Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 4:2 "Invulnerability rests with self; vulnerability with the enemy."

Did I say that verse 4:1 was my favorite? What was I thinking? THIS is my favorite verse, period. Well, at least until tomorrow. I am allowed to be invulnerable. Can you hear that? Invulnerable? Me? I'm 58. I've felt vulnerable for my entire life.

Master Sun so gently smiles at me, just the slightest lift of the corners of his lips. "Pasquale," he says, "you too can be invulnerable. You don't have to suffer vulnerability any longer. You may exhale. You may be secure."

"No!," I say. "Don't tease me or tempt me, please."

Think about it. What would you prefer, the ability to offend or defend? No one wants to be offensive. You don't want to be defensive, either, but you know you must. There is NOT securing yourself. You don't have to hurt others, but you must protect yourself.

But wait! You're telling me, Master Sun, that if I am secure, and wait, my enemy will soon be vulnerable and I may attack? Oh. Oh. Oh yeah. I can lie safely in waiting until my enemy reveals his weakness. I can then spring into attack and win. Oh yeah. I'm in, all in.

Admit it, you did NOT know that strategic defense was the coolest thing in life. You didn't. You know you didn't. But you do now! Yep. Marriage. Friendship. Work. Worship. Parenting, oh yeah, parenting. Wherever you turn, you NEED strategic defense. You want it. You love it.

Now be patient, we'll come back to you in a minute. First we have to dive a bit deeper into strategic defense itself. Castles. Note the 's' there, it's plural, not singular. In the late 30's of the last century, the British did a survey. They figured they might be invaded.

Practical people that they are, they asked, if we were invaded, where would we want to hold out and resist from? There are roughly 1,500 castles in Britain. Their survey found that wherever they thought they might want to hold out, there was a castle there, already.

My strong suspicion is that Hitler read their survey the next day. Their intelligence wasn't quite so secure. Or, they leaked it to him, purposefully. In either case, invading Britain is just not a good idea. That is strategic defense.

Let's go again. You have a castle, you're cool. Inside your castle you have a garrison of horse riding warriors. How far can they ride, ready to fight, of any given morning? You're really cool. You think, why don't I get me another castle? Where do you put it? Think about it.

The answer requires a little Euclid, geometry, so sorry. What angles and lines are required to have the garrison in your second castle meet, so that they too can arrive at a certain spot of a morning, in case you have to fight someone? And how do you communicate with them?

You're going to want to check out the line of sight from hilltop to hilltop so you can build a great fire, and signal your second castle's garrison to meet you. Light travels fast. These two castles, able to support each other are...yeah, you've got this now...strategic defense.

Do you remember verse 3:7 where our Master warns us against besieging cities? You don't listen. You mount up your men outside the city. It beacons for support. You're in front of a wall. Behind you come the other city's warriors. You're trapped. Not good. Walls work.

Go again. This is important. You're inside your castle and your garrison are happily eating and drinking all day. You don't have to do anything. A foolish enemy shows up and you laugh. You've supplied your castle with food for a year. You have an underground river.

Your walls are thick and strong and high. You stand on top of your wall, and you can shoot arrows down at your enemy, he has to shoot them up at you. Who's got the advantage there? Instead, you just yell insults with joy and glee, safe and calm. Really bad insults.

There's a story of a queen who's son was held ransom by an invading force. When threatened with her prince's life, she lifts up her skirt and shouts down from the wall, "I can make plenty more where he came from." Walls work. Strategic defense is the best thing there is.

We have a little more work. In Japanese martial arts, they give us a term, "zanshin." Basically, it means to have a sense of what's around the corner, on a dark night, in a dangerous part of town. Or, when facing your enemy, it means to be on the lookout for his weakness.

His weakness is called "suki." Basically, that means imbalance. A balanced enemy will just stand there after you push him. An imbalanced enemy, if pushed properly, falls. Suki makes you fall. If you push in the moment the suki arises, you complete something called "kiritsuki."

I think of kiritsuki as, wanna see it again? Better we should use swords. Pull your sword out of its scabbard, and in a single motion behead your enemy so his eyes still see his body as his head falls to the ground. That is kiritsuki. That requires your own balance, readiness.

You live, nowadays here in America, in a town of, say, 10,000 people. Normally, 2,500 or so vote one way, and 2,500 or so vote the other way, back and forth. There are, obviously, 5,000 who don't vote. Strategic defense requires that you recruit some portion of the 5,000.

But let's get personal. Forget voting. You are a proud member of the @MAGA movement. You are a patriot. Be calm. Be clear. Your mission is, first and foremost to live your American life by the values of the American dream. Secure yourself, first.

Then, happy, calm, collected, when any form of political dispute arises, even at a holiday dinner or such, smile as you speak. By all means speak. Make others listen. But don't forget to smile. Again, strategic defense. Happy within, you're ready to face the enemy without.

Thanks to Master Sun, there will be a great deal more discussion about strategic defense as we roll. Just wait till tomorrow!

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21.

62 verses completed, 360 to go. And also, be sure to purchase John Minford's translation, here:

amazon.com/Art-War-Pengui…