Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 5: 9 "There are but five flavours, and yet their permutations are more than can ever be tasted."

And they are:

1) Spicy
2) Salty
3) Sweet
4) Sour
5) Bitter

Are you a fan of Chinese food? Don't say no, please. It is a simply extraordinary cuisine, and if you want to know why, study the list above, carefully. Have you ever tasted a sweet and sour pork to melt your mind?

The key to experiencing Chinese food is to discover your ability to identify these five flavors, and separate them from each other, even while they were perfectly blended by the chef and are exploding your mouth and being with joy. Are you a fan of broccoli beef?

Broccoli is bitter. Beef is salty and sweet. The sauce, a bit sour. Add a little spicy heat, it's perfect! The taste sensation covers all five flavors. Yet, it is utterly unique, while other dishes also deliver all five, or some other permutation, to utterly different effect.

In my Italian heritage, we have a philosophy that I've termed Mangia, Mangia! It's simply the word for eat. Imagine you're with me in my childhood at my grandmother's table, and she notes you're picking at your food, not eating. Mangia, managia, she commands.

To eat is to live. Freud should have talked about this more. Libido isn't just for sex. It is the life force itself, and if he'd been Italian, he'd have discussed the libido of food, of eating. I'm sure the Chinese must laugh at him for this ridiculous omission. Food, sex, life!

Where eating is life, analysis is thinking, it is the presence of mind within experience. The five flavors are an analysis. They beg the thinking mind to join together with the living body, to understand the experience of life, of eating, of taste. Delicious. Intelligent.

Turn a different direction with me. You have a knife made out of metal. You have a branch, obviously made out of wood. You strip the bark from the branch with your knife. You're carving. What do you do next? You see an image in your mind. You shape the wood to your image.

What you have actually done is imposed mind over matter. You have engaged in an act of will. You have expressed your decision - which is a mental thing - in action. Between mind and matter, there are your hands. Driving your hands, is your mind.

That's why the five flavors of ancient Chinese theory are important. From chef's hands to your chewing mouth, there isn't just food, calories. There is mind. Your chef's mind, your tongue, your taste buds, your own mind to appreciate and understand the flavors.

We must face that fact that in America we suffer an anti-thinking philosophy. Nike says just do it. I say, no, think first, do second, think third, rinse and repeat.

1) Envision
2) Decide
3) Execute
4) Assess

Whoops! Did we just slip back into combat and leadership mode?

When I separate out the spicy heat from the bitter broccoli, my grandmother smiles upon me. She knows I'm eating. She knows I'm thinking. The two are in perfect accord. When she made her gravy, she tasted, analyzing, over and over again. Did I mention pasta fagioli? Oh my!

Satan shows up. Pasquale, he says, I'll bring your grandmother back from the dead and she'll make you her pasta fagioli. Yes, I say, and? Well, you have to sell your soul to me. Hmm. I ponder. Tough call that. Nah, I'll order some Chinese food instead, but honorable try, that.

Her name, by the way, was Carmela. She was as sweet and salty as caramel, she was. She passed on 42 years ago. There's still not a day I don't miss her. She and I never got to discuss food and flavor analysis. I'd have irritated her with that, but she'd have loved it.

She was a spicy gal, hot headed, but deep, profound, brilliant, yes, a sour and bitter intellect, but with a pure hearted depth of love that was only exceeded by her stunning beauty. Yeah, I worshiped her. Still do. Life, and mind. That was her. And yes, all five flavors.

Another pass. Consider the types of people you know. Can you picture categorizing them the same way? Who's hot? Who's salty? Who's sweet, bitter, or sour? And stop judging them, simply appreciate them all. All are needed. Food, people, flavors...do you see it?

Once again. Consider the following five types of battle:

1) Spicy - Hot
2) Salty - Intense
3) Sweet - Delightful
4) Sour - Difficult
5) Bitter - Hard

You have had all five types of combat in your life. Use your mind to find them. Life. Thinking. That is what Master Sun is for.