I just found this quote on another thread and thought is deserved it's own topic

"Mentalism has been called 'Magic’s last frontier.' It’s really the only form of the art left where the audience can think that what they’ve just seen is, perhaps, real." - Sisti

This provides a really nice working definition of mentalism that allows performers of mentalism to separate themselves from the larger magic community.

It also provides an excellent way for those magicians who perform mentalism as 'magic tricks' to see the difference between what they are doing and what mentalists are doing.

For example, consider these two mental epic boards

http://www.thecentertear.com/ama/med/P2545.jpg
http://osterlindstore.com/catalog/images/ub1.jpg

Which board would best create the illusion of 'real' telepathy?

But what I like most about this definition is that it broadens the field of mentalism so that other effects, performed well, can be included as believable.

For example, when Chris Angel flies in the first series of Mind-freak, a huge number of people asked me whether it was real, whether he was really flying. the effects was subtle and believable to a large portion of the audience. This doesn't make Angel a mentalist, but it does open up the definition to what is possibly believable.

Blurring the definition and recreating it can be exciting. Nice to see someone point out the problem with most props. Although I hear Osterlind's board doesn't fit into a standard bunny table...