Playing with the Dao:
A "Pragmatic" Strategic View
continuedGRAND RESULTS
"Now, if the estimates made in the temple before hostilities indicate a victory it is because calculations show one's strength to be superior to that of his enemy; if they indicate defeat, it is because calculations show that one is inferior. With many calculations, one can win; with few one cannot. How much less chance of victory has one who makes none at all! By this means you examine the situation and the outcome will be clearly apparent." --- Sunzi (Sun Tzu) AoW, Chapter 1 (Griffith interpretation)
Through the practice of stillness and the understanding of the Dao, you gradually learn and understand the importance of constant self-improvement and living our lives intelligently with a great degree of significance. The maintaining of this self-optimizing state while wandering at ease is always a lifetime challenge for those who wish to align themselves with the Dao.
"Your experience is never the same as the next person." --- Paraphrased quote from Sun Lu Tang (Sun's Internal Martial Art System Founder)
The experience of each person is always different from the practice of stillness. The only commonalities are the focus on the familiar and the practice of aligning with the Dao.
"In every landscape, the point of astonishment is the meeting of the sky and the earth." --- Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Transcendental Sage of Concord
THOUGHTS FROM A PRAGMATIC STRATEGIST
"When people of great wisdom hear the Truth, they diligently practice it. When people of moderate wisdom hear the Truth, they practice it now and then. When people of lesser wisdom hear the Truth, they laugh at it. If there were no laughter, there would be no Truth." --- Laozi
The Dao concepts mentioned above are a summation of my given answer to the questioner. After a long exchange of questions and answers, that person began to understand the importance of focusing on the familiar and how the world operates.
As a reminder, this essay only touches on a small component of what the Dao is./
After years of playing with the Dao, this pragmatic essayist learned that this philosophical mindset and practice is also efficient in determining the large picture while keeping your eye on the target regardless of your current scenario. There's no genuine set of strategic and tactical rules for playing with the Dao-just the heuristic principles of recognizing scenarios and its cycles that determine the strategy and tactics of your endeavor.
"In the field of observation, fortune favors the prepared." --- Louis Pasteur
Direct alignment with the Dao allows you to effectively complete any endeavors with the minimum effort. From a personal experience, it can be described as "water cascading down a mountainside taking the path of least resistance."
"It is the business of a general (or a strategist) to be serene and inscrutable, impartial, and self-controlled."
--- Sunzi (Sun Tzu) AoW (Griffith interpretation)
Accomplishing this feat consistently is another story. If learning how to play the Dao were any simpler or difficult, it would not be the Dao.
To thrive in the current world of uncertain shifts and changes, the consummate strategic player of the Dao pragmatically creates their own opportunity first through their understanding of how the world operates instead of searching and waiting for a certain scenario to occur.
"He who has mastered this method knows the way of heaven and earth, has the support of the populace, and is fully aware of the opposing situation. … When he needs to determine his battle array, he knows how to prepare the formations. He combats when there is assurance of victory. He stops fighting when there isn't. … For one who has really mastered the method, his opposition can do nothing to escape their defeat."
--- An updated paraphrase from Sun Bin (famous strategist from the Warring States era and the great grandson of Sunzi)
Regardless of your settings and pursuits, always align with the Dao
M.E.H.
M.E.H. is a strategist whose weekend interests lie between cycling in "linear, circular, and figure-eight patterns" while reading books on world history, global economics, quantum sciences, and military strategies during his breaks.
Previous M.E.H. Writings on Strategy
- Playing with the Dao: A "Pragmatic" Strategic View (Part 1)
- Sun Tzu's The Art of War
- The Mind of the Strategist: Knowing the Questions
- The Game of Go
- Chinese Chess
- Zhuge Liang – Part 1 and Part 2
- The Tao of Becoming a Strategist
- STRATEGY as a Way of Life: "Know the Question. Then Find the Answer"
- Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare (Military Methods)
- Playing the Global Game
