"Too many mind," said the Japanese samurai to Nathan Algren, the character played by Tom Cruise in the The Last Samurai.

If you did not see the movie, I make it short for you. Tom Cruise’s character, Nathan Algren, is an ex-capitain from the US army that is going through a very low period (of course, due to a tragedy involving american-indians). So, he is hired to train the army of the Emperor of Japan and to fight the rebel samurais. In the very first fight the Emperor army breaks down, and although Nathan Algren fights like a tiger, he is captured by the samurais, and he spends a winter in the mountains.

In his captivity he gets to appreciate the way of the samurai, and at some point he even starts to learn to sword-fight. In the beginning, he gets beaten badly. But as a brave soldier, he persists but to not much avail.

At some point, during a training fight, a japanese samurai approaches in a hurry and tells him in a bad English: "Too many mind. Mind sword, mind people watch, mind enemy. Too many mind. No mind." And although nothing in his westerner culture would help him understand these words, he immediately gets it that he should stop thinking and start feeling. The result is that he becomes a true samurai in that winter. The movie director takes care to stress this point beyond no dispute, as at some point the brave captain empty-handedly kills a number of bad guys on the streets of Tokyo.

In all seriousness, there is more to the movie than that: the landscape and the costumes are spectacular, the fighting scenes are excellent, the dialogue is fine, the story is Ok although with too much Hollywood in it, and there is even some poetry. The movie is not bad at all, but it is not the movie I want to write about. It is "Too many mind" that I want to spend a few words on.

Ever since I saw the movie, I feel the need to approach brave speakers in a hurry and tell them in a bad English: "Too many mind. Mind bullets, mind people watch, mind laser pointer, mind podium. Too many mind. No mind." I know that the western culture does not help to understand these words, but if it worked with our brave captain, it might work with our brave speakers.

Inspired from a Japanese custom, Garr Reynolds once suggested that we present naked. That might seem unconceivable in our culture because we are required to mind what we think the others think. We mind too many things, not because we do not care, but because we care too much.

The problem with minding too many things, is that it makes us primarily focus on the technique. And technique alone cannot inspire. It is enthusiasm that inspires. And enthusiasm comes into play when you feel free. No mind.