Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, 9: 37 "Shouting at night is a sign of fear."

If I mention the structure of a poem, do you have some idea what I'm referring to? How about a sonnet, say one with 3 quatrains (four lines each) with A-B-B-A rhyme pattern, and a final two lines with C-C rhymes to close out? Do you follow?

I don't know about today's method of teaching, but when I was in high school, long ago, we had to learn structural analysis of poems. I think I might have been the only kid in the class that adored it. But then again, I also adored geometry and there some similarities.

In case you need either a bit of a refresher, or an introduction, you might just glance at the contents here:

learn.lexiconic.net/elementsofpoet…

There will be no quiz, and you needn't memorize anything. We just need the same mindset to employ with Master Sun.

The only aspect of structural analysis you need right now it to attempt to tie verses together, in order to follow a larger picture than Master Sun can weave together in the strands of a single verse by itself. Today's verse in 37, in chapter 9. It is part of a larger section.

If you can learn to look at Master Sun's chapters this way, you'll begin to penetrate to deeper levels of mastery. The section we're in, here, goes from verse 33 - 47, a total of 14 verses consecutively, and they're all about Early Signs of Impending Victory.

Please understand, such analysis is always conjectural. Master Sun did NOT leave us what is called an Ur Copy, the master text that resolves all issues of translation and such. The entire endeavor is built upon hundreds and hundreds of years of guess work.

So, I offer my own guess that these 14 verses are designed to pound home into our minds, hearts, and souls precisely what victory looks like in all these various configurations of early signs. I'll tell you something I'm quite certain of. Master Sun demands Victory Analysis.

Countless times, we've gone over his Five Fundamentals from chapter 1, verse 2. Comparing each army by each of those factors is precisely what we do in the Planning Temple before commencing battle. Here, we have tactical signs from the battlefield.

And today's verse is extraordinarily vivid. But again I need an ancient commentator's help to decode it. Shouting at night? What is this? The great Du Mu explains that fear makes men restless. Imagine their night terrors, waking them up from shallow, one-eye closed sleep.

Du Mu explains further that the reason they shout is to keep up their own courage. I don't know about you, but I have a false sense of military discipline. I see the tents in perfect rows. I see the men obeying orders instantly, the chain of command as if perfect. Silly me.

I see Hollywood versions of combat, where the main hero never really has too much blood and gore covering his handsome face. And I have no excuse. I've seen all the dystopian war films like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, etc.

Yet nightmare driven warriors, drenched in the sweat of their terror, covered in the muck of battle with no showers to be had, awakening in the night and finding voice to shout in hopes of facing tomorrow's combat with some idea of survival, well, I don't see that readily.

Have you? Do you ever awaken from night terrors? Have you ever shouted in order to give yourself courage? Me? I've never been in combat, and I've certainly never shouted over the no man's land at my enemy. But I can imagine it.

I've shared before that in the near-40 years of marriage and parenting I've logged so far, far too many incidents of Papa's rage have been demonstrated by yelling. I have a strong version of the famous Italian father's temper. I have impossible standards and a hair trigger.

Papa's progress report does include the internal notification, Pasquale, you're too angry right now for what just occurred. Don't believe in your fury, and by all means do NOT enjoy its expression, nor allow yourself any comfort from raging at those you love.

Proudly, I report, I've begun asking people after if they noticed anything, and the answer is more and more often coming back, no Papa, you seemed just fine the whole evening long. Hurray! So, you can see, I understand how shouting at others may be an act of self-help.

Today in America we face the shouting of the Democrats over Impeachment, and oh the self-encouragement they're enjoying. I can't tell you if Trump is doing the right thing or not, pushing them as he is. He's clearly baiting them with chaos, that's 100% certain.

I confess, I sometimes wonder if he respects his enemies quite enough. As I've said many times, I have no fear of the Democrats alone. It is the Never-Trump still lingering swamp element of the Republican Party that I fear. I don't trust the Senate. I wish I could.

But Master Sun whispers to me. Consider the nightmares that the swamp Republicans are suffering. This is, one way or another, the end of their long reign over the Party. Master Sun teaches me to face my fear, and accept an Impeachment and ouster, were it to occur.

Who remembers Edvard Munch's The Scream? As surely as the Democrats are shouting in the night across the field, so also are the swamp Republicans, even if we can't hear the sound propagating. Their terrors must be hellacious beyond words.

Let's try to follow @POTUS' logic. He hears the screaming in the night. He knows he has the Democrats - and the swamp Republicans - on the run. He always takes his hits early, and often times them to perfection, long before his enemies should have attacked.

@POTUS He lures them with irresistible bait, and they all fall to ravenous feeding, like pigs at the trough. You're going to threaten me with Impeachment? Then let's go. Bring it on. Thing is, it is too early. A successful challenge must wait until the reelection. We know this.

@POTUS So, for the first time in American history, Trump has baited his enemies into Impeachment PRIOR to his reelection. Why? I assure you, in part due to the fact that he hears their screams in the night. He feels - and fuels - their fears and petrified terror.

@POTUS It's not just the Botox freezing Pelosi's face. She's scared out of her mind. Did you see the European girl telling AOC that we have to eat the babies, because we humans are a form of pollution, ourselves? I'm not kidding. She said it repeatedly. Did you see AOC's face?

@POTUS In closing today, let's talk about the Drudge Report. I still look at it, every day. Old habits die hard. It's like watching a train wreck. Every day I see Trump's coming demise shouted there. Part of why I look is just to see the old world pass away. Drudge is doomed.

@POTUS And today's verse tells me why. I just hear the shouts of the other side in the night screaming their fear, there, anymore. With patience, I wait upon our leader to show us the way to victory. I see nothing in Master Sun's counsel to the contrary.

@POTUS 265 verses completed, 191 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.