by Brian Tritico

There is a section in Ninpo: Wisdom For Life that struck a note with me. It is titled, Do Not Depend On ESP. This is a really good, short and to the point, little essay that gets right to the heart of the topic. Supernatural abilities such as mind reading, etc, have always attracted a good amount of people the Ninpo/Ninjutsu. I can still remember picking up my very first Ashida Kim book back in the 80's, turning to the Kuji section and reading about all the mystical things that I could do if I were a ninja. As I looked at it I was amazed and thought, 'WOW! I want to do that!'. I mean, *I* had the book that gave me the secrets! It said so right there in print. It was MUCH later that I would go on to learn that real Ninpo is not about these types of things at all. What I did discover was a far stretch from what I read back in those early 80's. Seperating the fact from the fiction was a bit of a downer at first. I mean, I wanted to scale walls in 3 seconds, and be able to tell when I would win the Lottery, and stuff like that.. oh and who could pass up wanting to become invisible. Later in training, I learned that becoming invisible means taking the opponents eyesight away from them. It could be anything from poking the person in the eyes to setting a fire to blind them with smoke. But I wanted to just 'blink' out! It just didn't seem so exciting anymore.... from a beginner's standpoint.

In the essay that Hatsumi Sensei writes, he talks about how famous psychics have done sensational things, such as bend spoons with the power of the minds, read minds, tell the future, etc. But when these people went gambling they were not able to pick the right numbers! Sensei says that ESP is like an animal's special sense if you interpret it primitively. It is inside us but when we start doing 'human' things, such as gambling, etc, that sense is being over ruled by our human nature/sense, and the two just don't seem to mix well. Now that I think of it, I don't ever recall seeing any squirrels at the black jack table or any iguanas at the slot machines.

Now Sensei does say that mental abilities are important to a certain extent, but you should not rely on them totally... or in other words, don't put all your eggs in one basket. I am sure everyone has heard that saying by now. Over the years that I have trained in this art I have seen people who have tried to acquire ESP, and things like this, through intellectual means such as reading or dabbling in witchcraft or other areas like this. It is my understanding through what Hatsumi Sensei says and does that these abilities come to you on thier own and only when you are ready for them. If you seek them out, the further away from you they will get. You must let it come to you. That would explain the Godan test to some extent. Someone with 10 or more years of training will develop this sense naturally if they have had the proper training. It is the people who try to hurry the process along that do not acquire this sense.

Now and again, people will get sidetracked in their lives and in training. The whole ESP/Mind control thing has claimed many people along the way. When you find yourself in such a situation where you are seeking out these things, remember to (as a very good friend of mine always says), "Shut Up And Train!"