Daily Reflection 7.08.21
Jun. 8th, 2021 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
readoldthings Chapter 13 of The Art of War concerns the use of spies. Sun Tzu opens by telling us that
This is a simple principle, but well worth keeping in mind. For the sake of our personal goals-- any goal-- we need information. For me personally, one of the things that I hate most in the world is going into any situation unprepared. If I have to do a job interview, go to a party, make a formal speech, or anything that involves dealing with other people, my imagination runs wild and comes up with ways that it can go wrong.
The absolute worst thing for me is to be put into a crowd of people that I don't know and told to "mingle." If you do that to me, I will not mingle. I will find a dark corner and I will hide in it until the people go away.
On the other hand, I'm usually the life of any party where I know at least 40% of the other attendees, and I can handle a crowd of any size as long as I have a defined role. Fear of public speaking is one of the most common phobias out there. I do not have that phobia. I love public speaking, and I'm good at it. On the other hand, public dancing-- where "dancing" is defined in the contemporary sense of "unscripted sexual gyration"-- is basically impossible for me.
All this comes back to foreknowledge. If you're at all like me, the best thing you can do when heading into a new situation is to talk to someone, get the lay of the land as thoroughly as possible, and have a clear idea of what you're getting into before you act.
Of course, I'd differ with Sun Tzu in that I'd also heartily recommend the use of divination and consulting with spirits. Provided you keep in mind their limitation, these practices can be of immense value.
What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.
Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation.
Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.
Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation.
Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.
This is a simple principle, but well worth keeping in mind. For the sake of our personal goals-- any goal-- we need information. For me personally, one of the things that I hate most in the world is going into any situation unprepared. If I have to do a job interview, go to a party, make a formal speech, or anything that involves dealing with other people, my imagination runs wild and comes up with ways that it can go wrong.
The absolute worst thing for me is to be put into a crowd of people that I don't know and told to "mingle." If you do that to me, I will not mingle. I will find a dark corner and I will hide in it until the people go away.
On the other hand, I'm usually the life of any party where I know at least 40% of the other attendees, and I can handle a crowd of any size as long as I have a defined role. Fear of public speaking is one of the most common phobias out there. I do not have that phobia. I love public speaking, and I'm good at it. On the other hand, public dancing-- where "dancing" is defined in the contemporary sense of "unscripted sexual gyration"-- is basically impossible for me.
All this comes back to foreknowledge. If you're at all like me, the best thing you can do when heading into a new situation is to talk to someone, get the lay of the land as thoroughly as possible, and have a clear idea of what you're getting into before you act.
Of course, I'd differ with Sun Tzu in that I'd also heartily recommend the use of divination and consulting with spirits. Provided you keep in mind their limitation, these practices can be of immense value.
