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readoldthings) wrote2021-03-09 11:16 am
readoldthings) wrote2021-03-09 11:16 am
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Daily Reflection 3.09.21
Sun Tzu tells us:
This brings up a point which I don't think that we've discussed here. About ten years back I was doing a wilderness first responder certification, and the instructor made the point that while we need to be aware of the obstacles in our path, our focus needs to be on what we want to achieve. He gave the example of mountain biking. If a cyclist stares at a rock, they will hit it; if they look at a drop off, they'll go down it; but if they keep their eyes on the trail, they'll stay on the trail.
In a similar way, General Sheridan tells us that General Grant's opponents were focused on Grant himself, with the result that they were unable to accomplish their own goals.
And Sun Tzu tells us that the key to maintaining this advantage is secrecy.
Now we're back on familiar territory. The advice remains: Don't tell people your goals. Not your enemies, certainly, but also not your family members and close friends. Very often, no matter how much they love you, they're so used to a certain version of you that they can't bear the thought of you changing. (It might mean that they'd have to change.) So don't tell them; let them find out afterward.
And to the extent that you can, don't tell yourself your goals either. This is why recovery groups use the slogan "one day at a time." You're not quitting booze or heroin for the rest of your life. Just for today. You're not meditating or running or writing or practicing your guitar every day for the rest of your life. You're just doing it today, or just right now. Tomorrow will take care of itself.
But while you're at it, don't spend your time focusing on the way that you could fail or how things could go wrong. You need to know these things, of course-- and that's part of knowing your Enemy. But if you make failure the central focus of your consciousness, you'll only accomplish bringing it about.
The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the Enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points; and his forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately few.
To this our translator appends the note,Sheridan once explained the reason of General Grant's victories by saying that "While his opponents were kept fully employed wondering what he was going to do, he was thinking most of all of what he was going to do himself."
This brings up a point which I don't think that we've discussed here. About ten years back I was doing a wilderness first responder certification, and the instructor made the point that while we need to be aware of the obstacles in our path, our focus needs to be on what we want to achieve. He gave the example of mountain biking. If a cyclist stares at a rock, they will hit it; if they look at a drop off, they'll go down it; but if they keep their eyes on the trail, they'll stay on the trail.
In a similar way, General Sheridan tells us that General Grant's opponents were focused on Grant himself, with the result that they were unable to accomplish their own goals.
And Sun Tzu tells us that the key to maintaining this advantage is secrecy.
Now we're back on familiar territory. The advice remains: Don't tell people your goals. Not your enemies, certainly, but also not your family members and close friends. Very often, no matter how much they love you, they're so used to a certain version of you that they can't bear the thought of you changing. (It might mean that they'd have to change.) So don't tell them; let them find out afterward.
And to the extent that you can, don't tell yourself your goals either. This is why recovery groups use the slogan "one day at a time." You're not quitting booze or heroin for the rest of your life. Just for today. You're not meditating or running or writing or practicing your guitar every day for the rest of your life. You're just doing it today, or just right now. Tomorrow will take care of itself.
But while you're at it, don't spend your time focusing on the way that you could fail or how things could go wrong. You need to know these things, of course-- and that's part of knowing your Enemy. But if you make failure the central focus of your consciousness, you'll only accomplish bringing it about.
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If I may: I've thought about this all day, and I think that a major thing that both Sun Tzu and Grant had in common with the inner meaning of the passages that you quote concerns the initiative. In any conflict, whoever has the initiative generally wins. So the person who lands the first punch in a fight will usually win.
If someone only thinks about what the other guy will do they have effectively surrendered the initiative because all of their energy goes into defending against what the other guy will do and they lose the power to take forthright action.
In the sense of the battle for our own souls, I think this might look like focusing more on the good habits than the bad. That is, if we put the energy into fostering good habits we gain initiative over own lives. But if we always fear what the other side will do, than we spread out our energy in focusing on the other side and so lose the force concentration --- to use the military jargon --- to successfully do anything but man the trenches, as is exactly what happened with Lee during the fearful months of the Siege of Petersburg while Grant burrowed closer and closer to the rail lines that brought in supplies, and when Grant finally succeeded in that, practically the next step was Appomattox Courthouse.
So if we have lots of good habits, even little habits simply to strengthen the power of the will, than the bad habits and self-destructive tendencies are what lose the initiative. In terms of say addictions I think it's far more important to develop good habits rather than fight the bad. Fighting the bad gives the bad the initiative, but cultivating the good gives the good within the initiative.
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