Somewhere in MT there was posted a video of some "magic hands" master that offered a $5000.00 purse if anybody could beat him...he got beat quickly much too the amusement of his circling power hands....that had made all his students fall over......Belief in something outside the realm of reality is just that....the Sioux really believed their enchanded bone breastplates would save them from the soldiers bullets...look what that got them...
whatever....
It would be erroneous to make any assumptions about knowing what we do, without getting on the mat and experiencing it first hand. It would be erroneous to assume that your model of reality is the only functional model, to the exclusion of others...of which you know naught. It would be erroneous to assume that what was true for that old Chi master is "truth" for what John or I do (which are different, though they share some philosophical genetics).
In 1991, I had already been a student of the Gracie brothers for a bit. While providing support at a Tony Robbins firewalk, we had a student and associated instructor from Dillmans strut through the staff room, bragging about his knockout prowess. He heard I was training in GJJ, and assumed that -- since he had been at Dillmans stuff longer than I had been at Gracie Jiu-Jutsu, it would be an unfair match up. It was. I invited him to knock me out any way he could at any time he could...from the shoot, to the takedown, to any time during the mount or rollover to Mata Leon. 3 times we clashed, and 3 times he tapped from within a cinched-up chokehold, not even getting close to knocking me out. I reminded him I was still a beginner, and he should take his "skill" to the Academy for a Challenge Match if he really wanted to be owned/embarassed.
The easy assumption would be to say, "All Gracie guys rock, and all Dillman guys suck". Problem was, less than a week after the firewalk, one of the guys we trained with took a hammerfist to the carotid pulse point while clinched with a Dillman dude, and went down hard. And cold. So, gross generalizations from either camp would have been incorrect, as counter-examples existed as contrary evidence to either position. What we did, however, was to actually go and look and see. And learn first hand what the other did. Test it under pressure.
On another forum, I have written about things I and my students have done while training in hypnotically altered states. Some say, "Interesting...how so?", while others say, "Balderdash!". I typically don't share the information with anyone except my direct students. If I did share it with strangers, it was expensive. At a seminar for kenpoists in my part of the country, I opened an invitation for the curious and skeptical alike: I will take you through the process for free. We will tape it, so you can look at the before and after differences, and see for yourself if anything changes. My bet was that I could triple their speed and power in an hour; something normally requiring years of training and practice. It would be free; we would do it after the seminar was over so there were no time constraints; there would be seniors in the art present to act as witnesses (in case the tape was not enough), and so on. For the chorus of critics and curious in the area, you know how many showed up to take me up on the offer? Nada. None. Zero. Zilch. Easier to yak about it then to get on the mat and have a direct experience with it.
And as to the idea that I'm making it up, there are a handful of people on these forums who have gone through the process for various combinations. Consensus being, "yeah, he can do it."
As one of my old DI's used to say, "Don't let your ego get in the way of your common sense." I would add, "Don't let your limited experience -- or your insistence on identifying with your on poor capacity for change -- define reality or limitations for others...it may not be accurate." I can't speak for Dr. John, but I can for myself: What you don't know about what I do could fill volumes. Literally. A small library of textbooks, training journals, reference citations culled from peer-reviewed journals in Cognitive, Social, and Learning Psych; physiology, biomechanics, Ericksonian breif therapy methods, etc. And since you'll never show up to see for yourself, it may be more appropriate to curb your enthusiasm. Or learn more about what we do before expressing your cynicism.
Best Regards,
Dave
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