“Kiyai!” With a shout, the martial arts master shattered the brick in front of him.

“You hear people say ‘mind over matter’,” he says to the crowd. “It’s true. You can’t, even for an instant, think, ‘I’m not going to do it.’” His students set two bricks before him.

“Kiyai!” Both bricks split as though struck with a sledgehammer. “See? Mind over matter. I’m not even thinking about striking the bricks. I don’t consider the bricks at all.” Four bricks are stacked before him. As before, he shatters them with ease.

“I’m not aiming for the surface of the bricks. I’m aiming for a point six inches below the bottom brick. The bricks, themselves, are irrelevant to my goal.”

Six bricks, this time. Again, he strikes. Only, this time, when his hand strikes the top brick, the crowd hears a horrendous crunch as the bones in his hand shatter. He’s rushed out of the room while someone calls an ambulance.

On the way out, one of the spectators postulates, “Matter over mind. That brick was thinking, ‘Up yours, buddy!’”