<div class="floatleft">(http://www.girlswithmuscle.com/images/full/746549258.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Brandt<br/><strong>Alias:</strong>Mantis<br/><strong>Dorm Assignment:</strong>Floor 2, Room 3<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Auditorium<br/><strong>Date/Time:</strong>September 2nd, Early evening<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>Olive Drab Sweater, Light Gray Sweatpants<br/><strong>Tagging: </strong>Jean, Open<br/><hr/><br/>"I am honored that you would ask me," Mantis stated sincerely in response to the offer of training in meditation, passively revealing despite her formidable martial training, she wasn't any less susceptible then any other willful person was towards Jean Grey's impressive psionic abilities. "As the great Warlord Napoleon Bonaparte once stated, the mental is to the physical as two is to one," she then stated with a bit of random reverence. "The martial way is all about advancing the human mind and body to advance beyond the known limitations we impose upon ourselves. By operating unrestrained by our mental constructs and impediments we place within us, even subconsciously, we limit ourselves drastically. And it is not only fear or ignorance that limits us. But ego and desire as well. All of it narrows our viewpoints and our minds. The true achievement for any follower of the way is...," Mantis paused... drifting off a bit, contemplating what to say next.<br/><br/>"The thing is, all of these things are part of us... we must accept it and yet also, we must not ignore it for both will create antagonisms. The challenge for those who follow the way is to strike that balance which does not create antagonism between giving in to fear, and ego, or rejecting fear and ego when must one reject both equally and simply accept you have these traits and this conflict within you. But if you are aware of this, and the antagonism does not affect you, your mind will be cleansed, unstained and open. From there... you will be able to find your mind is without limitation," she then concluded. "Meditation helps one become aware of this antagonism and eliminate these mental constructs."<br/><br/>"And that leads to your second question. If the mind is truly freed, then the body is the vessel with which it can pursue the limits of human potential. And I think we have all seen the true limitations of the human mind and body are far from what we have ever conceived. I am not a practitioner of the mystical arts, but when you have mastered the way, your potential can only be limited by the body itself. And any warrior or soldier would prefer to be limited by the unbending laws of nature, then the limitations of their own mind. And when one has mastered their own chi, their own internal... force... even those limitation can be challenged." She paused, thinking of an appropriate parable.<br/><br/>"I quoted Napoleon earlier, because I believe he was a master of the battlefield. I cannot think of any that were higher in this millennium. But I am always reminded of Mark Twain's story of a man who visited heaven. He asked about Napoleon and found that someone stood higher then him in generalship, a bricklayer from Boston. If he had served, he would've made all generalship look like childs work and had Hannibal, Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon himself on his staff. But he never had the opportunity to pursue his mastery on our world because he had lost both thumbs and a couple of front teeth, and the recruiting sergeant wouldn’t pass him," she then said before pausing again on reflection. "Only through pursuing the martial way can one truly attain their potential, at least in this world. So yes, I believe a great deal seen in those movies is possible and attainable. It is a myth only because so many of us have failed to achieve it, not because it is not impossible."