The following magic exercise comes from Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), one of the most influential, funny, and well-loved magicians of the 20th century. Wilson spent his entire career experimenting on his own consciousness and writing down his findings, always coming back to a very critical point:  What we believe about reality can literally change reality for us.

This is one of the core secrets of all magic.

Wilson regularly suggested that his readers experiment with reality by changing their beliefs, to see if reality changed along with them. As Wilson put it: What the thinker thinks, the prover proves.

Here’s one of his most famous exercises, from Prometheus Rising. Try it out!

Robert Anton Wilson’s Quarter Experiment

“1. Visualize a quarter vividly, and imagine vividly that you are going to find a quarter on the street. Then, look for the quarter every time you take a walk, meanwhile continuing to visualize it. See how long it takes you to find the quarter.

“2. Explain the above experiment by the hypothesis of ‘selective attention’—that is, believe there are lots of lost quarters everywhere and you were bound to find one by continually looking. Go looking for a second quarter.

“3. Explain the experiment by the alternative ‘mystical’ hypothesis that ‘mind controls everything.’ Believe that you made the quarter manifest in this universe. Go looking for a second quarter.

“4. Compare the time it takes to find the second quarter using the first hypothesis (attention) with the time it takes using the second hypothesis (mind-over-matter).

“5. With your own ingenuity, invent similar experiments and each time compare the two theories—‘selective attention’ (coincidence) vs. ‘mind controls everything’ (psychokinesis).

“6. Avoid coming to any strong conclusions prematurely. At the end of a month, re-read this… think it over again, and still postpone coming to any dogmatic conclusion. Believe it possible that you do not know everything yet, and that you might have something still to learn.”

Have fun, and make sure to write down your experiments and findings in your journal.

(Text quoted from Wilson, Robert Anton. Prometheus Rising. Tempe: New Falcon, 1983.)