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Pakikipagkita sa mentista


Parva leves capiunt animas.
(Small things occupy small minds.)

Mens agitat molem.
(The mind moves the matter.)
Vergil

NAGKABUNGI ang talim ng sandata ni Musashi Miyamoto matapos makipagtuos sa isang bihasa sa lingkaw na may kadena o kusarigama… kahit nanaig pinagsabihan ng monghe… na lakas lang ng katawan ang pinaiiral niya sa labanan, hindi pa tiwasay tulad ng batis o salamin ang kanyang diwa… kinutya pa ng tagahasa ng patalim… kaluluwa’t diwa raw ng mananandata ang kanyang pinatatalas, hindi kahit ano lang na kagamitan ng sanggano.

Banas na nilisan ang tagahasa, pero nakapagmuni-muni habang naglalakad, bumalik… isinalong ang kanyang sandata, idinulog ang pakay… narito ang aking diwa, ipanumbalik muli ang kanyang talim.

Uh, iglap na igkas-bukas-tarak ng patalim—iaido ang tawag sa ganitong sining—ang nakapamihasaang gawi bawat araw… para hindi kalawangin ang kasanayan at kakayahan… para manatiling matalas ang diwa sa pagaspas na tila mariposa’t gapas na tila lingkaw sa samut-saring uhay at bungkos ng pagkaing butil.

No rust or dust settles on a blade constantly honed.

Such workaday tools, like our hands, are mere extensions of the mind… we sharpen them in a fashion and passion ceaseless, enduring and endearing… we sharpen our hands-on wont and ways of using them… by extension, the mind is given a keen cutting edge.

Linawin natin— dentists can fix dental problems… for mental problems, tiyak na mintis.

Pero kailangang kailangan sa panahong ito ng… mayroon na ba ngayong mentista?

Sa mga unang baytang ng mababang paaralan natutunan… Dr. Jose P. Rizal, Pride of the Walang Malay Race… henyo pala ang idinadambana ng mga bobotante, pwe-he-he-he!

Mangingimbulo, mananaghili—that’s two words for a deadly sin, envy—sa tulad nina Musashi na sinagisag at sinigasig ang iniingatang patalim upang maging katumbas ng diwa, anima sa Latin, na katumbas din ng ‘kaluluwa’. Maisasalong nga sa tagahasa para masinop ang talas…

Madami’t madumi na ang mga mapurol at pulpol ngayon.

Laging nasa bingit ng iyak ang bunsong apo, si Oyayi tuwing malalapit sa ‘kin, ah, I reminded him once by saying, mas mainam laging bukas ang diwa kaysa nakabukas ang bunganga… mas masayang nakaroskas ang dila kaysa nakaroskas ang diwa… uh, roscas is Spanish for ‘screw.’

Mga musmos na lang ang mapagsasabihan, sila na lang ang kapara ni Musashi… isasalong ang kanilang murang diwa upang maihasa ng mga gaya kong Diablolo na bihasa. And for Plato, the utmost political topic is the upbringing of children…

Basta kukuwentuhan ang mga apo ng mga nakakatakot… gaya ng isang sinulat ni H. P. Lovecraft, about two scientists who met up and had an earnest technology transfer with intelligent alien life forms… and with the burden of so much know-how attained, those guys simply transformed into gods who walked among horrified lesser mortals.

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