06.010 Subtle! Subtle! They become formless...

Subtle! Subtle! They become formless. Mysterious! Mysterious! They become soundless. Therefore, they are the masters of the enemy's fate.

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ANOTHER POV

When your "prepared" plan and intent are not known to anyone, it becomes easy to shape your opposition. You are now a mystery to your surroundings. They cannot see you or hear you.

At that moment, you can begin to employ your strategy to master him. Once it is successfully employed, you can be the captain of his/her fate.

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{* CARDINAL999 *}

"In the Field of Observation, Fortune Favors the Prepared (and the Bold)."

"The stillness in stillness is not the true stillness; only when there is stillness in motion does the universal rhythm manifest." - Old Daoist Text

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Is it any wonder that the Chinese people often have this aura in the West as being inscrutable?

Sun Tzu obviously understood that anything that has form can be defeated.

No doubt that the success of the Vietcong tunnel network during the Vietnam war, can be traced back to the teachings of Sun Tzu as reflected in the excerpt above.

-BingFa

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ANOTHER POV

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Originally posted by BingFa
Is it any wonder that the Chinese people often have this aura in the West as being inscrutable?

Sun Tzu obviously understood that anything that has form can be defeated.
-BingFa

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Respectfully Yours,


{* CARDINAL999 *}

"In the Field of Observation, Fortune Favors the Prepared (and the Bold)."

"The stillness in stillness is not the true stillness; only when there is stillness in motion does the universal rhythm manifest." - Old Daoist Text

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When you are quiet about your plans, and there is no discernable pattern to your movements, then you can achieve surprise.

Gonzo

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Subtle! Subtle! They become formless. Mysterious! Mysterious! They become soundless. Therefore, they are the masters of the enemy's fate.

The general protects his critical information to a degree that it is impossible for the opposition to know what the general is going to do. For the "invisible" general anything is possible. The phantom army can appear and disappear "anyplace" at "anytime" at will. With this type of force anything can be defended and anything can be attacked.

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This phrase reminds me of a Chinese proverb I once heard:

"Hide brightness, nourish obscurity!!"

Need I say more?

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Re: 06.010 Subtle! Subtle! They become formless...

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Originally posted by sonshi
Subtle! Subtle! They become formless. Mysterious! Mysterious! They become soundless. Therefore, they are the masters of the enemy's fate.

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Don't let anyone see your cards

Subtle! Subtle! They become formless. Mysterious! Mysterious! They become soundless. Therefore, they are the masters of the enemy's fate.

Work again.
I find that this type of battle logic favors the stronger person. In applying for work it is impossible to be formless. As applicants we have to show up front our qualificions for work. I feel at a disadvantage when I try to encorporate the logic into this scenario.

One thing I notice though would be to always hide our true intentions. If it is a temp job sound like you would want to do ut as a career and such. Bite your tongue when they tell you the wage and such.

Interviews are all about formlessness hiding your true intentions. The interviewer job is to get as close to my truth as possible and my job is to try to get him/her to believe my hype. Essentially two people trying to lie to each other.

I hiding my own weakness and dispalying the strong. The employer showing their strengths and hiding their weakness. Quite a dance. Each hoping to get the better of the deal.

pawn11

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By attacking where the enemy cannot defend, they have no formation, no common attacks that the enemy can see. By defending where the enemy cannot attack, they move without the enemy knowing, they are swift and always moving, mysterious and unpredictable. The enemy doesn't know what to do.

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I looked at the Merriam-Webster dictionary and searched for ‘formless’. And I like explanation number three:

Having no physical existence. How can you attack somebody if he does not exist. You can attack something if this presents certain regularity and is within your reach. Other than that your strike will meet the vacuum.

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And there is only blue sky above us.

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06.010

Subtle! Subtle! They become formless. Mysterious! Mysterious! They become soundless. Therefore, they are the masters of the enemy's fate.

The days of rank and file facing off against rank and file, slaughtering one another almost aimlessly, is the antithesis of the instruction given above.

Thus the evolution of guerilla warfare, and its modern metamorphosis into the terrrorist cell: without form and without sound, until the moment of attack.

To withstand an enemy such as one characterized by the subtle and the mysterious traits one much adapt to such traits, then use them as counter-intelligence is used to combat a fifth column. Arrest of terrorists and the collapse of certain cells in Germany, Spain, and Italy are evidence of the use of formless and soundless tactics to combat same.

Wars may continue to be founght on certain battlefields, but victories will more and more be tied to the special ops capacity to infiltrate and implode terrorism cell by cell.

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What honor is there in being still when stillness is expected...what wisdom is there in choosing simply to say that you have chosen? Make way and chose or not, but wisely so.

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Confuse the enemy

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Originally posted by sonshi
Subtle! Subtle! They become formless. Mysterious! Mysterious! They become soundless. Therefore, they are the masters of the enemy's fate.

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Truthseeker


Suffering is the breaking of the shell that encloses our understanding


"Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down; rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it."

Krishnamurti

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Hmmm... I believe that this section reflects the Tao Te Ching's influence on Sun Tzu's work.

—Tao Te Ching 14

We look at it [Tao] and do not see it; Its name is The Invisible. We listen to it and do not hear it; Its name is The Inaudible. We touch it and do not find it; Its name is The Subtle [formless].

This is the Tao, the Way... The Tao is formless the Tao is soundless (inaudible). One who masters the enemy's fate is like the Tao, he is inview of the enemy yet he cannot be seen, he commands his troops on the field yet the enemy cannot hear him. He who knows the Tao of war controls the fate of his enemy.

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Re: 06.010 Subtle! Subtle! They become formless...

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Originally posted by sonshi
Subtle! Subtle! They become formless. Mysterious! Mysterious! They become soundless. Therefore, they are the masters of the enemy's fate.

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All too often our insecurities influence us to want to share too much in order to get feedback that feeds our egos. A confident, self-assured individual is able to keep his plans, and yes, his opinions, to himself (I'm not sure what that says about us ).

What power is embedded in this passage ! What could be more powerful than mystery? If my enemy knows nothing, he has nothing from which he can plan or counter.

Humbly,

Lonestar

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Humbly,

Lonestar

Learning to "take every thought captive".

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