THEORY: Five Essentials for Victory - Sun Tzu, Art of War

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight;
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces; 
3. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks;
4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared;
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

You already understand and you probably already know that in a modern society there is inevitable changes to mandate how one provides security and safety for themselves, their families and the social structure or group to which his or her families belong. It is my expert provision in this article to expand on these essentials for victory as set down centuries ago how great Generals would successfully carry out the mandate of Heaven and his sovereign to gain victory agains all enemies both domestic and foreign. 

In our world of martial prowess where self-protection is provided we can readily detect a need to follow these ancient teachings while making allowances to our modern times. Therefore the above will be revamped to reflect those changes and mandates as set down by law, the legal system and those who enforce for the sake of societies protection, security and safety. 

There are “Five Essentials for Self-Protection.” 

Commentary: I don’t use the term victory because that tends to lead to certain dissonances due to our modern societies pension toward competitive sports where the dangers of grave harm and death are governed by rules that are sanctioned, mandated and set by society through its laws and legal systems. Even the use of self-defense if not fully explained can lead to mistakes in perceptions because it is used, generally, to explain actual defenses and it is also used, generally, to explain a legal definition since the legal system uses the term as a legal one. 

1. He will achieve success who knows when to protect and defend and when not to protect and defend;
2. He will achieve success who knows how to handle aggressions and force both psychological and physical;
3. He will achieve success who knows how to protect and defend within the limits set by social legal laws and systems;
4. He will achieve success who, prepared him/herself, waits to take the attacker unprepared; 
5. He will achieve success who has martial capacity and is not interfered with by societies systems. 

Now, commentary on the five essential principles of self-protection.

1. He will achieve success who knows when to protect and defend and when not to protect and defend;
• Commentary: It’s about the law; it’s about force requirements; it’s about awareness; it’s about knowing when to go and when to not go and when to know the point where your actions MUST stop, etc. 
2. He will achieve success who knows how to handle aggressions and force both psychological and physical;
• Commentary: Knowing about aggression and violence of all kinds, not just those that are in sports or about military actions or about hands on social and asocial types of violence. This subject is vast and having a working and workable knowledge of this provides conceptual abilities so that one can avoid, de-escalate or escape and evade rather than applying methodologies of the physical kind. 
3. He will achieve success who knows how to protect and defend within the limits set by social legal laws and systems;
• Commentary: Knowledge, understanding and applying skills that attest to and adhere to the social reality of the law and its systems that enforce so that violence is kept to proper, lawful and legal applications across all of society. 
4. He will achieve success who, prepared him/herself, waits to take the attacker unprepared; 
• Commentary: Once imminent attack is detected then one must take the first step to hold a active protection and avoid becoming a reactive participant that often leads to the person’s harm. 
5. He will achieve success who has martial capacity and is not interfered with by societies systems. 
• Commentary: A full, complete and comprehensive knowledge, understanding and ability to apply skills and tools, including but not limited to martial skills, to protect, secure and attain safety for self and others takes a great deal of effort, dedication and hard work to achieve. 

It is well known by both philosophers and expert military professionals that the above is how a General leads, controls and directs a military both small, as individual, and large as to overall with divisions, etc. It is said, as you can imagine, that if a General understands the art of war they can lead to victory a large army or even individuals for the principles are the same regardless. 

Commentary: Principles are often tested by the depth and breadth of use in any discipline. It sets the bar where all principles apply regardless and once passing the bar tend to be personalized, etc. 

It can be said, “It is the societies governing bodies function to give broad instructions while to decide on self-protection is the function of the individual or group.” 

Commentary: One of my pet peeves is that once the military and its leadership are mandated to accomplish society and governments objectives, assuming they are of moral value and benefit to the societies survival, the general’s have carte blanche to get the job done without interference from the governing bodies or the societies. 

It is said, “To know your adversary and to know yourself, you need not fear the results of physical violence. If you know yourself and not your adversary, for every victory you achieve you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither your adversary nor yourself, you will succumb in every confrontation be it psychological or physical.”

Commentary: Full knowledge of self and others means you have to knowledge and ability along with understanding to pretty much avoid bad things. Self-centered etoistic self-soothing behavior may indicate to self of self’s superiority and then when reality kicks in, down they go. The third are just sheep who either can’t or refuse to acknowledge that bad things exist and happen. 

“Knowing your adversary enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive. Attack is the secret to defense; defense is the planning of an attack.”

Commentary: Plan to avoid, escape and evade, and deescalate while holding fast to the expertise of your ability to handle not just one thing, to handle all things regardless. 

This is the mixing bowl of a wonderful chocolate cake and sampling the bowls content gives us a sense of the taste and deliciousness of the chocolate cake, now all we have to do is learn how to make and bake the cake. Become a master baker!

Bibliography (Click the link)