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Daily Reflection 2.25.21
Feb. 25th, 2021 10:39 am Chapter 5 of The Art of War continues to challenge me, and that's a good thing. Let's discuss the following passage:
Here again we see Sun Tzu illustrating the importance of deception, as we've seen before. Today he's also talking about something we haven't discussed as much-- forcing your enemy to act first, and to act on false information.
It's easy to see how this applies to actual warfare. The later commentator Chang Yu describes a situation where the Hsiung-nu people, upon discovering spies of the Han emperor, made sure that they saw only old cattle and weak or infirm soldiers, while concealing their horses and fighting men. The emperor acted on the bad intelligence and his army was surrounded and destroyed.
In actual combat, this is often a good strategy. Feign weakness or provide your opponent with an opening; when he comes at you, close the trap.
Other times, of course, the opposite approach is necessary. Feigning weakness while walking through a bad neighborhood at night is a great way to get yourself mugged. On the other hand, you might be feigning weakness because you're an undercover police officer, looking to draw out gang members.
Even animals employ this strategy.
Once, when I was about 12 years old, an unfriendly cat turned up in the neighborhood and started beating up my cats. I had three cats, but none of them were big enough to beat this cat on their own. One day, I was playing in the yard with the smallest of my cats, a little black cat named Sylvester. All of a sudden his ears perked up, and he started slinking toward a nearby ravine. Intrigued, I picked up a Nerf football and followed him.
At the bottom of the ravine there was a drainage pipe leading under a hill. And at the drainage pipe were my other two cats. Sylvester went over to Stripey, a big tomcat and the leader of their group, and appeared to talk with him. Then he crawled into the ravine.
A moment later he came tearing out again, the orange cat hot on his heals. As soon as the orange cat emerged from the drainage pipe, Stripey pounced and knocked him back on his haunches.
Sensing that it was time to act, I threw my football. The orange cat turned and ran into the pipe. The football flew in after him. Neither cat nor football were ever seen in that yard again.
Beyond warfare or physical combat, though, are there other situations in which we want to get the "other side" to make the first move?
I can think of a few. The obvious one, of course, is dating.
It's often the case that you find yourself interested in someone, but you don't know if they return your affections. Of course, the easiest way to find out whether they do or not is simply to ask them on a date. Sometimes, though, this isn't advisable. It may be that you work together or go to school together, and if you admit your affections and they are not returned, you might be setting yourself up for years of awkwardness that you'd rather avoid.
This is where the indirect approach comes in. In order for it to work, you have to have the self-control to not admit your real feelings, and sufficient ability to read people that you can draw theirs out without awkwardness. Often the best way to do this is to arrange to meet socially, for coffee or drinks with friends, and simply pay attention to the other person's body language. (Again, this requires the ability to read body language. For some this comes naturally; others have to learn, but it isn't as hard as you think. Cats and dogs are 100% body language; if you can tell when your dog needs to go for a walk, you can learn to tell if someone's attracted to you.) A ten minute conversation is usually enough to tell you whether to move forward or move on, without ever having to tip your hand.
So far, so good. But are there ways that we can apply this idea to the largest of goals-- the conquest of our inner selves and all our faculties that is the Great Work and our great overarching goal?
Yes, I think so.
To a great extent, the conquest of our souls means the creation of good habits and the elimination of bad ones. We can see our bad habits as forces of the Enemy Within, and good habits as our own armies. Assume that, during any given day, you will be triggered to act on your bad habits. Of course you will-- That's why they're called "habits," after all. Christians call these moments "temptations," and see them as the work of demons, while in Chinese Buddhist and Taoist thinking, they're often seen as the work of "鬼," that is, ghosts. This can be a useful way to think about things even if you don't take it literally. In any case, the demon or the ghost or the trigger is going to show up today, like it did yesterday, and like it will tomorrow. Instead of fighting against it directly, use it as an incentive to do something useful.
That is: Don't struggle against the desire to read the news or watch internet pornograpy or whatever it is. Instead, when you feel the temptation to do so come up, allow it to build until you're near your breaking point, and then use that energy as the incentive to do something useful instead. Don't read your Facebook feed-- go on a walk in the woods. And do this every time you want to look at Facebook. Eventually you might even find yourself welcoming the temptation to look at Facebook, because it gets you out into the woods!
Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions.
Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act.
By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.
Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act.
By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.
Here again we see Sun Tzu illustrating the importance of deception, as we've seen before. Today he's also talking about something we haven't discussed as much-- forcing your enemy to act first, and to act on false information.
It's easy to see how this applies to actual warfare. The later commentator Chang Yu describes a situation where the Hsiung-nu people, upon discovering spies of the Han emperor, made sure that they saw only old cattle and weak or infirm soldiers, while concealing their horses and fighting men. The emperor acted on the bad intelligence and his army was surrounded and destroyed.
In actual combat, this is often a good strategy. Feign weakness or provide your opponent with an opening; when he comes at you, close the trap.
Other times, of course, the opposite approach is necessary. Feigning weakness while walking through a bad neighborhood at night is a great way to get yourself mugged. On the other hand, you might be feigning weakness because you're an undercover police officer, looking to draw out gang members.
Even animals employ this strategy.
Once, when I was about 12 years old, an unfriendly cat turned up in the neighborhood and started beating up my cats. I had three cats, but none of them were big enough to beat this cat on their own. One day, I was playing in the yard with the smallest of my cats, a little black cat named Sylvester. All of a sudden his ears perked up, and he started slinking toward a nearby ravine. Intrigued, I picked up a Nerf football and followed him.
At the bottom of the ravine there was a drainage pipe leading under a hill. And at the drainage pipe were my other two cats. Sylvester went over to Stripey, a big tomcat and the leader of their group, and appeared to talk with him. Then he crawled into the ravine.
A moment later he came tearing out again, the orange cat hot on his heals. As soon as the orange cat emerged from the drainage pipe, Stripey pounced and knocked him back on his haunches.
Sensing that it was time to act, I threw my football. The orange cat turned and ran into the pipe. The football flew in after him. Neither cat nor football were ever seen in that yard again.
Beyond warfare or physical combat, though, are there other situations in which we want to get the "other side" to make the first move?
I can think of a few. The obvious one, of course, is dating.
It's often the case that you find yourself interested in someone, but you don't know if they return your affections. Of course, the easiest way to find out whether they do or not is simply to ask them on a date. Sometimes, though, this isn't advisable. It may be that you work together or go to school together, and if you admit your affections and they are not returned, you might be setting yourself up for years of awkwardness that you'd rather avoid.
This is where the indirect approach comes in. In order for it to work, you have to have the self-control to not admit your real feelings, and sufficient ability to read people that you can draw theirs out without awkwardness. Often the best way to do this is to arrange to meet socially, for coffee or drinks with friends, and simply pay attention to the other person's body language. (Again, this requires the ability to read body language. For some this comes naturally; others have to learn, but it isn't as hard as you think. Cats and dogs are 100% body language; if you can tell when your dog needs to go for a walk, you can learn to tell if someone's attracted to you.) A ten minute conversation is usually enough to tell you whether to move forward or move on, without ever having to tip your hand.
So far, so good. But are there ways that we can apply this idea to the largest of goals-- the conquest of our inner selves and all our faculties that is the Great Work and our great overarching goal?
Yes, I think so.
To a great extent, the conquest of our souls means the creation of good habits and the elimination of bad ones. We can see our bad habits as forces of the Enemy Within, and good habits as our own armies. Assume that, during any given day, you will be triggered to act on your bad habits. Of course you will-- That's why they're called "habits," after all. Christians call these moments "temptations," and see them as the work of demons, while in Chinese Buddhist and Taoist thinking, they're often seen as the work of "鬼," that is, ghosts. This can be a useful way to think about things even if you don't take it literally. In any case, the demon or the ghost or the trigger is going to show up today, like it did yesterday, and like it will tomorrow. Instead of fighting against it directly, use it as an incentive to do something useful.
That is: Don't struggle against the desire to read the news or watch internet pornograpy or whatever it is. Instead, when you feel the temptation to do so come up, allow it to build until you're near your breaking point, and then use that energy as the incentive to do something useful instead. Don't read your Facebook feed-- go on a walk in the woods. And do this every time you want to look at Facebook. Eventually you might even find yourself welcoming the temptation to look at Facebook, because it gets you out into the woods!
