Why we love to be baffled

So much of life is a search for answers. How to get ahead, how to earn more money, how to be happy. But deep down, is there a part of us that likes not knowing an answer? Do we sometimes want to be baffled?

It’s a question that’s come to fascinate me as I’ve embarked on a new career leading corporate team-building sessions based around magic. I do the tricks (close-up stuff – cards, coins and the like), then the team has to work out how I’m doing them.

Of course they need hints to get them started, but you’d be amazed at how much the group brain can achieve. People love the challenge, the lessons in problem-solving, and, of course, the fact that they go home with several tricks that will really annoy their other half.