FHM.com.ph

Justin Pinon calls himself the mentalist. Or a “mental assassin,” if only, perhaps, to surround himself with an extra layer of mystique. He claims he has achieved mastery over the power of his mind, and can now read minds, bend metals, and, basically make like a Professor X-in-training.

On the piece of paper, we wrote “Katrina Halili.” We folded the paper four times over, maybe even five just to be safe. The mentalist takes the paper, tears it apart, and throws it away. He instructs me to stare at him eye-to-eye. Not 10 seconds have passed, when he began to state the letters, “K,” “A,” “T,” and as if bored, just states the whole name. “Katrina Halili.”

Astounding. And at that moment, our massive wall of doubt was taken down. There must be a trick to it, we know there is. But screw that, it’s fun to be amazed, especially by someone of Justin’s skill.

What exactly is a mentalist?
A mentalist can figure out what you’re thinking. May mga ways akong ginagawa para malaman kung ano ang iniisip mo. For example, I look at your body language. In a way, meron din akong mga ways para mapagawa ko sa iyo kung ano yung mga gusto kong gawin mo. For example, I can hypnotize you.

On my command, pwede kang maging chicken. On my command, pwede kitang i-hallucinate, pwede kitang paisipin na yun dagat yun, kahit hindi naman. I can also manipulate metals, bend spoons, forks, anything na pwede gamitan ng mind power.

But I’m not psychic. There’s nothing psychic about me. Wala akong supernatural abilities. I use the combination of psychology, hypnosis, power of suggestion, and intuition. Ang pinaka-common na ginagawa ko is psychology. For example, I’ll let you think of a word, and then titignan ko yung body language mo.