Why This Matters
Society is inundated with strategists who use the ultra-famous Art of War as a guide for interacting with those around them. Executives, lawyers, business schools, corporate sales and marketing departments, sports coaches, and dating guides have all described using this 2,500-year-old text.
The Art of War is considered to be very wise and most importantly, it “still resonates with readers today.” [History.com] So, the fact is: many people and organizations around you consider a war manual to be an important source of guidance. This implies that those unaware of the strategies are at a disadvantage, don’t you think?
Understanding that the Art of War is a popular modern-day guide being used by people all around us is extremely helpful in developing adequate discernment skills.
It’s Far More Than Lies. There are Many Strategies at Play.
On one hand, we have the truth. And on the other — you would think — we have lies. As it turns out, lies are only a fraction of the issues faced by truth-seekers. There is a staggering assortment of strategies used to hide and subvert the truth.
You’re probably pretty good at seeing through distortion and trickery, right? Not many folks think of themselves as easily fooled. But even diehard skeptics are typically unaware of some of the deeply deceptive strategies that have been intelligently (and psychopathically) devised and embedded into systems around us.
The point here is not to fall into the trap of identifying a “few bad apples” (or even “a broken system”) and then shaking our head, hoping a few people or a political party get “fired” or “prosecuted” or “booted out of office.” Rather, we can choose to open our eyes enough to identify how this model transcends one corporation or one political party and is instead embedded into power systems as a whole. While initially seeing this can be overwhelming, ultimately it gives us the knowledge we need to reclaim the power that has been stolen, in part through disturbingly deceptive strategies foisted on an innocent, unwitting populace.
What is not up for debate is the emphasis that The Art of War places on strategic thinking. The Art of War… trains the thinking person in the subtle art of knowing when to stick to the rules and when to toss them aside.
– Michael Nylan
Knowledge is power.
What do executives, lawyers, business school professors, corporate sales and marketing departments, sports coaches and dating guides have in common? Modern-day people from each of those professions consult the ultra-famous Art of War.
The Art of War is a book that was published in the 4th or 5th century and attributed to a Chinese military leader named Sun Tzu. It has been called a “meditation on the rules of war.”
This 2,500 year-old book proves that while the weaponry has changed over time, the rules for successful warfare strategies have not. It is a surprisingly compact distillation of strategic principles that is still as useful today as it was when… Sun Tzu first wrote it. Its principles are applied by… the corporate warriors in the sales and marketing departments of today.
– YellowBridge, Sun Zi’s Art of War
Rulers and scholars across Asia consulted The Art of War as they plotted their military maneuvers and imperial conquests. Japanese samurai, for example, studied it closely… Historians say that the French emperor Napoleon was the first Western leader to follow its teachings… Ever since The Art of War was published, military leaders have been following its advice. In the twentieth century, the Communist leader Mao Zedong said that the lessons he learned from The Art of War helped him defeat Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist forces during the Chinese Civil War. Other recent devotees… include Viet Minh commanders Vo Nguyen Giap and Ho Chi Minh and American Gulf War generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell. Meanwhile, executives and lawyers use the teachings of The Art of War to get the upper hand in negotiations and to win trials. Business school professors assign the book to their students and sports coaches use it to win games. It has even been the subject of a self-help dating guide. Plainly, this 2,500-year-old book still resonates with a 21st-century audience.
– History.com, The Art of War
The Art of War is considered to be very wise and most importantly, it “still resonates with readers today.” (History.com)
So, the fact is: many people and organizations around you consider a war manual to be an important source of guidance. This implies that those unaware of the strategies are at a disadvantage, don’t you think?
Here are a couple of examples from the Art of War.
Deception is Key
Warfare is the art of deception. So when you can, feign incapacity, and when deploying troops, appear to have no such plans. When close, seem to them to be far away, and when far away, seem near.
– The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Concealment Leads to Victory
In chapter four, Tactical Dispositions, we find an incredibly vital teaching:
Secrecy leads to victory while showing your condition leads to defeat.
It is through the dispositions of an army that its condition may be discovered. Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory; show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat.
– Sun Tsu’s Art of War, Chapter 4: Tactical Dispositions
Controlling Many Isn’t Difficult: It Only Requires Division
It is no more difficult to lead/control many than to lead/control few: it only requires dividing the troops into groups and using signs.
The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.
– Sun Tsu’s Art of War, Chapter 5: Energy
Rather than Engaging, Unleash Surprises on Them
In general, conventional methods engage the enemy, while surprise secures victory. Thus, by definition, to be good at unleashing surprises is: to be as various as the cosmos itself, to flow as inexhaustibly as the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers, to begin afresh as constantly as the sun and moon, to turn like the seasons, bringing new life, even from death.
– Sun Tsu’s Art of War
War, Enemy, Combat
Truth is at war with mind control and deception. So, to speak the truth is a combative act.
– Mark Passio, ex-priest of a satantic cult and “committed de-occultist”
Whether or not you choose to use war terminology, the point is that there are many powerful people around us who do think in terms of war including such strategies as secrecy and divide-and-conquer.
In Enemies of Truth, we begin to take a closer look at powerful adversaries in the quest for truth-telling and truth-seeking.
