibe so like yeah how do you get out of that what have you done to continuously well this series did that when they were asking me what i wanted to do um i said here's the thing so we're talking about lots of ideas doug my magician friend that was here he's one that found deepak you know the in india that did the most incredible stuff i've ever mind-blowing just the way he is able to override his body with his mind.

34:13But, but basically when they were coming to me with this idea, Oh, this one, that one, I said, here's the thing only present to me, the ideas that when you tell me about them, it makes you uncomfortable just saying that we're going to go be a part. You know, I wanted it to be, I wanted it to be that, that, and I think that's a big thing that I like to do is put myself in major discomfort so it wakes me up, you know, brings me to life. Parking shouldn't slow you down. ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut. Book ahead, save up to 50 % and skip the hassle of circling the block. Park smarter, park faster.

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36:03Have you ever brought your magic to Walt Disney World like, hey, we came to play? Did you tip your tiara to a Creole princess or get goofy officially? Step up like a boss and save the day? Or see what life's like under the tree of life? Did you? If you could. Would you? When we come through, it's true magic. Because we came to play. Bring the magic at Walt Disney World Resort. How did you train yourself to get there and to do that? Because I want to help people almost who are sitting here going, you know what, I agree with David. I'm not going to go and put a knife down my nose, which he's not encouraging either.

36:45No, that's right. But I want to be able to push the boundaries in my own growth, in my own life. You've gone to the full extreme of it. How do we kind of get to three out of ten? I think it starts with baby steps. I think you just go push yourself to speak in front of a classroom, You know, I was super intimidated by public speaking and I could do magic, but I wasn't, I was like, I'm not going to speak. So, you know, I wanted my brother to go to the TED conference. So I agreed to like stand up and speak for the first time with no matter, just, just do a talk. And it was, it was horrific for me.

37:19It was like, it was, and I didn't sleep for days on end before it, but also months before I was working on the notes, writing it down, putting all the thoughts on. And that part of it was already incredible because then you're like, but then I had to get up and do it. And that was really, that was like, but then as soon as you start and I put myself in the boiling, speaking at TED for your first time, I didn't go do little talks. I started there, right? So it's like by doing that, suddenly I shocked the system. And now I went on a speaking tour for like a year. I would do dates in all different audiences.

37:54And what I would do is I wouldn't thoroughly prepare. where I would kind of just go out there and put myself in front of everybody. And I would say often it was uncomfortable. And often it didn't work. And often the audience didn't react. You know what I mean? It was like one of the, but eventually after doing it over and over and over and over and over, it really helped. And I really understood it changed the way I thought about public speaking. But what it really did is it helped me when I was doing magic. Because now I had like, now the magic was a conversation. The point of breaking your comfort zone, it could be anything.

38:29It could be get up and do a talk. It could be, you know, go out, sit in the sauna, go in a steam room. Jump in a cold plunge. Yeah. So I think it's baby steps that can help you kind of figure out how to do something. But it could be anything. I love how giving a TED Talk is harder for you than like. Way harder. I love that. That was way harder. yeah given the ted talk for me was probably more difficult than holding my breath for the 20 minutes and 22 seconds yeah and that talk by the way is when you watch it down it's it's exactly the length of my actual breath hold did you do that on purpose no just worked out that way it's crazy that's cool 2002 was the actual breath hold time and the talk when you time it out was i think it was almost 2002.

39:17Wow. And that was harder. For me, the talk was more uncomfortable, more difficult than the breath hold. I mean, holding your breath for 20 minutes and 2 seconds is insanity. Well, now the record's 24 minutes and 3 seconds. You're going to go back? I don't think it's safe at this point. That's what you were saying. It's like you push yourself too far. You can do not just irreversible. It might be like game over. And I'm paranoid about that stuff because one of my favorite magicians, Harry Houdini, he was punched in the stomach hypothetically or he had a rupture to pain. Whatever he had, he shouldn't have done his stage show.

39:54He was feeling ill. He was in lots of pain, but he didn't want to let the audience down. Went in the show. He did his whole show, got in the water tank. After the water tank, when he came out, he collapsed on the stage. They rushed him to a hospital and he died. So I do think there's a limit to what the body can endure. and things go wrong very easily and you're not prepared for them. So there is a balance to all that stuff. Well, you had that crazy fall at your Vegas show, right? Like a couple of years ago. Exactly. And I feel like I got lucky because just my arm, my shoulder went down to my armpit.

40:30That was terrible. But I mean, it could have been my neck. It could have been my back. Walk us through what happened. So my Vegas show, I wanted to start by, I put a light truss all the way up and it was shaky and things, which I thought would be funny. And I climbed up. And in the beginning, I think I was jumping like 68 feet, 68 feet. And I put cardboard boxes down where the seats were. And I would jump down into the boxes. But I was doing three shows per month, which is like the max that I could even tolerate. But my stunt guy, Jim Churchman, was helping put that together. He's like, we got to be careful because it's about 20 Gs of force.

41:07And you can't keep doing this over and over. You're getting something's going to go wrong you know for some reason i figured i could pull it off and i kept increasing the height because i started with the idea of like okay i'm going to go up and then i would then i would like be like but wait can i go like i don't know i just wanted to keep pushing it right so i don't know what the reason i should have just been content there but i'm never content so i'm like i have to higher higher and right when i got my head next to the ceiling i jumped and it was after i was you know in um thailand and i had you know a swarm of bees covering me and i was yeah i took a bunch of stungs i was stung all over a bunch of things i was stung all over the place i had to go on i think i had to take antibiotics so i wasn't probably a hundred percent when i did that jump i did the jump and um i don't know what it was i I didn't land right or my body was slightly there.

42:00And that happened. But then I think about it, I'm like, whoa, I was lucky. Because that could have been anything. But yeah, so that was the end of that in the show. It's never recovered properly. But no, I mean, that's not a big, no, that's not like the box in London, which is, you know, major. You feel like you're still recovering from that. From the London thing? It messed me up, yeah. Irreversibly, you feel like? Probably on some level, yeah. There's other things I do that mess me up. Like I used to drink kerosene, which I would float on top of the water in my stomach. Terrible idea. Eating the glass is really bad because there's also chemicals in that glass and stuff like that.

42:43So aside from the enamel and everything going away on your teeth, so I never experienced hot and cold without such extreme, right? And then there's tons of little injuries. But the ones that I'm most concerned with are those ones. Now I'm much more careful on some level because I have a daughter, so I don't want something. You know, you think about life differently and how you're going to push yourself differently and what you can and can't do. Yeah, the London box, I don't think I would ever do something like that again. Did it change from the moment you held your daughter, like when she was born?

43:18Not right when she was born. was like the most incredible moment of my life but i still when she was like one and a half i still i did a stunt i was in you know a million volts of electricity and it went wrong my legs swelled up from edema ripped through the chamber i was getting shocked i spit some electrolyte water out and it hit the coil and went inside and really messed me up so at the end of that stunt which was 73 hours saying i said i'm not going to do any of these things anymore because i don't want something to go wrong. I have a daughter. But when I was saying, is there anything you're scared of?

43:54You just mentioned something happening to your daughter. That's like very real. When she stretches and she goes into splits and things like that, when I'm watching her, it's so painful for me to go. Imagine how she feels when you're putting a knife through your nose there. I talk to her and I'm very careful. Yeah, sure. How does she react when she sees this all that you're up to? Well, she's grown up with it. So she's, I think she's like, even though it seems super crazy, I'm pretty, I have to really trust the person that's showing me, the teacher, and the learning curve for that series was short, but these are masters that have done the countless thousands of hours of work, and some secrets were passed down to them, some they've developed on their own it is a matter of trust and then this series i i was very careful even though it looks like there's so many crazy you know things that i'm trying or certain things like sitting with the black mambas it was an enclosure this this size of just like this space and there were six black mambas in there but the thing is and i was with this man named neville South African man that wants to show people that you don't need to, when you see a black mamba, because they, they, they, they end up in schools and they end up killing people.

45:19And it's because people react to them and they try to push them away. And as soon as you do that, the black mamba reacts back. So he sits with the mambas at peace and he's showing everybody that if you encounter a black mamba the best thing to do is to not be aggressive not act in a way that makes it uncomfortable just be at peace and just stay very calm they're very instinctual like most animals like if you if there's some people that go into a into a house and there's cats that won't come out and the cats come out with some people and they go go near them right and it's just because that person has this like energy this like this stillness or whatever that makes a cat comfortable and what his point is is it's the same with the with these feared black mambas you just remain calm so i trusted him it was the scariest thing i've ever done in my lifetime this is the one oh yeah absolutely scariest thing i've ever done and it doesn't look like it is like when you watch it You won't understand that.

46:26In Africa, they call it the two-step. So you get one step and then the second step and you're done. But sitting there with him, even though I was like, I knew I had to just follow exactly what he said. And I observed first. I watched him for a few days. And I realized he knows what he's doing. He believes in everything that he's saying. And I sat with him in there. and then and then when one started to come towards you know when it was close he said uh said don't worry if something goes wrong i'll take the hit and i was like um i think i'm ready to go i think can i get out of here can i go and he's like nope because you can't leave until until it's a what you can't do any abrupt movement so that was the craziest thing i've ever done in And you got really close to it as well.

47:19It did get really close. But again, I trusted him completely. How does someone like him build that skill without dying in the process? Well, he was bitten a few times. So he did go into a coma once. He had a snake-related injury where he lost his leg. So he has one leg. And he still does it. Yeah. And he sits with them. so people will come and see him and know that if they've seen this, it kind of gets the point across. Like if you see a guy sitting in a small room like this with a bunch of black mambas, you realize, okay, so if a black mamba does come into our school or into our house or wherever, you can just stay at peace, stay calm on some level.

48:02So he's protecting the people and the mambas. And there's no way of training a mamba. No, and these are wild. these are rescues he keeps them and then releases them back so yeah no you know yeah that i mean just listening to that it's crazy is and to hear you say it's the hardest thing you've ever done not hard but the scariest it wasn't hard it was the opposite of hard it's just all you have to do is just sit still yeah but you have to stay still and you have to be you have to be at ease did you have to prepare that before you went in oh i look like i'm about to like run to the bathroom the whole time.

48:39I think all of us would be, I think all of us wouldn't even get in there. There's, there's an interesting thing about animals in that way, isn't there? There's, um, my, my monk teacher who spent time in, when he traveled would live in the forest and things like that back in the day. And he would always talk about how animals see whether you respect them or whether you fear them. And he would talk about that every time he saw an animal, it was like, he'd have to bow down to the animal in his heart and mind. And, and if he was to do that, then the animal would know that that wasn't a threat or there wasn't any fear.

49:11And then that would be what created a sense of peace, that if he could bow down and show respect. Yeah, that's exactly right. We think we have to dominate and show them and then they'll run away. But it depends. Some you have to, so it varies. Some you have to show that you're not afraid and that you're strong and you're not going to be an easy target. Or they say with sharks, what you have to do is if you're around bull sharks in the ocean or whatever, you just look at them and keep looking because they don't want to challenge they're they're so evolved they don't want to have to waste any energy they're so perfect they conserve energy in the most efficient way so if you're looking at it it knows that it would it may get a fight back but if you're not looking then it's right yeah wow think about them preserving He's getting energy.

50:03But he sits in there for hours. And when I met him, he was just sitting with a forest cobra, another snake that could easily kill you. But he was just like drinking his coffee. So yeah, he was amazing. Wow. And has he got to a place of fearlessness? Like, would he say that? He feels fearless or no? He feels peered? No, I think no. I think he respects and loves these snakes. He thinks they're beautiful and incredible. So it's not, yeah, sure. He's fearless with that. specifically yeah but i think it's more like he has a uh just such a deep respect for like you said like you know bowing down to yeah it's that i mean even listening to you though there's such a respect for your craft and art like the number of times in this conversation you've always already said like i trusted the teacher i trusted neville trusted deepak like there's such a respect for mentors and trust for teachers and guides.

50:58And there's such a respect for the art and craft. It's not just, you know, as today, we kind of make everything today just feel like entertainment. And even when people have talents, it's kind of just like, oh yeah, everyone's got talents now, but it's like, actually for you, it's a respect and study of the craft. I think it's the same when you, when you met the monk, you immediately felt his, his knowledge and his faith and his beliefs and his discipline, his wisdom right. And I think with the people I've met, all of them, I felt that. And as soon as I felt that I was okay to try things. So I think lots of it has to do with just trusting the person and their abilities and their understanding of what they're doing.

51:44And then from that, it's a leap of faith. It's beautiful to think about what you do that way because i think a lot of people can kind of project it as like oh well david's figured it out but it's actually like no you're willing to submit yourself and study and become a beginner again right like that beginner's mindset that's right and that's that's the part that's like breaking the comfort zone is is trying something you haven't done trying something new pushing yourself in a way that you're uncomfortable and working diligently and loving failure right the failure is like it's that's okay the failure is amazing that when you're performing magic it's the failures that you learn from right it's like you're performing a card trick and you fail well that's where you learn and you're constantly learning that's what's amazing about being a magician is there's a constant learning curve and it never stops you're always practicing you're always even if it's the same trick that that you've worked on for for me 30 years some of them 40 or whatever it is, and I'm still changing.

52:48I'm still learning. And that's, for me, the exciting part of everything. Yeah, you're constantly going from becoming the expert, going back to the beginner, become an expert. That cycle doesn't stop. Right. And therefore, you're never an expert, you know? Yeah, it's really cool. I love that. What's the illusion that's kept you up the most nights before you've done it, that you've had sleepless nights over as you prepare or get ready for it? probably kissing the king cobra just because i understood that the risk was it was you know i understood the risk so that one i was that that took me a long time to mentally prepare for that one took me a long time how many times had you been in the pen before you did that one was that in that time that night no no no we i took time on that one i i wasn't ready so i left came back months later I tried to understand the behavior of the king cobra I met with my friends that had king cobras that understood that one was a pretty intense learning curve because they strike fast and if it gets you so I think if everything I've done that, that might have been the most intimidating one probably.

54:08I think that's very legitimate kissing a king cobra Yeah, because all the stunts and all the other things that I've done, there was no real immediate risk of death. Yes, something could go wrong, but there's not a, this is a lights out situation where with the King Cobra, I understood the risk was great. So I wanted to know that I had the ability to get out of the way and that I could understand its movements and its timing. Are you scared of dying? I'm not afraid of dying, but I understand, you know, my mother died in my arms. And the last word she said to me is God is love. But since having a daughter, it's like you want to live for as long as possible.

54:54But previous to having a daughter, I didn't even, I was like, yeah, just whatever. Now, because of my daughter, I want to not do something. It was like, oops. What was it like losing your mother? So sorry for your loss. She got sick when I was 16 and she died when I was 20. She was a warrior through it and a peaceful warrior. When she died, I felt like my body was like a tree and it was like one big branch of a tree or something and it went like that. It was like an immediate like broken. You know, it was like, I never want to feel that type of pain again. It was, it was, it was like, literally, like I felt like, like something broke in half.

55:44You know, so that was, that was a good, and I was so close to my mother was, she was my best friend. She was my, my world. But then what started to happen was I started to find, there was like messages. By the way, whenever I did stunts, I'm not even kidding. She would always, like, I would get a sign from her and those signs would make me know I was going to be okay. It was when I was buried alive. It sounds crazy, but like, I think the energy is always there, right? So I was buried alive and I was like, it was all cloudy. I was like, mom, can you give me a sign? And right when I said it, I'm not even kidding.

56:29It was like the clouds opened and the sun came through. It was like an immediate thing. When I was in the box in London, 44 days, day 40, I was having these terrible heart palpitations. Like, I mean, no, but I thought I was going to die or something, right? And I went in my head again, Bob, give me a sign. Like, you know, what should I do? and uh at that exact moment you know i could see the tower bridge over there and this was day 40 i had to go to day 44 and there was a bunch of people yelling you know from from the tower bridge and i look over and i'm not even kidding right when i said that the they open up this banner that they made and it just said god is love and i was like yeah and that was our final words Yes.

57:14So it was like, it's like the energy is just there. And she, so, so basically when she wasn't there, she was, she's even more, you know, it's like her presence became so strong. That's so powerful. Yeah. That's really special. Yeah. Do you look for her in it? I don't need to look, but she's everywhere. She's everywhere. Yeah. Wow. That's really special. That's funny. Yeah. I didn't think of that, but yeah. I've had a couple of experiences recently. I was officiating a wedding, not last Christmas, the Christmas before, December before. And the couple that I'd introduced had met through meditations that I'd led for them.

57:56And so I was leading a meditation for their wedding ceremony because they had asked for it. And so me and the couple closed their eyes during that period. but the rest of the audience, I think some of them probably joined in. Some people don't want to join in. So they didn't join in. And it was amazing because we were in Tulum in Mexico and this, I had my eyes closed, I didn't see it. But this huge blue butterfly flew from between the couple and then flew throughout the whole audience. And for those who had their eyes open, saw it. And for most of us who had our eyes closed, we didn't see it. And then we found out later on that the lady who's getting married, and she has a blue butterfly on her neck because it represents her father who is passed on.

58:43That's amazing. And we didn't see it because we had our eyes closed in meditation. That's amazing. And it got beautifully just, and it was just one butterfly. No one really saw it. And it's just, I love things like that when people have such a strong semblance to signs. Yeah, there's signs everywhere if you pay attention to them, if you look for them, if you're open to them. And it's easy to block off from all that stuff, but it's like, yeah, if you open to it, it's everywhere. Well, that's what I love about the way you think about it, because I think there's a lot of illusionists in the world who almost see illusion as a way of saying there are no, there is no mysticism in the world.

59:21There's a lot of illusionists who will say, oh yeah, because I can explain everything, it kind of proves that there is no otherworldly, supernatural or mystical, whatever language you want to use for it. But you seem to have somewhat of a... Well, it's, yeah, I mean, it's more about like being open to it. So if you're open to it, you'll, you'll find it because that's what you're looking for. Right. But if you're like, then you won't. And it's like, I feel like the, the better approach is to be open to it. So you could, you could experience these incredible things, you know? What's one of the most amazing things you've experienced by being open?

59:57No, I mean, just by being just like, you know, watching my daughter just grow. And, you know, that's the most amazing. And watching who she becomes and so that. But yeah, when you need those signs, if you're open to it, they'll be there. And if you're close to it, you'll never see them because you're like, nah. You know what I kept writing in my journal when I was in the box? Because that's the only thing I really brought was no toothbrush, no nothing. but I had a journal and a couple of pens and I kept writing everything is perspective. Everything is how you decide to see it. Cause people kept saying, are you bored in the box?

1:00:36I'm like, boredom is a choice. Like you choose to be bored because your mind has so many things it can think about, create, do, wonder, dream, everything. So it's like, so, so those two things are the things that, that, that are all over that journal. Everything is perspective and boredom is a choice. And then there was a lot of numbers and mapping out, like the amount of time and graphs. But those were two of the very strong, prominent thoughts of what I learned and became very clear to me during that 44-day fast. It opened me up to so many thoughts. And it was like this clarity that I never get because there's very few distractions.

1:01:17No phone, no this, no that, no food, no distractions, really. So you suddenly you become hyper aware, like you're, it's like a heightened sense of awareness and everything becomes intense and beautiful. And which is probably what you were doing for the three years. I mean, we were talking about it earlier. Like you start realizing that the sky is not just blue. There's so many different variations that not every leaf you see is green. There's so many variations. But if you look on an average day, it's like, oh, the sky's blue. The trees are green. Like we have this, we kind of have this almost veneer or this lens we put on everything, which makes it all the same.

1:01:55And you look at that in society too, where like you go down most city centers, every shop is the same. We see the same coffee shop everywhere. You see the same, like, you know, we homogenize everything in the world. And there's a sense of comfort. There's a sense of comfort when you see, I remember my friend was giving us a tour of Oxford. he was studying at Oxford University and he was going around and he was saying this is where Lord of the Rings was written and this is where Alice in Wonderland was written he was giving me this and me and Mahim were like loving this and we were with someone and then we walked into the town centre and they were like oh my god there's an urban outfit is here it's like the clothes store and we were all like what is wrong with you but it's like for them that was a sense of comfort yeah that's funny yeah and I was like but wait a minute this is where Alice in Wonderland was written everything is perspective everything is perspective And that person may be just as excited about that as this person is about this, which is amazing.

1:02:49And it's so fascinating. It's like, yeah, who have you met or what have you done that has just shifted your perspective the most in the last few decades? Is this a person you met, a place you went to that just shifted? I mean, there's so many. It's just a, well, books, books are, that's like a big one, right? just books just you know i think like what books do to the mind is identical to what exercising does for the body that's the main problem with the phones is it's really taken away like my ability to just read a book has changed because i'm so distracted by you know so it's like but it's like just being able to like open up your mind and and explore these incredible worlds that were meticulously done by these brilliant writers that studied psychology and philosophy and that outpouring of of of just you know knowledge but so i think books would be the first thing that have like that have like impacted any favorites any any ones that you recommend yeah cervantes and his life story was incredible cervantes he's fascinating and then don quixote is like one of the most, I think, one of the most important books written in many ways.

1:04:07His story is incredible because he was the son of a surgeon. He grew up very poor, Cervantes. So he went to fight for his country. And during the Inquisition, I guess, he was maimed on his left side. So he was paralyzed on his left side. He couldn't use his arm. And he was given the equivalent of a Purple Heart. So on his way back, the boat was seized. They took him captive and he was tortured and beaten for years. He couldn't get out. And his brother finally raised enough money that he was, by the way, from the monastery, his brother raised enough money. when he came out they gave him a job as a tax collector and he didn't want to do that he didn't want to collect taxes because he thought like if i'm doing this to a mother of six and she you know she can't afford this i don't want to do this they ended up putting him in jail for i think 12 years while he was in prison he wrote don quixote which is this book about a guy that wants to save the world and make the world a better place.

1:05:13But he finished it when he came out. The book was published and it became like the number one book in Europe. But the book publisher, I don't think they ever really paid him. So this book that became like, Shakespeare even wrote an entire play about one character in the book called Cardinio, which is that character is incredible. But the, when he was basically, when he came out, they never gave him his, his, his, his earnings and he died completely broken. The story of Don Quixote is about a guy that wants to make the world a better place, but it's not possible, you know, which is what his mission was.

1:05:57Yeah. Yeah, but that's a great book. Yeah, thank you. How does that speak to you now? Like, how does his dilemma speak to you? I mean, it's related to everything, right? Hope for the best and expect the worst is the theme of his book. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a beautiful statement that it reminds me of from F. Scott Fitzgerald, who said that the sign of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time. So one should be able to look around and see that everything is hopeless, but still be determined to make a change. And still be hopeful. Yeah, exactly.

1:06:36Like that ability to - Yeah, that's right. To absorb two different - Yeah, because the brain's not meant to be malleable. So it's like you think one way and it's very hard to unthink that. It's very hard to change the direction of what you accept and what you like, But you're right. That sign of intelligence is the ability to grow and learn and scrap previous ideas and change the way you think and continue to break everything that you think you know. But that's literally what you do in a physical, tangible, mental way. Because everything about you knows that putting a blade close to your body cuts it, that being close to a black mamba like kills you.

1:07:13Like that is what you're, you're literally living that. Because I'm intrigued to know this because you're one of the most unrelatable people on the planet. Because you've done things that even if you explain them, and even if we watch you do them 99.9 % of people even more than that that's even a low percentage have no idea what it even feels like how does that feel I don't think of it like that okay actually I think everybody has their their thing like everybody has that thing that they're like it's the same thing it's just it just it speaks differently yeah and it just speaks differently yeah so I think everybody like If you look into every single person, you can find things that you can't understand.

1:08:03And it's amazing to explore that. I like that perspective. I like that perspective. Everyone can feel that way if they want to. It's a choice. And they do. Everybody has their thing that's unique to them. And there's so many. It's like the skill that I respect. than my mother being the best mother ever, right? But that's like complete surrender, dedication and belief and passion, you know? That's their special source. Yeah, that's their passion. That's what lights their fire. Yeah. You'd avoided fire for a while. Like you'd avoided wanting to do that. You finally succeed with the bridge dive. I mean, how did that feel?

1:08:56Why were you avoiding it? It just never came together properly. The idea was planted in my head, but it never came together properly. But then when I went to Brazil and I met these incredible high divers, the Karina who had like walked over, traversed a volcano. And by the way, she almost died doing that. She was bleeding through her mouth. or no, she couldn't even breathe. But when you look at the images of her walking across a volcano lake, it's whoa. But anyway, so there was a man, Andre, who's this fire genius that just respects and loves fires in the same way Neville does with the Black Mambas.

1:09:40They helped me put together this idea of just, you know, doing something off of a bridge on fire. And that, yeah, it was amazing. I mean, but you had a set amount of time that you had to like it was quick yeah it was quick yeah it was quick yeah did it live up to your feeling of wanting to do something with fire yeah do i want to do it again yeah no yeah you would you do it again yeah yeah because you're always thinking like oh well the you know it was bright out it's the night time would have been you know so yeah you're always thinking about like you know that's not like the box which is one i can't ever do again that's one that's like That's interesting.

1:10:19So the way that this show came to, my concept was if something can be done by one, it can be done by others, right? And I think that's part of what happens is like somebody does something and somebody else, oh, this guy ran a mile in four minutes, so now I can break it. And then it's almost like a continual part that I love is one thing leads to another. You push somebody. The idea opens up. The idea opens up that you can do anything or you can do something you didn't think was possible. and then it just snowballs and it affects people around. And I think that's what's interesting about the magicians that I love is they create this fantasy land, right?

1:10:57They do these things that seem impossible, but the ones that I like are really doing things that are actually possible, but we think it's not possible. And then it relates to everybody because anybody that wants to do, oh, I want to write a book, they can write a book, right? You just have to believe in, oh, I want to direct a movie. They can direct a movie. I want to be a photographer for National Geographic. They can be a photographer. So it's like, I want to do this. I want to build a rocket. It's unlimited. So I think, and that's the thing that I love about the search for people that are doing things that, to me, feel like it's as close to magic as possible because it defies what we know to be possible.

1:11:37I think it's what's amazing about humanity is we just keep improving and we keep learning. And we keep evolving to become better and better. So, so yeah. So I think part of the, the search for these fascinating people or, or this love of, of, of magic stems from that idea that everybody is basically the same. Like there is nobody that's different than anybody. And you can apply that thinking to anything and any, and, and so I'm inspired by the people that do these things, not just magicians, but the people I've been searching for throughout the world. that just push the limits of what we would assume to be possible.

1:12:17I love that answer. Yeah, that's brilliant. That idea that every single person gets to kind of pass on the baton, right? Like the idea of like, I open up the door and now it's open. And I always ask people, I'm like, find your monk. And what I mean by that is if I didn't meet this monk, the entire trajectory of my life wouldn't have shifted and changed. it was like meeting this one person right completely pivoted my whole life journey and whoever that is for you you were open to it and understood that that's right and we all just need to be open to that like who's that person who could just completely or perspective that could completely shift and change your trajectory that's right it's pretty phenomenal i love and it's not and anybody and what's nice about that is then therefore it's like anything can inspire you to do anything that you want or that you dream of.

1:13:08And that's the stuff that, once again, that's what I love about when I studied these incredible performers, these magicians, these vaudevillians, these dime circus, I would read these things and I'd say, wait, how is this guy a human aquarium? Does that make sense? But he couldn't, Houdini wrote about Mac Norton, the human aquarium, but I'm like, but wait, he couldn't have fooled Houdini because Houdini is a magician. He's looking for the trick. And if Houdini's saying the guy's really doing it, it has to be real. So that just led, that was like the planting of the seed, right? So it's like, and just all these fascinating characters throughout the history of magic.

1:13:43And there's like these surreal images of these posters that these magicians created that when you look at them, it's like this, it's like this fantastical, mystical, magical world. So it's like, and that's what I think great books do is they open up your mind, they open up your thinking to this, like, to this, to this, it's like, uh, not just beauty. It's, it's, it's your imagination. It's your creations. It's your visualization. And then it's like converting that into through repetition, failure, practice, repeat into whatever you, and, and by the way, you shoot for this and then it may end up here, but that you've shot for.

1:14:18And so, you know, and it's a constant, you know, which is part of the thing that I love about all of these types of feelings or people or inspirations, like you found your monk who led you into this whole, your brain changed. You opened the door, right. And it seems like that's why you'll never be done because that's what drives you. And that's why we'll all never be done. David, you've been so generous with your time. I've loved every moment of this. You are truly one of the most fascinating people I've ever spoken to. and we end on purpose with a final five, a fast five. These have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum.

1:14:57So these are your, David Blaine, these are your final five. Question number one, what is the best life advice you've ever heard or received? I mean, I like always surround yourself with people that will inspire you and help you grow. That was a good one. Good advice. Question number two, what's the worst advice you've ever heard or received? Don't go for your dream. don't you're not going to succeed don't even bother worst advice yeah i think a lot of people have heard that if you listen to the people that are that they're gonna you know you cannot you have to go for the you have to at least try by the way you may fail but if you keep failing eventually you're probably gonna do something you'll get you know some version of what you want to do so yeah if if you wanted your life to leave behind three messages what would they be that you can find magic everywhere you know the connections between there's like the way i feel with my daughter finding that connection that surrender that love is that's the most beautiful thing that i have ever experienced and then one more thing i guess it goes to the first thing which is just to try to always experience that feeling of wonder like always be amazed allow Allow yourself to be amazed.

1:16:16You know, allow yourself to, yeah, what we were talking about, allow yourself to see the blue in the sky, you know? Yeah, yeah. I love that saying, allow yourself to be amazed because I think today, yeah, we don't allow ourselves because we're kind of used to it. We don't even realize, even though we all make phones look bad, but this is actually phenomenal that it exists. Like it's amazing that it's possible. Yeah, allow yourself to be amazed is a great line. I love that. Question number four, when your mother left you with the words, God is love, what does that mean to you today? It means love is God, God is love.

1:16:52Like the feeling of love, the surrender, that is everything. That is what life is about. That's what life is. That's the ultimate. Yeah, the giving into that feeling, which we're all very guarded. You know, I'm super guarded. And like you said, as a magician, I'm super skeptical. But at the same time, I still do believe there's so much that we don't know, that we don't understand. And we're all connected to this one. We're all part of this one connection. We're all connected. We're all made of the same molecules and atoms. So I think everything is connected and everything is one. And I don't think there's a beginning or an end.

1:17:35And energy isn't either created nor destroyed. So it's always it. So that whole. Love that. Uh, fifth and final question. If you could, we asked this to every guest who's ever been on the show. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?

1:17:54Wow. So one law. It can be as tangible or intangible as you like. Yeah. So then it should be the law of love. Simple. Yeah. I mean, like just that surrender that like, uh, because that's, there's no ego in that. There's no... Yeah, no ego is definitely a good law. But it's so hard to, you know, it's like we're so locked in all this stuff. But yeah, giving up, just like surrender. When do you feel you have the least ego? When do you feel you experience no ego? When I'm with my daughters, it's like that's like everything disappears. David Blaine, thank you so much for your time, your energy, everyone who's been listening and watching.

1:18:35Make sure you go and watch the new show, David Blaine, Do Not Attempt. It's on Nat Geo. I can't wait for you to see it. It's phenomenal. You got to hear some of the stories here. Out March 23rd on National Geographic, David takes viewers on an incredible journey where he immerses himself in unique cultures and meeting extraordinary performers who inspire and share their rare skills and secrets. And of course, you can also see David as Las Vegas residency at the Encore Theater and at the Wynn. I can't wait to go. I'm coming to see you live. I'm really looking forward to it. And congratulations, my friend.

1:19:12And thank you. Really wonderful getting to know you. Well, you too. Thank you. If you love this podcast, you'll love my episode with Lewis Hamilton. Lewis and I talk about why you should stop chasing society's definition of success and how to be more intentional with your goals. You don't want to miss it. Like, it's not about being perfect. It's about just every day, one step at a time, trying to be better, trying to do more. I'm learning a lot about myself. I had to break myself down in order to be able to be better. This episode of On Purpose is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. I believe that travel is one of the greatest gifts that we've ever been given.

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