Somewhere around the year 100 BC,
the very first documented use of wrapping paper was found.
It was sort of a cloth-like paper mixture used to enclose money as a gift
in China.
Now, this tradition has actually continued throughout time
to modern Chinese culture,
where money is traditionally given in little red envelopes like this.
But why, in the year 100 BC, did they feel that need?
In current years, we seem to feel the need to wrap our presents.
And among many cultures,
we feel the need to conceal our gifts to others.
Staying true to form, I've chosen to conceal something in here today
for all of you,
but I'll show you in a couple minutes.
First, let's try something.
Let's try to answer that question.
I want you to try to imagine something in your hands right now.
Imagine anything.
It could be a pen, a notebook, a sweater, air - it could be nothing.
But imagine it in your hands right now.
And take that item and place it in a box.
Seal it up.
Wrap it in a very beautiful gold-foil wrapping paper
and then tie an elegant ribbon right across the top.
Now you have that item in that neatly wrapped package.
Take that same item and hold it in your other hand,
bare, all by itself.
And give them both a friend.
What are we really giving someone when we wrap something up and conceal it?
I think that we're giving something more than what's inside.
Because both literally and figuratively,
we're giving something in addition to the gift.
We're giving the idea of a gift.
We're giving the unknown,
anticipation,
which leads to excitement,
and we're giving what Albert Einstein would describe
as the most beautiful thing we can experience:
we're giving the mysterious.
And if that sounds heavy-handed,
it's still true.
And as someone who practices and performs the art of mystery through magic,
I've become obsessed with that idea,
of giving that experience,
giving the unknown.
And when you start to think about that,
you start to pay attention to not only what you show
but, almost more importantly, what you don't show.
But what does that look like?
Well, I'll need the help of a beautiful assistant
and these.
Sir, you're looking quite beautiful today.
(Laughter)
Will you assist?
(Man) Yes.
Wonderful. If you could just select a card, okay?
You're just going to place your finger on one of these cards.
Perfect. That one? Okay. Great. You can have a seat.
And you didn't see the card.
I didn't see it.
No one else saw it as well.
So I'm leaving it right here.
I'm just going to place this inside my jacket pocket,
leave it sticking out a little bit so we can all keep track of it, okay?
Now, we can have a guess,
we can have an idea of what is inside here,
but we don't really know.
Whether this has been manufactured or not,
we have created something essential for the traditional gift -
anticipation.
Now, anticipation occurs in a lot more places than this.
Every day when we wake up,
when we look into the day,
we have an idea of how it may end.
We have an idea of what may happen,
what's inside it,
but we don't really know.
We're giving ourselves a gift:
the gift of a day.
A gift of the present.
(Laughter)
So you might not always know
what is inside this gift, this day, for you,
but you do know how it's all wrapped up,
what it looks like on the outside.
Brown postal paper.
Gold foil.
A red envelope.
And sometimes, how it looks on the outside
matters a little bit more than what you think
because how long does a present sit, waiting to be opened?
And how long does it take to actually open it up and discover?
So consider this:
the next time that you receive a gift,
any gift,
pay mind to how you feel when you hold it in your hands,
when you're holding the unknown,
when you don't know what's inside.
Because sometimes,
no matter how many possibilities can occur,
no matter what the chances,
the beauty of our life is not in knowing what awaits us.
The beauty of our life is in finding ...
It's in finding out.
(Applause)