Principle 3: Evil exists. The generals of evil are waging a war for your heart, mind, and soul. Their chief strategy is deception, which includes bribery and bait. Beware.
1.
There is a war going on. It is a war over you, over your neighbors, over all people on the planet. It is the war of Good vs Evil.
Every week we cover How to Be, how to live a life of good, as told to us by the classical thinkers of eras past. This week, though, we cover evil. It exists, and those fighting on the side of devils are cunning and relentless.
If you are prone to conspiracies or become afraid easily, stop reading now.
2.
Sun Tzu writes in The Art of War:
The Way of War is
A Way of Deception.
When able,
Feign inability;
When deploying troops,
Appear not to be.
When near,
Appear far;
When far,
Appear near.
Lure with bait;
Strike with chaos.
If the enemy is full,
Be prepared.
If strong,
Avoid him.
If he is angry,
Disconcert him.
If he is weak,
Stir him to pride.
If he is relaxed,
Harry him;
If his men are harmonious,
Split them.
Attack
Where he is
Unprepared;
Appear
Where you are
Unexpected.
Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese military strategist, perhaps the greatest military strategist in history. He was writing around 400 BC. China at the time was a country of thousands of warring states. It was constant bloodshed, with miles upon miles of severed heads and charred bodies. Survival was the goal. So was domination.
What made Sun Tzu so deadly was his use of deception. The Art of War, as written by the Master Sun, is really the art of deception. Get enemy to look left, then strike from the right.
Indeed, in one noteworthy battle, a practitioner of Master Sun lured his enemy to a narrow path between two mountains with the promise of a truce. He knew the enemy would accept it. So he set up a camp site with his men apparently partying, having bonfires, and sleeping. They were sitting ducks. This student of deception also knew his enemy would silently renege on the truce, once he saw the bait of easy victory.
The two generals met at a narrow ravine, agreed to a truce, then returned to their camps. The enemy waited until night, when the general's troops were drunk and asleep, then attacked. They came in on horseback and shredded the tents, set fires, shot arrows... at nothing.
The enemy realized too late that this was a trap. Up high on the mountain, surrounding him, was the army that had asked for the truce. They sent thousands of flaming arrows into the ravine and burned the invading army alive.
3.
Master Sun says:
War
Is founded
On deception;
Movement is determined
By advantage;
Division and unity
Are its elements
Of change.
War is founded on deception. That notion made Sun Tzu the most dangerous man at the time. However, what makes him one of the most dangerous people in history is when he says "Division and unity / Are its elements / Of change."
Sun Tzu wrote this not as an explanation of troop platoons and divisions, but rather as an introduction to morale, of troops and citizens. Wars eventually lead to victories. Troops, especially as they become prosperous, have to be managed. Cities and states have to be ruled. Countries need kings.
Master Sun was one of the earliest people to apply the art of war to the human psyche as well as to the battlefield. For a conqueror to conquer, for a ruler to rule, the heart and mind and soul must be seized, controlled.
Sun Tzu writes:
Plunder the countryside,
And divide the spoil;
Extend territory,
And distribute the profits.
Weigh the situation carefully
Before making a move.
Victory belongs to the man
Who can master
The stratagem of
The crooked
And the straight.
This is the
Art of the Fray.
It was a common practice for victorious kings to spread some of the wealth of the wars, to buy complacency of his subjects, new and old. The situation had to be judged carefully, though, because if a new citizenry could not be controlled they would fight back, potentially leading to disaster.
Thus ancient rulers also used fear, spies, rumors, demonstrations of power, witchcraft. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt convinced people that they were being watched through the eye of the pyramid. The ancient Chinese had spies everywhere. Conquerors in ancient China, Greece, Rome, throughout the world, all tried to buy the peace of their new subjects, with cash, free food, comfortable lives.
Bribery works, but such bribery has a tendency to create a degraded population. Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, writes: "The court is corrupt, / The fields are overgrown with weeds, / The granaries are empty; / Yet there are those dressed in fineries / With swords at their sides, / Filled with food and drinks, / And possessed of too much wealth...." Make a citizenry fat and happy, filled with false victories, and they degrade.
This pattern happened over and over in ancient China, as well as ancient Greece and Rome.
The effects of the bribes from the spoils of war are harmful, yet every ruler in history goes for the bribe. Why, you might ask? Because the Art of the Fray is not a strategy for happiness. It is the Art of War to steal the human spirit.
4.
Today we have easy access to the internet, to fast food, to inspirational world travel Instagram pages. In many ways, life is quite easy... some would say suspiciously easy. We turn on Netflix, order some pizza and zone out. Then we look at pretty pictures on Instagram and say we'll get there someday.
Do not be lulled into thinking the Art of the Fray is gone. Do not be fooled into thinking today is a more civilized age. Today's conquerors are craftier and smarter than ever.
The threat of constant warfare is gone, but there are people who want you essentially dead. When we are numb and stupid we are predictable, controllable, and can be sold to as easily as a rat is fed in a cage.
Does that sound far out? It is not. The personality traits that gave rise to ancient conquerors exist in a genetic continuum. The genes do not disappear from our species. Instead of wearing robes and skins, today they wear suits, or maybe sweaters as a way to look gentle.
5.
The German philosopher Frederich Nietzsche described such a man, perhaps was such a man.
Bertrand Russel tells us in his History of Western Philosophy: Nietzsche "admires certain qualities which he believes... to be only possible for an aristocratic minority; the majority in his opinion, should be only means to the excellence of the few, and should not be regarded as having any independent claim to happiness or well-being. He alludes to ordinary humans as being 'bungled and botched,' and sees no objection to their suffering if it is necessary for the production of a great man."
Nietzsche believed it is right for one person to destroy the whole world, if only to prove that he is the strongest. And then he could rebuild it as he wants. Nietzsche would also argue that it the correct thing to do for somebody, let's say today, to trap everybody, to cage them, either physically or digitally or psychologically, and make them dance at will.
It is hard to believe that such thinking would occur today, that there are people who believe they can sacrifice people, harm people, for any reason, let alone no reason. We are a nicer age, a more civilized citizenry.
But it is only hard to believe because we do not want to believe it. It is normal, indeed it is critical to a healthy psychology, to believe in a decent world, to believe that leaders, politicians, CEOs have our best interest at heart. We desperately want the people with power to love us as perfect parents would.
But they do not.
Indeed, it is far more common for the most powerful, for the most famous to begin to believe that they were ordained to be powerful and famous. Once that mindset sets in, there is no harm, no evil that cannot be justified as a mere road bump to ever-lasting greatness.
Many of these people are crafty, and we may not recognize what they do, or might misidentify it as good. Perhaps they are offering a harmless, fun, free service, such as shopping, or photo sharing. Yet we should keep in mind what Master Sun says, "When deploying troops, / Appear not to be."
6.
On the Better World Books webpage, there once was a picture of a man who, after 50 years, finally learned how to write his name. His smile is proof that literacy is a source of happiness, of goodness.
Yet one could say it is odd that so much of the world is illiterate, has no access to water, has no access to sanitation and cooking and housing, yet has access to free cell phones with Facebook preinstalled. They have no books, no faucets with water, but they have hot air balloons beaming down wi-fi, for free.
One might wonder why, during this tragic pandemic, we rushed to give students laptops, and bemoaned that there was a shortage of computers, but never once thought of giving students books. We told students in far off towns to accept a free computer, then go to a McDonald's to use the free wi-fi.
Each of us knows at least one person who could accomplish so much--perhaps they could be a research scientist, a musician, a more attentive parent--but who instead watches tv all day, or plays video games all night.
We spend so many hours online, we spend so many hours beaming pictures and videos and websites into our head, our heart, our soul. How many hopes and dreams are being lost because we tap buttons on a controller? How often do we leave our chores undone, our loved ones neglected, because we are compelled to stare at a screen?
It is worth pointing out that much of the internet--the products of these trillion dollar companies--is more or less free.
7.
Lao Tzu, Kabir, Cicero, Whitman... many of the classic thinkers of the past essentially believed that we are children of supreme beings, that we are capable of greatness, of goodness, of love, of charity, of wisdom.
Yet they also recognized that there is a battle, that there are forces that prevent us from reaching our potential, forces that degrade us, dehumanize us, and make us passive yet vicious.
The battles to make us so are being waged by evil generals, but they very often look like saints.
Principle 3: Evil exists. The generals of evil are waging a war for your heart, mind, and soul. Their chief strategy is deception, which includes bribery and bait. Beware.
Very best wishes
from your friend,
William