Daily Reflection 4.15.21

[readoldthings]

Sun Tzu says

The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops.

The general who does not understand these, may be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he will not be able to turn his knowledge to practical account.  

In other words, we need to be flexible. Learn to roll with the punches, and change our tactics accordingly as circumstances change.

That sounds simple, but it's often quite difficult, because we very frequently confuse means with ends. You see this quite often in politics and in charity work of every kind. People believe that they are organizing to achieve a particular goal, but somehow the goal itself is never achieved, and the organization becomes an end in and of itself. And then you'll often find that if you criticize the organization, people accuse you of criticizing the goal-- even if the organization is the thing standing in between the goal and reality!

We can apply this lesson to our daily lives as well. If you want more money, you can try to get a different job and work longer hours. Or, you can cut your expenses-- now you have more money. Even better, you can ask yourself what you actually want. It's very often the case that you can enjoy a higher standard of living if you simply do things yourself. My favorite example is bread. A loaf of "artisan" bread at the store will set you back at least five dollars. I bake all of my family's bread at home. Every day we eat a loaf of "artisan" bread whose total cost, factoring all ingredients, is a little over a dollar. And it's only that much because I use King Arthur flour. If we were really low on money I'd spend $8 on a 25 pound bag of flour from Costco, and each loaf would cost around 35 cents. And it would still taste better than most stuff you can get at the store.

In any situation, ask yourself what end you really want to achieve, and don't become attached to any one set of means. Or, if you have become attached to the means, realize that they are, in fact, your real goal!