"All Warfare Is Based On Deception" - Sun Tzu, The Art of War. "All Peace Is Based on Integrity" - Me. Manifest Balance Directly & End Conflict Immediately.

From business, to sports coaching, to politics and obviously right through to militaries, the classic Chinese book 'The Art of War' has been used for over 2000 years to teach how to 'win' in conflicts. However, do we really need to 'win'? Peace is not found in conflict, peace is found in the opposite of conflict.

Having studied the martial art 'Ninjutsu' for a while as a teenager (the kind taught by @michaelrojo) - I became aware of some of the philosophy and hard learned lessons of combat and balance that were passed down from our ancestors who operated in the shadows and at the cutting edge (literally) of the military forces of their day. One thing I found particularly inspiring was that the logic and understandings being taught were esoteric (hidden) in nature and could only be really understood through a deep awareness of self and of the energy of life itself. This suited me well, since I have always been attuned to this way of understanding and know it to be necessary and a powerful way to act powerfully and successfully.

Part of their philosophy originated with Zen Buddhism and when I later returned to that subject in my early twenties, I found that I was able to be directed in some very helpful ways - particularly with regards to the creation of real peace and balance in life. One thread that runs through these understandings is that of paradox.

Paradox Rocks

---

A paradox is a statement that, despite apparently sound reasoning from true premises, leads to an apparently self-contradictory or logically unacceptable conclusion.

In short, a paradox reveals a middle point within which great learning, discovery and power can be found. While many who do not go all the way in their exploration of important topics will reach half the story, they typically never reach the balance point in the center whereby deep understandings are found that really do contradict what was previously though, yet which are totally accurate and deeply felt.

Conflicts are conflicted

---

Many of us are conditioned to believe that we must 'WIN' at all costs, or at least never lose - otherwise we will die and be miserable! Some of the most conditioned will even attempt to shame others who reject conflict and competitions - judging them to be 'weak' or 'losers' by default. However, the deepest truth here is one that arises from a deep cognition of the fundamental unity of 'all that is'; when we understand that 'all is one' is more than just a nice idea - we understand that 'winning' and 'losing' are delusions. We cannot win or lose against 'another being' because there is only ONE being - with many bodies, forms and identities.

Given that all is one, what are we doing when we compete and enter conflicts? We are fighting ourselves in physical reality - regardless of the uniforms and flags that may be flying - we are always fighting our own being.

There is a famous story within buddhism of a monk who found himself in a warzone and when the conquering army came to his temple he simply remained in a meditation posture in awareness and a simple peace. When a military man entered his room with sword drawn, the monk remained still and rather than quarrel and conflict with the soldier, he stated clearly words which cleanly spoke to the heart of the man and the moment. The integrity and balance of the words, combined with the absence of aggression and judgement - in other words, the presence of compassion and wisdom - caused the soldier to drop his sword and fall to his knees.

This form of neutral acceptance of the present moment, does not involve pushing or pulling and does not involve any presence that reflects thoughts of winning/losing. In short, it is possible to manifest balance DIRECTLY, without having to go through a process of struggle or conflict to get there. I am not describing a will-less 'giving up' that is without power here - rather, I am pointing to a removing of self from the energetic equation that opens up space for conflict.

War is based on deception

---

“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.”

• Sun Tzu - The Art of War

Regardless of the propaganda and denials spouted by political tacticians and militarised PR companies, the reality is that war talk is ALWAYS based in deception. While Sun Tzu's texts may have been primarily addressing deception as a tactic, what I am pointing to here is that war itself IS deception and deceptive. We CANNOT have war and also have integrity - you will find this is always true if you ask enough questions.

To illustrate this, I do not need to point to the well known cases of 'false flag' attacks whereby governments and militaries engineer attacks using their own forces that appear to be being carried out by other forces in order to justify then attacking those forces - who may have actually been totally peaceful. Illustration only requires returning to the base understanding that 'all is one'. If all is one then any war or conflict must always be based on the self deception that says that 'all is not one' and that therefore has us believing that we can 'win' something through conflict - when we actually cannot. The most that will occur through our delusional conflicts is further delusion, suffering and a shifting around of power balance - with no problems actually being solved.

Peace is based in truth

---

Given that war is itself a form of deception of the ugliest kind, it follows that peace is a state of being that is not only counter to war, but is counter to deception. Through total honesty, integrity and self acceptance we find our own peace and that requires total compassion. Total compassion and unconditional love means also extending that to others. This does not mean that we allow ourselves to be pushed around - on the contrary, we cannot be compassionate for others if we are not first compassionate for us and that means not allowing us to be pushed around. The key is in the way that balance is found and how we ensure that compassion is allowed fully for all involved.

If two people strongly dislike each other we might think that it would be a problem for them to be totally honest with each other about how they dislike each other - we might conclude that they should 'be nice' to avoid conflict. However, this simply forces feelings and reality itself into denial - such that additional tensions are added since neither party fully understands the relationship they are experiencing, nor the feelings that they are feeling. If everyone is totally honest with each other - then space for change can open since all of the details of the situation are clear and can be worked with towards real balance and helpful changes. While there may still be tension once total truth is allowed, there will at least be a sense of peace that would not exist as long as a false, deceptive image continues to be portrayed.

Deception is war

---

The flip-side to this is that whenever we are deceiving others of ourselves, we are creating a situation that is equivalent to a subtle state of war. The imbalance of this must be felt to be understood and many of us are so out of touch with real feelings that we are not sensitive enough to detect the energy vibrations involved - yet they are present and can be received once we are clear enough internally to do so.

To deny others is to deny ourselves and to deny anything is to be at war in consciousness with our very being and root of our existence! Ending denial is the solution!

Wishing you well,
Ura Soul

Buy My T-Shirts, Gifts & Other Clothing Here.