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Daily Reflection 2.17.21
Feb. 17th, 2021 07:33 amToday, a more difficult passage. Sun Tzu tells us that:
I struggled to figure out what to do with this one, which is why this is being posted later in the day than usual. It finally came together when I remembered the title of Chapter 4, which is (in translation): Tactical Dispositions.
Now, in military terminology, tactics refers to methods of winning specific engagements, strategy to an army's overall goal. Keeping that in mind, we can see that Sun Tzu's methods given here are not intended to refer to our overall goal, but to those individual steps along the way.
For example:
A goal might be to-- oh, I don't know-- write a daily blog whose subject is ancient authors and how their wisdom may be applied to life in the modern world. This is part of strategy.
On a particular day, one might come across a difficult passage in an older text, and struggle to figure out how to apply it. Sun Tzu tells us that we begin our engagements with Measurement, but that Measurement "owes its existence to Earth." Earth, let us recall, refers to the terrain on which any given engagement will take place: In this case, a Dreamwidth blog.
Having surveyed the terrain, we engage the method, first by Measurement. Our translator, Lionel Giles, tells us that this refers to a general survey of the ground-- we've already done this, by naming our ground as "a blog post on Dreamwidth." Estimation of quantity derives from this and refers to an estimation of the size of the Enemy's force. Since our goal is a daily blog post, our Enemy is time; we can see that, as the current time is ten til 7, EST, the enemy has a little more than 5 ours at his disposal.
Distinguishing between Estimation of quantity and Calculation is a bit difficult, as both our English translator and earlier Chinese commentators noted. It may be worth mentioning that I was hoping to knock this post out during the brief open time available while my wife was giving the baby a bath. I failed, and just prior to these sentences I had a one year old girl attempt to jump up onto my computer and steal my mousepad. (This is her new favorite game). A better Estimation of quantity would have factored the baby in among enemy forces, as a source of distraction, while Calculation would have noted that there is, at the present time, only one baby.
Finally, we are able to balance our chances. My wife is currently putting a diaper and pajamas onto the baby on the other side of the living room; to judge by her cries, she has never worn clothes before and finds the entire affair to be some sort of torture. Oh, nevermind, one of her toys is playing a song, all is well. I have, perhaps, half a minute before she remembers the mousepad. Can I do it?
If you are reading this blog post, then we have achieved Victory.
In respect of military method, we have, firstly, Measurement; secondly, estimation of quantity; thirdly, Calculation; fourthly, Balancing of chances; fifthly, Victory.
Measurement owes its existence to Earth; Estimation of quantity to Measurement; Calculation to Estimation of quantity; balancing of chances to Calculation; and Victory to Balancing of chances.
Measurement owes its existence to Earth; Estimation of quantity to Measurement; Calculation to Estimation of quantity; balancing of chances to Calculation; and Victory to Balancing of chances.
I struggled to figure out what to do with this one, which is why this is being posted later in the day than usual. It finally came together when I remembered the title of Chapter 4, which is (in translation): Tactical Dispositions.
Now, in military terminology, tactics refers to methods of winning specific engagements, strategy to an army's overall goal. Keeping that in mind, we can see that Sun Tzu's methods given here are not intended to refer to our overall goal, but to those individual steps along the way.
For example:
A goal might be to-- oh, I don't know-- write a daily blog whose subject is ancient authors and how their wisdom may be applied to life in the modern world. This is part of strategy.
On a particular day, one might come across a difficult passage in an older text, and struggle to figure out how to apply it. Sun Tzu tells us that we begin our engagements with Measurement, but that Measurement "owes its existence to Earth." Earth, let us recall, refers to the terrain on which any given engagement will take place: In this case, a Dreamwidth blog.
Having surveyed the terrain, we engage the method, first by Measurement. Our translator, Lionel Giles, tells us that this refers to a general survey of the ground-- we've already done this, by naming our ground as "a blog post on Dreamwidth." Estimation of quantity derives from this and refers to an estimation of the size of the Enemy's force. Since our goal is a daily blog post, our Enemy is time; we can see that, as the current time is ten til 7, EST, the enemy has a little more than 5 ours at his disposal.
Distinguishing between Estimation of quantity and Calculation is a bit difficult, as both our English translator and earlier Chinese commentators noted. It may be worth mentioning that I was hoping to knock this post out during the brief open time available while my wife was giving the baby a bath. I failed, and just prior to these sentences I had a one year old girl attempt to jump up onto my computer and steal my mousepad. (This is her new favorite game). A better Estimation of quantity would have factored the baby in among enemy forces, as a source of distraction, while Calculation would have noted that there is, at the present time, only one baby.
Finally, we are able to balance our chances. My wife is currently putting a diaper and pajamas onto the baby on the other side of the living room; to judge by her cries, she has never worn clothes before and finds the entire affair to be some sort of torture. Oh, nevermind, one of her toys is playing a song, all is well. I have, perhaps, half a minute before she remembers the mousepad. Can I do it?
If you are reading this blog post, then we have achieved Victory.
