[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Thank you so much for those very kind words Migueldiaz!!! That means a lot. Actually I enjoyed writing on the topic and it helped me realize the importance of what is being discussed here. The late Professor Keegan was one of the most brilliant writers I have read, and his ability to present true dimension in his work can only be described as magnificent, for lack of better words.

The pleasure is really ours. Thanks again, Jim

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

The psychological effect of the appearance of many weapons is well established, and this has been discussed many times over the years here, however,the psychological state of the warrior himself however, has not. He, as a virtual living weapon, is essentially the topic here ...

Indeed. The more I think about it, the more it becomes evident that a man's mindset is really his primary weapon.

Give a determined Tausug Moro a toothbrush for his weapon and I'm sure he can still do a lot of damage -- and I don't mean to be facetious in saying that.

As we often hear, the battle is first fought in the mind.

And generals supposedly look into the eyes of their troops on the eve of the battle, to predict whether they will win the battle or not.

So maybe this is where the conditioning of the mind (whether self-induced or via botanicals) comes in. What I mean is that having realized the paramount importance of the mindset, a leader or a warrior strives to reach a certain psychological state, if he is to withstand the rigors and influence the outcome of something important he's about to do (e.g., going into battle).

And the mind is a pretty powerful instrument as we all know. What I excerpted below is somewhat related, as the police officers' account amply illustrates how our brain acts as a weapon in concert with a physical weapon, in extraordinary circumstances.

The account was taken from the bestselling book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, which in turn quoted Into the Kill Zone, by David Klinger, a University of Missouri criminologist --

Well over 90% of police go over their careers without firing a gun. For those 10% who get to shoot it out, their experience turns out to be quite intense, as follows.

First interview, about a police officer and his partner Dan, in which the suspect is in the act of attacking Dan --

He [the criminal] looked up and saw me and said, "Oh, sh**." Not like, "Oh, sh** [I'm scared]" but "Oh, sh** [here's somebody else I gotta kill], real aggressive and mean. Instead of continuing to push the gun at Dan's head, he started to bring it around on me.

This all happened real fast, in milliseconds.

And at the same time, I was bringing my gun up. Dan was still fighting with him and the only thought that came through my mind was, Oh dear God, don't let me hit Dan.

I fired five rounds. My vision changed as I started to shoot.

It went from seeing the whole picture, to seeing just the suspect's head. Everything else just disappeared. I didn't see Dan anymore, I didn't see anything else. All I can see was the suspect's head.

I saw four of my five rounds hit.

The first one hit him in his left eyebrow. It opened up a hole, and the guy's head snapped back and he said, "Oooh!" like "Oooh, you got me." He still continued to turn the gun toward me. And I fired my second round. I saw a red dot right below the base of his left eye. And his head kind of turned sideways.

I fired another round. It hit on the outside of his left eye, and his eye exploded, just ruptured, and came out. My fourth round hit just in front of his left ear. The third round has moved his head even further sideways to me. And when the fourth round hit, I saw a red dot open on the side of his head then close up.

I did not see where my last round went. Then I heard the guy fall backwards, and hit the ground.

Second interview, from another police officer:

When he started towards us, it was almost like in slow motion, and everything went into a tight focus. When he made his move, my whole body just tensed up. I don't remember having any feeling from my chest down. Everything was focused forward to watch and react to my target.

Talk about an adrenaline rush. Everything tightened up, and all my senses were directed forward at the man running at us with a gun. My vision was focused on his torso and the gun. I couldn't tell you what his left hand was doing. I have no idea. I was watching the gun, the gun was coming down in front of his chest area.

And that's when I did my first shots. I didn't hear a thing. Not one thing.

Allen [?] had fired one round, when I shot my first pair but I didn't hear him shoot. He shot two more rounds when I fired the second time but I didn't hear any of those rounds either. We stopped shooting when he hit the floor and slid into me.

Then I was on my feet standing over the guy. I don't even remember pushing myself up. All I know, the next thing I know, I was standing on two feet, looking down on the guy. I don't know how I got there. Whether I pushed down with my hands, or whether I pulled up my knees from underneath. I don't know.

But once I was up, I was hearing things again, because I can hear brass still clinking on the tile floor.

Time has also returned to normal by then, because it has slowed down during the shooting. That started as soon as he started towards us. Even though I knew he was running at us, it looked like he was moving in slow motion.

Damnest thing I ever saw.

Hence, it now appears that "bullet time" in the Matrix movie series has a basis after all.

A Formula One race car driver also supposedly experiences the same time dilation phenomenon.

PS - I just remembered this ... In a Godfather movie (can't recall if it was Part 1 or 2), an assassin successfully killed an enemy boss by employing a good game plan and using the latter's own eyeglasses as weapon. I rest my case