"Μαθητευόμενοι Μάγοι" discusses the idea that humans are "apprentice magicians" rather than scientists, creating and perpetuating their own "drama" through stories that influence emotions, experiences, senses, and movements. The author reflects on this idea, realizing its truth over time. The text suggests that societal influences (parents, family, school) often discourage individuals from trusting their own judgment, leading them to become imitators and obedient followers who live with shame for their mistakes, complain, and blame others. This results in people ceding their power for personal responsibility and development to a system that dictates what to do, think, and feel.
The Greek text also explores the concept of "suspension of disbelief," explaining it as the willingness to set aside critical thinking and logic when encountering something unrealistic in fiction, in order to enjoy the narrative. This concept has historical roots in Greco-Roman theatre, where audiences ignored the unreality of fiction to experience catharsis. The phrase itself was coined and developed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his 1817 work Biographia Literaria. Coleridge proposed that if an author could infuse "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a story with improbable elements, the reader would willingly suspend their judgment about the improbability of the narrative. He was interested in bringing fantastic elements back into poetry and developed this idea to explain how a modern, enlightened audience could still enjoy such literature. Coleridge suggested that his work, like Lyrical Ballads, aimed to explain supernatural characters and events in plausible terms so that the improbable elements of imagination would appear real. He also referred to this concept as "poetic faith," linking it to a feeling analogous to the supernatural that stimulates the mind's faculties regardless of the irrationality of what is understood.
Finally, the text hints at future discussions on how individuals, once they realize they live every story they believe as reality, can learn to write their own narratives without exploiting the weaknesses of others or themselves.
