Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 7: 2 "The difficulty of the fray lies in making the crooked straight and in making an advantage of misfortune."

In tracking down the meaning of today's verse, we're going to travel far and wide. I'll even offer a now-rejected theory of the Jesuits who were the first European translators of Master Sun's counsel, and my own nearly evidence-free theory of ancient travels and influences.

Let us begin, however in the middle of the century, let's call it 550 BC, and a couple of phenomenal leaders in the newly returned Jewish community in Jerusalem, named Ezra and Nehemiah. Without getting lost in the weeds, let's read something from their endeavor, now...

Isaiah 40: 3 & 4 “A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.“

I know many of you study Lao Tau's Tao Te Ching. I ask, how many of his passages sound ALMOST identical to this beautiful verse? So, let me cut to the chase on my own completely unprovable theory. Israel, Egypt, Rome, Greece, Persia, India, and China read each other's books.

I simply cannot read today's verse from Master Sun without thinking of the Tao Te Ching, too. And I can't read Lao Tzu without thinking of Isaiah, Ezra and Nehemiah. Now let's talk about the discredited theory of Master Sun's first translators, the Jesuits.

The Jesuits believed the Jesus Christ was the true God of all history. They believed that the Holy Spirit was the source of all truth. Once they learned how to translate Chinese into Latin and began to realize the depth and power of the literature, they were humbled in awe.

Here's something else we just can't feel today. Wherever the Catholic Church reached, there were educated souls who all spoke and read Latin fluently. It was the universal language. So, picture these Jesuits returning to Europe with the prequel to the Bible in hand.

The word spread like lightning. The greatest minds in Christendom read their translations ravenously. A shock wave of mind-bending possibility rocked the intellectual world of Europe and beyond. As we've discussed before, the greatest of those minds was Gottfried Leibniz.

I don't have the source, but I believe there is great speculation that modern Europe's greatest conqueror, Napoleon, as a student of Master Sun's. I'm almost ready to let go of history and theory, but I must comment on one other modern silliness. Temporocentrism.

Temporocentrism is "the belief that one's own time is more important than the past or future." Perhaps, the term can be accurately stiffened. Perhaps its real effect is to essentially destroy the past and at least blur the future. Another effect is simply to disrespect the past.

Look at this from a communications and technology perspective. We believe we created global communication. Would an accurate reading of history support this? I doubt it. We've speeded it up and extended the reach into the smallest locales. But, created it? Nah, not so much.

Okay, history lecture over. How does one make a crooked path straight, turn misfortune into victory? The crooked path is fabulously demonstrated by the famed Trojan Horse. The entire Greek army leaves, having chopped up a boat or two to provide an apology sacrifice.

You do know to NOT trust Greeks bearing gifts, right? And, let's add, never believe it when Agamemnon pretends he's surrendering, tucking tail and leaving. Rather, his boats sailed around the crooked bend of the shoreline, in wait for the rising smoke of Troy's assault.

Carthage was on the Northern Coast of Africa. What was its most famous straight line to Rome? North into Europe and up into the mountains with its entire army, descending from the North to threaten Rome as no other army ever did in its 1,000 year history. Crooked made straight.

Jump into right now with me, now. If there is a single most common lesson that all my cohorts in the motivational industry have, each of us, individually discovered, it is that the obstacle is the opportunity, there is advantage to be uncovered inside misfortune.

This is likely my 10th time so far mentioning my most beloved such moment in the #MAGA movement, 7 October 2016, and the release of the Access Hollywood tape. Oh, how thrilled the other side was, and how scared we were. We couldn't know it, but that sealed HRC's fate, her doom.

Rolling up in the 2020 election, my current suspicion is that the Russia Collusion Hoax - catastrophe that it was - may well be our greatest advantage. You have Democrat friends who aren't 100% poisoned by the Kool-Aid. Can't you just say, "Really, that's your case?"

I asked @KateScopelliti yesterday what her guess might be as to the number of patriotic Democrats who'd be intelligent enough to realize their party is simply lost, especially over Russia Collusion. Her answers was sadly, no more than a third. I shouted, THEN WE WIN!

As you've noticed, I adore theory and strategy. Without theory, strategy is sure to be off. Please note as well, though, that tactics always embody strategy, whether you're seeing the strategy or not. Tactics without good strategy are doomed to be merely stupid. Ah, but...

But, misfortune - the kind that can be turned to advantage - never shows up in theory or strategy. It always shows up in the form of tactical setbacks or defeats, or best of all, GIGANTIC threats. No strategy can protect you from misfortune. Tactical genius is required.

Disciplined tactics are the foundation of converting misfortune into advantage. We know the drills save lives, as do well polished boots. We in the #MAGA movement MUST discover our own drills and disciplines. You fight the way you train. We damn well better start training.

And mind, #SunTzuForMAGA students, you can lead the charge. You can straighten your own crooked paths, and discover the advantages granted within your own misfortunes. What do you say? Can you personally benefit from the gifts the Jesuits gave us, hundreds of years ago?

156 verses completed, 266 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.