Book of Five Rings Ground (Earth) Book - First big Idea

After going through The entire book in one day, It is time to zoom in a little bit to start get a grip of the big ideas that exist in each part. The Book of Five Rings is a military book about strategy, and today I am exploring what this craft of strategy is in today's terms. We no longer swing swords at each other, and over all aggression in this modern world is frowned upon. Yet you will find that you and everybody else around you has aggressive impulses. A study of strategy is the acknowledgement of these impulses and the tempering of them, as stated in the book it is immature strategy that is the cause of grief. 

I may be handling some very aggressive material here, and the core of this book may seem quite psychotic if you are unable to access the context. I will address this matter in the same way that the book addresses it. Miyamoto Musashi says that there are various ways  in life, and this is equivalent to the word Dao. To appreciate what is said after this you must assume that all is right; the context is correct and there is no other option for peace and whatever else bars you from accessing the muddy space where your aggression exists.

Strategy is the craft of the warrior. Commanders must enact the craft,and troopers should know this Way. 

Strategy is made up of two characters that mean Soldier's Method. What we see here is that commanders and troopers alike have something in common and that is the craft of strategy. For the subordinate to trust the superior the superior should enact the craft. For the Subordinate to become the superior he must come to know this craft deeply. This implies that the playing field is leveled out, and that the commander is simply better than the trooper in the craft of war and that is the reason he is in the office he is in. Many a post modernist will now start clambering a variety of arguments and of those the one I would like to focus on is power. 

Power comes from a source, and the deepest source of power is the cornerstone of social hierarchies. It is something that happens nearly automatically when people coordinate to a shared goal. There is space for someone to leverage the power of other people to reach the heights their greed lusts after, but the costs are grave. Selling your soul into coalitions that are willing to support unsavoury schemes leads to betrayal and entropy of a system. There is a different way to garner power and that is through personal responsibility, and at the point where you become the person that deserves the power you are aiming for is that exact moment that it is afforded you. How does one reach that point?  

It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way

The first thing I want to place on emphasis, is natural ability. I am not sure how many people are still invested in the idea of talent, and if there are still many I think it is safe for me to assume that there are only a few people with a specific definition of talent. What is being said here is that you can still become a warrior even if you have no natural ability in that direction - this is predicated on whether or not you are inclined towards this path or that path -  and you can become a warrior by an assiduous adherence to both divisions of the way, so what are they?

The Pen

My first impression of this is that the symbol had to do with the academic side of war, which there is a very rich tradition of these days. Although after some research what I have found is that it is the symbol of cultural arts. Philosophy, law, Business, Writing, Engineering, and the list goes on and on. The whole point is that the first division of the way is an academic pursuit, and it is not specialised on any particular topic of study, with the Ideal of reaching the point where no man can deceive you. What I find interesting as a result of this kind of study is that the Book of Five rings is not merely concerned with sword fencing, and the corporal aspects of war, it is actually a very profound book and it proposes philosophy with a stoic temper to it. 

The Sword

The way of the sword should be self explanatory, and it should not be confused with the art of the same name. This is about learning how to kill people with a katana. Much of the fire book is dedicated to this exact purpose, explaining the methods of learning how to fight with the long sword, but there is an interesting thing that crops up in the approach. Only a few methods are spoken of, and they are in reference to the five attitudes. Which are the only possible origins of an attack or some kind of defence with the katana. The path of learning the way of the sword prescribed in this book is not the dojo, it is in actual battle - after adequate training -  As expected this is a very practical set of actions , and it has to do with performance and what that performance means in comparison to the opponent you are facing off against. 

What happens if these two ways are abstracted? 

intelligence: ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒ(ə)ns noun 1. the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.

The two divisions of the way leverage the mechanics of intelligence, so what this means is that a prerequisite to being a warrior is being intelligent, and even if a person is as dumb as a pile of bricks that person can become a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the way. Or even if you are not intelligent you can become intelligent by leveraging the mechanics of intelligence by training your ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. The Book of Five Rings was the first book I have ever read about accelerated learning, and its philosophy colours the bland set of skills that were proposed as a result of Howard Gardner's Theory  of Multiple Intelligence. With that said we have yet to ask for what purpose strategy exists, and what makes this path different to other paths

The warrior is different in that studying the Way of Strategy is based on overcoming men. By victory gained in crossing swords with individuals, or enjoining battle with large numbers, we can attain power and fame for ourselves or our lord. This is the virtue of strategy.

This is the essence of strategy, to overcome men in battle, and stand at the end as the victor. While it is a dirty business, it does come with its benefits and that is your ability to choose which battles you fight and how you fight them. As I have already stated the source of the power and fame is based in what you have come to deserve as a result of your craft. Miyamoto Musashi is known as the sword saint, he slayed over 60 men in duals, where one of his duals he took fashioned a sword out of an oar and defeated his enemy with that.  The avenues to power that most men rely on were ignored , and mastery was pursued instead. 

Recently there have been people getting on in the world as strategists, but they are usually just sword-fencers

Are you going to pursue the empty trapping that make you feel validated in your pursuit, or are you going to refine your craft to such a point where there is no doubt that it is in fact superior, while you did not neglect the other aspects of reaching the heights. The choice is temporary flight vs the solid position of being superior. 

Men choose between this all the time, and you are bound to find the wise and the idiots up on top alike.  The idiots are arrogant and they will challenge you, whether out of sheer ignorance or out of your building threat. These are your weaker opponents, often times if you just keep your cool and be a little bit more witty than them you will get a notch on your belt. It is the wise man you have to be prepared for. It does not matter what you are good at, when you meet the man who is better than you are he will defeat you. If you are not practicing you are setting yourself up for that defeat. 

Challenge

I have been keeping to my practice, and making use of a very rough version of spaced repetition I have nearly mastered the chords of this song, I am now incorporating the melody in small bits.  In the effort of availing more energy and willpower to myself I have cut out all drinks excepting for water, I aim to drink 3 lt per day, after this has been around for a week I am introducing the body weight training program  I enjoyed for three months of last year back into my routine as well as a 5 kilometer walk per day.