Bao wrote:When I hear people describe some kinds of skills of their teachers or their experiences, I often start to recall things I’ve heard from Yellow Bamboo, Falungong and similar sects. You can always feel when someone’s excitement feels extreme.
Mack has been with Mizner for a long time now. But this sounds like it would be something new. Don’t you think that it’s highly unlikely, or at least odd, that he wouldn’t have encountered the same skills before? This is why I will dismiss it, it just doesn’t make sense that a long time student shows just as much excitement as a beginner about his teacher’s skills. It feels like another of their marketing, promotional act. So I will remember this and wait for what new skills that Mack will claim about Mizner in five and in ten years from now. I am seriously expecting some really, really profound supernatural shit.
You might be thinking of his dad, Andy Mack, though I think Duran has been training a few years now.
I'm willing to grant that a teacher might not show everything up front, so the fact that he only saw it now doesn't necessarily mean that it's not legitimate. It could also be that the ability is only recently developed. And also, you have to consider that the teacher has a head start on the student. Even if the student gets to the same place the teacher was when they started, they've both been developing and improving that entire time.
The claims alone strain credulity, but having no direct experience or exposure I put it in the same category as ghosts and God. I don't have definite proof one way or the other, so I remain agnostic. I can only state what it appears to be based on my previous knowledge, experience, and understanding: Unlikely.
I'd love to be proved wrong, who doesn't want super powers?
But in watching videos of Duran and Adam, specifically, my thoughts even before that is that Duran couldn't punch Adam if Adam was tied to a post with a blindfold on. There's a significant and obvious mental block that is difficult to overcome when dealing with a respected teacher. You want the teacher to like you, and you want their skills to be real, so you cooperate and do what they want.
I saw a mentalist in Las Vegas, and at one point he called me out of the audience to participate. I can't remember the whole bit, but he showed me an analog watch and said "it reads 4:15, right" and I agreed, but it really was pointing to like 4:17 or so. The suggestive wording and feeling of urgency he created, along with the stress of being in front of a crowd of strangers and the desire to not rock the boat all sort of combined to make the agreement fly out of my mouth before I could really process the truth. And even afterwards the impulse to protect my own ego rationalized it as "close enough".
This is Adam and Duran, he's the one that starts off camera on the far left with the darker hair and beard.
https://youtu.be/ZTZysb9yTNM