Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 6: 41 "Supreme military skill lies in deriving victory from the changing circumstances of the enemy."

As we've turned and returned to hardened forms, in this chapter, and the fluid formlessness that defeats them, we've been building the ability to study the enemy, eyes wide open. The enemy is held by his hardened forms. They own him. Look and you can see.

The fluid mind, employing formless observations is not owned by hardened thoughts. Assumptions are put away. Truth is present in its fluid form. Fluid like water. Flowing like time. Flowing within time. There is no separation between mind and truth observed.

I have a bit of personal history to share, so that I may honor my teachers. The two teachers I'll share right now are J.R.R. Tolkien and James Clavell. I must have mentioned Clavell before, haven't I? The respective years are 1978 and 1979. Do you read novels as a guides to life?

I grew up in a profoundly religious household. Fiction was prohibited. The Bible was my only book. Well, that and books about the Bible. And, I was good at Bible study, so I found a way through in that. I came to know the Bible inside out and upside down, backward and forward.

Unless you grew up like I did, you simply cannot imagine the guilty addiction of Tolkien when I blundered into him at age 17. Every page was a sin, and I had to force my mind into denial over that so I could read the next one. I'm still not quite sure how I pulled it off.

Those of you Tolkien fans will likely not be surprised that, while I loved Aragorn, Gandalf was my man. He still is, 40+ years later. I have three versions of his sword, one in a glass doored case. In my image here at Twitter, my sword guard is taken directly from Gandalf.

I was 18 when I discovered Clavell, a Freshman in college, and a professor at my religious school was the evil influencer who somehow knew I had to read the book Shogun. Little could I have imagined how my own life and destiny were on the line in that reading.

When I heard Gordon Gekko refer to Sun Tzu in the movie Wall Street, I was struck through with shame that I'd never read him, yet. Clavell had introduced him to me 8 years previously! I'm supposed to be the guy who does his homework!

If I could, I'd love to properly introduce you to the Japanese Tradition that arises from Master Sun's work in this chapter, around hardened forms and fluid formlessness. Alas, we don't have time for that right now. Still, I have to mention two other teachers.

The two teachers are a monk named Takuan, and a warrior named Miyamoto Musashi. Another time we'll work through Musashi's record as the greatest swordsman in Japan, not just when he was alive, but for all time. In recorded duels, he slayed 69 opponents. Imagine that.

Fluid formlessness, for Takuan and Musashi, was called Mushin. It simply means: no mind. If your mind attaches to the enemy's current position, you will be slow in responding to his next move. Attachment of mind - a hardened form - is the great failure of Mushin. Don't mind.

Don't let yourself attach to the English words here too strongly. Mind, in this case, may be more like ego, or conscious mind as opposed to unconscious. Mushin, no mind, may be more akin to your unconscious. It's likely best we just use the Japanese term Mushin.

A bit of technical focus will help. Your enemy is attacking you with his sword. He strikes from above right at your high left, you deflect the strike. Recovering quickly, he strikes at your high right, you deflect. Now, he strikes at your low left, you deflect. It continues.

Imagine he finds, after his strikes, a place in which to pause and gather himself for the next strike. This is called a guard. Guard and strike, strike and return to guard. Got it? In a state of Mushin, no mind, you never focus on the guard or the strike, just on your enemy.

If, for a single moment, you obsess on, you attach to where he is right now, you will NOT be ready for where he'll be in the coming moment. It is attachments, hardened forms of mind, that are your truest enemy, far worse than the enemy himself.

In the Japanese literature on swordsmanship, where you place your eyes' focus is a serious matter of life or death. Mushin means you don't focus tightly. Rather, you allow yourself a general view of all that happens as it happens. You must NOT allow your eyes too much focus.

Let's turn to today's #MAGA challenge now. The Democrats and their media minions are always trying to focus us on this or that. If you follow their finger point (look at that!), you will never see the big picture. You must NOT let them attach your mind to their this or that.

In a moment, let's look again at @realDonaldTrump's 10 core principles. I assure you that there is NO attachment of mind here. Rather, there is free floating presence of mind in observing truth here. And, fluid formlessness in facing the real time enemy.

1. Remember The Forgotten Americans
2. Rule Of Law
3. American Jobs
4. Quality Of Life For Every American
5. Heal Our Cities
6. Build The Wall
7. Make America Wealthy Again
8. Make America Strong Again
9. Make America Safe Again
10. Make America Great Again

Who are our enemies? It is those who, with hardened forms would have us believe the modern story. America is bad. The constitution is old, and therefore not applicable. Rights should be infinite in number. Security is all. Risk is bad. Your emotions matter the most.

Dive into the 10 goals above. You will see that they cannot be attained without Mushin. You will see that @realDonaldTrump never minds all his attackers. The battle is too fierce to attach to this or that guard or strike. @POTUS is today's greatest master of Mushin.

You can follow his lead. You too can derive victory from the changing circumstances of the enemy. You can be, in this gloriously mindless way, the DJT of your locale. You can enter the fray. You can win.

151 verses completed, 271 to go.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.