Daily reflection 5.06.21
May. 6th, 2021 08:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
readoldthingsI'm struggling to get through the end of this book, and I can't decide if it's a legitimate waning of interest or the Watcher at the Threshold. I'm going to assume it's the second, and keep pushing here until we're done. On the other hand, I know that what I'm saying is beginning to sound repetitive, so, as I said earlier, I'm going to go quickly through the remaining sections of the text.
Chapter X of The Art of War concerns terrain. Sun Tzu begins by telling us about the six kinds of ground:
Sun Tzu spends a fair bit of this chapter discussing issues with which we are already familiar in a bit more detail. We should occupy high places, because these are hard to attack, and our movements cannot be dictated by the enemy. We should strongly garrison narrow passes, to prevent the enemy's movements; but we should not attack such positions unless we have overwhelming force.
"Entangling ground" is interesting: This is the sort of ground that is very defensible but difficult to re-occupy once you leave it. These are strong positions from which you can sally forth to meet the enemy-- but if he is prepared for you, you're in serious trouble, because you won't be able to return to your place of safety if you're forced to retreat.
The psychic environment, both internally and externally, can be seen to have every one of these sorts of terrain. Our own minds are naturally precipitous heights, reached by narrow passes. We can garrison the passes to our minds by being careful of our attention. Anything we pay attention to is something that we receive into our consciousness. To direct our attention to things which provoke our passions and induce addiction and bad habits is to bring on an attack of the Enemy. To direct our attention to that which raises us Higher is to garrison the passes with strong armies.
Chapter X of The Art of War concerns terrain. Sun Tzu begins by telling us about the six kinds of ground:
1. Accessible ground;
2. Entangling ground;
3. Temporizing ground;
4. Narrow passes;
5. Precipitous heights;
6. Positions at a great distance from the enemy.
2. Entangling ground;
3. Temporizing ground;
4. Narrow passes;
5. Precipitous heights;
6. Positions at a great distance from the enemy.
Sun Tzu spends a fair bit of this chapter discussing issues with which we are already familiar in a bit more detail. We should occupy high places, because these are hard to attack, and our movements cannot be dictated by the enemy. We should strongly garrison narrow passes, to prevent the enemy's movements; but we should not attack such positions unless we have overwhelming force.
"Entangling ground" is interesting: This is the sort of ground that is very defensible but difficult to re-occupy once you leave it. These are strong positions from which you can sally forth to meet the enemy-- but if he is prepared for you, you're in serious trouble, because you won't be able to return to your place of safety if you're forced to retreat.
The psychic environment, both internally and externally, can be seen to have every one of these sorts of terrain. Our own minds are naturally precipitous heights, reached by narrow passes. We can garrison the passes to our minds by being careful of our attention. Anything we pay attention to is something that we receive into our consciousness. To direct our attention to things which provoke our passions and induce addiction and bad habits is to bring on an attack of the Enemy. To direct our attention to that which raises us Higher is to garrison the passes with strong armies.
