Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 7: 40 "This is the Mastery of Strength."

What are we supposed to do with this little tiny statement, bold claim though it may be? We've grown completed used to Master Sun's bold claims by now, they're almost throw aways. Don't take the bait. They're not. The first thing to do is review; what is the Mastery of Strength?

The Mastery of Strength, Master Sun told us, is:

1) Meet distance with closeness
2) Meet exhaustion with ease
3) Meet hunger with plenty

Distance, exhaustion, and hunger are weakness. Closeness, ease, and plenty are strength. I detect an underlying principle. Do you?

I'll put it in my own terms. I believe in visualizing victory. I've found it to be one of the most powerful steps one can take toward turning the tide in one's favor. I also believe in failure analysis. Master Sun does tons and tons of it. But he goes farther!

Sometimes with merciful love - win without killing - and sometimes with furious rage - the victorious force is like a 1,000 pound boulder rolling down the mountain to crush a single egg at the bottom - he always also visualizes his enemy's defeat, defeat visualization.

It never ceases to amaze me. In the past 30 years of study, albeit often very sparse and poor study, not one time before today has the topic of defeat visualization so much as crossed my mind. Hell, this lack may be one of my own greatest weaknesses. A softness I must overcome.

Well, I can tell you of one instant where I did NOT fail to visualize my enemy - America's greatest threat ever - HRC's defeat in 2016. Obama may be the more powerful enemy of America than HRC, but had she won, all of America would have lost, maybe lost forever.

So, Mastery of Strength means BOTH seeing your own victory, your plenty, AND see your enemy's defeat, his hunger. So also, with your victorious ease and closeness against his exhaustion and distance. Let's apply closeness and distance to the night of November 8, 2016.

At the beginning of the evening, everyone was telling us on TV that there was NO path to victory for Trump. He was simply too far away, too distant from any chance of winning, HRC was certainly going to win. Ha. Then, as the evening wore on, she grew farther and farther away.

I'll never forget, and I bet you won't either, the moment they started turning to each other and tentatively asking, thinking the unthinkable, could it be the Trump is blocking HRC, and he's closing in on winning? He grew easily closer and closer as she drew farther and farther.

Let's see where we are in just a slightly larger textual context. Here in verse 40 we have Mastery of Strength. In verses 34 & 36 we were give Mastery of Spirit and Mind. I strongly encourage you to go review those on your own, soon as you can. Let's talk about that.

We know that Master Sun studied profusely. He mentions an ancient Military Primer, sadly since lost, that was his own most important textbook. We know that he spent copious amounts of time in the temple, planning. I propose that was all a type of study.

I recently read an old interview with @GenFlynn in which he discussed his daily schedule as head of the DIA. He'd come in and spend his first 2 - 3 hours reading situation reports from all over the world. Imagine that. Imagine the power of mind and concentrated focus it required.

@GenFlynn Imagine you, like he did, worked a normal 12-hour day or so - although I know from direct personal experience, he really is a 24-hour guy - that you had to spend 2 - 3 hours of intense reading every morning, before the rest of your day took over. Could you do that?

@GenFlynn My answer to that question about you, is, yes, you could. Anyone could. The question isn't could, but would? Very few would, but anyone could, even you. It's a question of training. You must train your mind to focus. And that is one of Master Sun's highest goals for us.

@GenFlynn He is training us to think. Seriously, please, go back and reread verses 33 & 34, for Mastery of Spirit. Reread verses 35 & 36 for Mastery of Mind. Then, reread verse 1 - 32 as quickly as possible, just to remind yourself of his build up to these 4 masteries. Are you tracking?

@GenFlynn I have to say this another way. We think of fighting men by their muscles and guns, and that's true. We think of their courage in the face of bullets shot at them in anger, and that's true too. We see well run squads and are in awe of their discipline and fighting prowess.

@GenFlynn What we don't see is the reading, study, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual preparation of formal study. We think of fighting men, fighting. We don't think of them reading. We don't think of geometry and trigonometry on the battlefield, yet they dictate all outcomes.

@GenFlynn How do you aim a gun, cannon, mortar or RPG? By the laws of geometry and trigonometry. Why don't they tell us that in high school? Wanna kill the enemy and live? Learn your math, kid. Study. Master the topic. Read, and read well. So also, with Master Sun.

@GenFlynn So, here's my vision. I want us in the #MAGA movement to master Master Sun's counsel better than any people ever has in all history. Until now, there have been mainly three types of Master Sun scholars: military men, businessmen, and philosopher/historian types.

@GenFlynn I want to change that. I want every patriot in America who desires to Make America Great Again to build some form of knowledge, if not mastery over, Master Sun's advice. And, that we need a corps of leaders who master it, truly, is for me beyond question. That's my dream.

@GenFlynn Tomorrow, we begin our work on the 4th Mastery, Mastery of Change. What twists and turns we'll uncover! And then, we're into the final verses of this extraordinary chapter. It really could be a mini version of the entire book. Whoops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that yet!

@GenFlynn 193 verses completed, 229 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.