deception

[Cras]

maybe he likes being sneaky?

[dej2]

Actually I'm trying to apply some of the principles I've read in "Art of War". the book was written in 200 BC by Sun Tzu. The book I'm reading was translated by Ralph Sawyer. He stresses the historical aspect, watch out for translations that are based on modern business principle... if you're more interested in military history.

Here is a sample of the book:

"Display profits to entice them. Create disorder and take them."
"If they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong avoid them."
"If they are angry perturb them; be deferential to foster their arrogance."
"If they are rested, force them to exert themselves."
"If they are united, cause them to be separated."
"Attack where they are unprepared."
"Go forth where they will not expect it."

[fallen851]

Yep that is a wonderful book.

And if you really like it, read the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, it will blow your mind away if you understand it. Sun Tzu tells you to stay close to the Tao in the Art of War, and most (if not all) of what Sun Tzu came up has its roots in the teaching of Lao Tzu.

Here are three samples from the Tao:

"The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin of
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only manifestations

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understand."


"When people see some things as beautiful,
others become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
others become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

There the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess.
acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever."


"The Master doesn't try to be powerful;
thus he is truly powerful.
The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;
thus he never has enough,

The Master does nothing,
yet he leaves nothing undone.
The ordinary man is always doing things,
yet many more are left to be done.

The kind man does something,
yet something remains undone.
The just man does something,
and leaves many things to be done.
The moral man does something,
and when no one responds,
he rolls up his sleeves and uses force.

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith,
the beginning of chaos.

There the Master concerns himself
with the depths and not the surface,
with the fruit and not the flower.
He has no will of his own.
He dwells in reality,
and lets all illusions go."

The important point is in the 4th section. When the Tao is lost, there is goodness, but this doesn't mean "good" as we think, it means people define good and evil. When that is lost, people define morals, when that is lost, people have rituals left. The "good" ritual of going to church for example. The beginning of chaos.

Essentially Taoism is a rejection of all belief systems. You should focus your life on the "system" that formed all belief systems, the Tao. It is where everything was spawned from. Thus it is the "truth". Everything else is someone's opinion of the truth. But the Tao isn't a belief system, if you try to understand, try to name, you are putting your opinions on it. It can't be named.

To better explain this, I'd like to explain one part of psychology, the ABC system (note this is a complex idea that cannot be fully explained here).

A represents an event, B your belief system, and C the consequences.

Now psycholgists will say that it isn't A or C that bothers people, but B. Its your belief system about what is "bad" or "good" that defines people.

For instance:

A = Failing a test.

B= Belief system: If you believe that failing a test doesn't matter, than the consequences (C) don't matter. If you believe that failing is bad, it will cause bad grades, which cause you to get a bad job then it creates consequences.

It is a system of illusions, of constructs, it isn't based in reality. Thus the Tao doesn't define good and evil, because that hurts people. "When people see some things as good, others become bad." If nothing is good, nothing is bad, thus you have nothing to fight or work against.

Do nothing, and nothing is left undone.