Whenever the word ‘war’ comes into our mind, we think of the declared armed hostile conflicts between states or nations or the great battles which have been fought in the past. But war may not always be the battle fought between states, nations or groups. War is an inseparable part of our life. Everyone is fighting a battle in his life with his opponent to dominate him and get succeed and the battlefields may be different. War is a natural tendency and it is not restricted to battlegrounds only. For human beings; business, sports, politics, fame and power are not lesser than battlefields. If a person doesn’t know the art of fighting with the unfavourable conditions surrounding him, he may remain suppressed and dwarfed which ultimately may inhibit his growth and he will keep fighting a war with himself disturbing the peace of his life. So we must know how to deal with negative situations and unfavourable conditions to overcome them or we can say we must have the art and knowledge of waging a war against these inimical circumstances to excel and outshine in various fields. Knowing the art of fighting with our opponents without being indulging into a physical combat with him is synonymous to subduing him and achieving triumph over him. The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu. The book has been written almost twenty five hundred years ago and is composed of thirteen chapters. Each chapter of the book is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. It provides practical wisdom, tactics, and strategies to defeat enemies on the battlefield. You might wonder what relevance this book has to us or why am I talking about the book here. While we may not be generals in a military sense, we are certainly commanders of our own lives. The wisdom from this book could possibly assist us in achieving victories in certain aspects/battlefield of life because this book has found a variety of applications in a myriad of competitive non-military endeavours across the modern world including espionage, culture, politics, business, and sports. General Vo Nguyen Giap of Vietnam gives credit to this book for defeating France in the battlefield, and Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian coach, attributes this book to guiding his team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Though the book was basically written to ameliorate the military tactics and strategies to win the military wars but its principles can help us to outshine and excel in the race of life. We are living in a competitive age and we have to compete with our opponents in various fields. So the various strategies and principles discussed in the book can tremendously profitable.
“If we have the fortitude and ability to change and revamp our strategies reckoning with our intelligence, knowledge, emotional intelligence, rationality, research, adaptability and changing circumstances without engaging in a battle with our opponent in a traditional manner, then the battle will undoubtedly be an art for us.”
According to the book, firstly, if you do not know yourself and your opponent well, you have already lost before entering the battlefield. Those who lack awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses and those of their enemy is destined for defeat. Understanding both your own characteristics and your enemy’s reality is crucial. While you can not change every weakness you have, being aware of them allows you to prevent others from taking advantage of them. Self-awareness is essential to win every battle. Research about our intended goal is essential. Calculations, practical wisdom, and comparison should be used to decide whether the intended objective can be realistically achieved or not. If not, it is better to abandon that goal (war). The choice of the enemy and the battlefield (field of competition) should be carefully considered. Not every war or enemy is worth engaging with. To save time, energy, and valuable resources, fight only the battles that are worth fighting, where the investment of time, energy, and resources won’t be regretted. Even if the victory is close, do not let arrogance and emotions make the enemy aware about it; always keep them entangled. According to Sun Tzu, it is essential to alter, modify and revise one’s strategies with the changing circumstances on the battlefield, because war is akin to flowing water—it can change its course at any time. We can not maintain control over external conditions for long. Our temperament and strategies should be like flowing water so that when necessary, we can change them for our benefit. Keeping an eye on the enemy’s (opponents) weaknesses is crucial; focus is of paramount significance. When the adversary reveals a weakness, it should be immediately exploited and maneuvered to our advantage. We should strive to prevent our opponent from gathering too much information about us; maintaining confidentiality, privacy and secrecy is always beneficial. Sun Tzu writes that the highest and most skilful form of war is the one in which the enemy’s defeat and our victory are possible without the enemy ever knowing or predicting what happened to them and how they lost the battle. Our strategies should defy the enemy’s expectations, causing them to stumble or freeze. To enforce and implement this strategy, it is necessary for a person to have a high level of emotional intelligence. That state in which a person controls his emotions, rather than emotions controlling him. When there is inner peace of mind and balance in our cogitation, the cognitive and rational brain automatically begins to function better. If you ever respond to someone in a way contrary to his expectations or actions, he may be surprised, stunned, or frozen, as he didn’t expect such a response, and thus, you can inflict severe psychological excruciation to him without taking any physical action. If we have the fortitude and ability to change and revamp our strategies reckoning with our intelligence, knowledge, emotional intelligence, rationality, research, adaptability and changing circumstances without engaging in a battle with our opponent in a traditional manner, then the battle will undoubtedly be an art for us. Lastly it is pertinent to explicitly declare here that the purpose of writing this piece is nowise to incite a sense of war among the readers but the intent is to develop a sense of achieving our goals and objectives in the contemporary competitive world by employing these principles which may foster vigorousness and dynamicity in us.
(The author is a freelancer. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”)
Abid Hussain Rather
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