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Daily Reflection 5.19.21
May. 19th, 2021 07:59 am Let's talk about The Art of War, Chapter 11: The Nine Situations.
Let's take these a couple at a time:
How can we think of this in terms of our own psyches?
Dispersive ground, of course, is the psyche itself. But it's more than that-- your mind is always your own, but it isn't isolated from its external environment. True dispersive ground is all those times and places in which you are centered and in control of your own thought processes.
Part of the work of the spiritual life is to expand the dispersive ground to include all the conditions that you regularly face.
Of course, we very often find ourselves in places-- locations, times, mental states, reading material-- that are not necessarily dangerous, but which we don't control, either. This is facile ground. Sun Tzu enjoins us not to halt here. Why? I think that the point is not to linger in such places which could invite an attack. A related concept in the spiritual life is the Catholic notion of the "near occasion of sin." This is defined as situations "in which men of like calibre for the most part fall into mortal sin, or one in which experience points to the same result from the special weakness of a particular person." We don't have to accept the concept of mortal sin to understand what is being discussed here. An alcoholic might enter a bar to find a friend or even to socialize with coworkers at Happy Hour, but shouldn't linger for too long, especially if he's been tempted by drink lately.
Contentious ground is any ground which will give a great advantage to whoever possesses it. It's easy to see what this means in actual warfare. Thermopylae was contentious ground, because holding it allowed the Spartans to delay a much larger Persian army. The port cities on the Mississippi River were contentious ground in the Civil War, because whoever possessed them controlled traffic on the river. In World War II, Midway Island was contentious ground, because the American forces needed it as a forward base in the Pacific.
In life, what is contentious ground? If facile ground consists of locations, times, mental states, reading material and so on, then contentious ground must as well. In the struggle within, then, it must mean all those places (etc) that are key components to our own psychic wholeness, the loss of which would be very damaging to that wholeness.
Every morning after I wake up I head to the basement for a half hour to an hour of ritual work and meditation. I have a simple table that serves as an altar, set up more or less elaborately depending on circumstance; at minimum, it always contains a candle and some incense and water. This physical location is contentious ground for me. Why does Sun Tzu tell us not to attack here? According to some commentators, he means that if the enemy already occupies it, you need to avoid it; according to others, the point is that you need to be focused on occupying the ground, not attacking an enemy army. Both interpretations are possible. Part of my day, every day, consists in struggling for the basement. It's a shared space, since we don't have a huge house, but since I use it as a temple, it needs to remain physically neat and clean, and I have a 10 year old boy. The result of this struggle, though, is that-- unlike the rest of the house-- the basement stays open, clean, and energetically bright, and ends up being the part of the house that everyone wants to spend their time in.
Contentious ground could be a family Bible, for a devout Christian, or 20 minutes of down-time after work, or a morning trip to the gym. This is ground that needs to be occupied. It's worth taking a moment to think about your own daily routine, and ask whether there might be a certain space-- either physical space, temporal space, or mental space-- that is currently held by the enemy that you could claim for yourself.
The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: 1. Dispersive ground; 2. Facile ground; 3. Contentious ground; 4. Open ground; 5. Ground of intersecting highways; 6. Serious ground; 7. Difficult ground; 8. Hemmed-in ground; 9. Desperate ground
Let's take these a couple at a time:
When a chieftain is fighting in his own territory, it is dispersive ground.
When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground.
Ground the possession of which imports great advantage to either side, is contentious ground.
...
On dispersive ground, therefore, fight not. On facile ground, halt not. On contentious ground, attack not.
When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground.
Ground the possession of which imports great advantage to either side, is contentious ground.
...
On dispersive ground, therefore, fight not. On facile ground, halt not. On contentious ground, attack not.
How can we think of this in terms of our own psyches?
Dispersive ground, of course, is the psyche itself. But it's more than that-- your mind is always your own, but it isn't isolated from its external environment. True dispersive ground is all those times and places in which you are centered and in control of your own thought processes.
Part of the work of the spiritual life is to expand the dispersive ground to include all the conditions that you regularly face.
Of course, we very often find ourselves in places-- locations, times, mental states, reading material-- that are not necessarily dangerous, but which we don't control, either. This is facile ground. Sun Tzu enjoins us not to halt here. Why? I think that the point is not to linger in such places which could invite an attack. A related concept in the spiritual life is the Catholic notion of the "near occasion of sin." This is defined as situations "in which men of like calibre for the most part fall into mortal sin, or one in which experience points to the same result from the special weakness of a particular person." We don't have to accept the concept of mortal sin to understand what is being discussed here. An alcoholic might enter a bar to find a friend or even to socialize with coworkers at Happy Hour, but shouldn't linger for too long, especially if he's been tempted by drink lately.
Contentious ground is any ground which will give a great advantage to whoever possesses it. It's easy to see what this means in actual warfare. Thermopylae was contentious ground, because holding it allowed the Spartans to delay a much larger Persian army. The port cities on the Mississippi River were contentious ground in the Civil War, because whoever possessed them controlled traffic on the river. In World War II, Midway Island was contentious ground, because the American forces needed it as a forward base in the Pacific.
In life, what is contentious ground? If facile ground consists of locations, times, mental states, reading material and so on, then contentious ground must as well. In the struggle within, then, it must mean all those places (etc) that are key components to our own psychic wholeness, the loss of which would be very damaging to that wholeness.
Every morning after I wake up I head to the basement for a half hour to an hour of ritual work and meditation. I have a simple table that serves as an altar, set up more or less elaborately depending on circumstance; at minimum, it always contains a candle and some incense and water. This physical location is contentious ground for me. Why does Sun Tzu tell us not to attack here? According to some commentators, he means that if the enemy already occupies it, you need to avoid it; according to others, the point is that you need to be focused on occupying the ground, not attacking an enemy army. Both interpretations are possible. Part of my day, every day, consists in struggling for the basement. It's a shared space, since we don't have a huge house, but since I use it as a temple, it needs to remain physically neat and clean, and I have a 10 year old boy. The result of this struggle, though, is that-- unlike the rest of the house-- the basement stays open, clean, and energetically bright, and ends up being the part of the house that everyone wants to spend their time in.
Contentious ground could be a family Bible, for a devout Christian, or 20 minutes of down-time after work, or a morning trip to the gym. This is ground that needs to be occupied. It's worth taking a moment to think about your own daily routine, and ask whether there might be a certain space-- either physical space, temporal space, or mental space-- that is currently held by the enemy that you could claim for yourself.
