The Art of War (chess vs go & haiku)

(Fair warning: - the material below is very controversial with many of our readers - I receive more strongly opinionated letters on this than any other email.)

The beginning of The Art of War in a classical bamboo book from the reign of the

Qianlong Emperor ---> Background and full text online

the village council

is in evening assembly

church crows

Statue: Sun Tzu - Yurihama, Tottori, Japan

“The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.” So begins The Art of War, a meditation on the rules of war that was first published in China. Historians don’t know the exact date of the book’s publication (though they believe it to be in the 4th or 5th century); in fact, they don’t even know who wrote it! Scholars have long believed that The Art of War’s author was a Chinese military leader named Sun Tzu, or Sunzi. Today, however, many people think that there was no Sun Tzu: Instead, they argue, the book is a compilation of generations of Chinese theories and teachings on military strategy. Whether or not Sun Tzu was a real person, it’s clear that “he” was very wise: The Art of War still resonates with today. - The History Channel

a crow lookout

spots the farmer

many shadows

NOTES

pride's not power

think about it

young crows

1 The general idea is that by jumping in the pool of this post's link item we experience informative connections between the various idea juxtapositions suggested. We use our HAIKU VISION to do this. Players need to leave their preconceptions at the door along with their muddy boots. This is an exercise in MYTHIC CONSCIOUSNESS. We open our emptied minds to the living matrix of cognition and intuition which inevitably will occur when we engage with the totality of the presented material. To the extent that we clear a space (ma) for this to happen in the unbounded gap between stimulus and response will be the usefulness of the experience. This is how we haiku properly and also how we develop enhanced awareness. This accessing of MYTHIC CONSCIOUSNESS is the key to haiku's astonishing power for good and ill. Please check this item for more on a crucial aspect of haikai.

2 MYTHIC CONSCIOUSNESS is the subject at hand and the foundation of classical haiku's apotheosis in the Basho school. MC is a handy title for the right brain (trope) and deeper, more primitive gray matter structures. MYTHIC CONSCIOUSNESS is the pre-individualistic consciousness of our hunter/gatherer forebears in their natural pack state (which we romanticise as Eden in the magic stories of Christendom). MC includes all modes of conscious awareness prior to the Greco-Roman line in the sand which demarcates our species sidetrack into scientific realism and the small humanistic crucible (Petri dish, couldren). Reintegration is in the future; having moved aspects of our instrumentality along an evolutionary notch. Hopefully we will survive until that sanity returns again. Whole brain is the ideal. But, to get there we need to get back to the garden. MYTHIC CONSCIOUSNESS. There's a lot to be said regarding all this. However, this post is what it is and requires nothing more at this stage. There's many ways to skin a cat. At present we simply swing it by its tail to measure the constraints of our cognitive dungeon

3 The elephant in the room is the requirement for a universal schema. Not a hard thing to do if the egotism of intellectual psychiatry and psychological scientism is kept in its cage. For example: This schema, although part of an unfinished symphony, allows the silence to advise, rather than the noise (sound of fury - to paraphrase the bard of bards). Another of haiku's valuable lessons vis-à-vis MYTHIC CONSCIOUS AWARENESS. Much astral bloodshed would be cauterised if this was globalised.

music of sweet deceit

the crow's voice

its Art of War

jp 07-06-12

more items

This musing is a living document and as such will develop - so, be sure to return regularly to this page, if you like. Not just to note any changes, but also to review the material in the light of your own understanding.

♪

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