The Philosophy of Jiu Jitsu

The Philosophy of Jiu Jitsu

North Vietnamese General Võ Nguyên Giáp on the left

utilizing the philosophies of war to master the strategies of winning

Never ever underestimate your opponent

We’ve learned all about this. About the greed. About the relentless drive to have more. More. More.

We know what they’re capable of. We know it by heart.

We know they are ruthless, cheating liars. We know they redefine the term ‘hypocrites.’ We know they are fake humans.

As Time Magazine reports, the rich see greed as good.

While stereotypes suggest that poor people are more likely to lie and steal, new research finds that it’s actually the wealthy who tend to behave unethically.

No surprise there. Although their owned media will tell us otherwise. Because they are selling us a storyline. Propaganda.

It’s us, they tell us, not them. We are the problem, not them. Because if we are the problem then we become more and more divided. We play into their game because we blame and hate each other instead of zeroing in on the real culprits.

And the real culprits are greed, hate and division.

Contempt for the human spirit

We know their God is neither Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist or even slightly religious. Even as atheists they fail. For their worship is not that of balance and ethics, but rather that of money, power, elitism, divisiveness and selfishness. For these dispirited human beings no longer identify with the natural.

From the Atheist’s Code of Ethics:

When the Atheist approaches the problem of finding natural grounds for human morals and establishing a non-superstitious basis for behavior, it appears as though nature has already solved the problem to a great extent. Indeed, it appears as though the problem of establishing a natural, humanistic basis for ethical behavior is not much of a problem at all. It is in our natures to desire love, to seek beauty, and to thrill at the act of creation.

I think this is true. For most of us. But there’s a line. And there’s a certain group that not only keeps crossing it, they’ve built fortresses of solitude on the other side.

The line in the sand

If we were to draw a line through humanity, and call it Good versus Evil, it would be far less about a judgment of individuals or their words and based far more on the evidence of their actions, actions exhibited in their greed and promotion of divisive behaviors. Perhaps it would be more apt to title our line in the sand as Good versus Greed. Or maybe even Consideration versus Selfishness.

We pretty much have their number. But the one percent doesn’t have ours. They think they do. They think they have us all figured out. And in a sense, they do. Because if we continue with the status quo, we’ll lose. We fall into their snares. Repeatedly.

But history tells us, over and over, that if we study the strategies of war we can turn the story inside out. And in a world where wrong is right, turning things upside down would be a very good turn of events.

Best to let them underestimate their opponent

The so-called one percent, the shadow rulers, have severely underestimated their enemies — us. That’s good, but only if we wake up to it. Because only then will we be able to leverage our strength. We can look at history to see the proof.

In the 1950s the French underestimated the opposing armed forces in Vietnam. This occurred shortly before America jumped in and repeated many of the same mistakes. France’s errors began with underestimating the enemy general, Võ Nguyên Giáp. And in underestimating just one guy they ended up being badly beaten.

The Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu were led by General Võ Nguyên Giáp. A skilled and experienced commander, Giáp had led Vietnamese troops during their resistance against the Japanese occupation during World War Two. A dedicated Communist since his teens and a capable politician as well as a commander, by 1954 he was Vietnamese Minister of Defence as well as one of the leading lights of the war effort.

General Giáp was one of Vietnam’s greatest ever strategists, but in the eyes of the French, he was just one more unskilled Vietnamese soldier. General Salan referred to him as “a non-commissioned officer learning to handle regiments”. As a result, the French badly under-estimated the skill with which the Vietnamese forces would be led.

Minimum force to maximum effect

Võ Nguyên Giáp (1911–2013) is considered one of the greatest military strategists of the entire 20th century. For a time he taught history and was a journalist. basically, he was a regular guy. But he was also a student, of the type I constantly recommend: martial arts.

Giáp was a dedicated reader of military history and philosophy, revering Sun Tzu. He also made a particular study of Napoleon’s generalship, and greatly admired T. E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, learning from it practical examples of how to apply minimum military force to maximum effect.

Keep hitting them until they give up

Giáp recognized that the forces he was fighting were powerful and determined. He was facing the military might of the French. Once the French pulled out of Vietnam he then found himself toe-to-toe with a superpower, the United States. He was up against what anyone would consider overwhelmingly enormous odds. It seemed his forces faced swift and certain death and defeat.

His primary counter to all the power lined up against him was outlasting the enemy. In an interview, Bui Tin, a former colonel and general staff member of the North Vietnamese Army was asked,

Q: How did Hanoi intend to defeat the Americans?

A: By fighting a long war which would break their will to help South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh said, “We don’t need to win military victories, we only need to hit them until they give up and get out.”

Breaking their will

What broke the will of the Americans?

General Giáp attributed the Communists’ eventual military victory to their courage, determination, wisdom, tactics, intelligence, and sacrifices, along with Americans’ lack of knowledge about the Vietnamese nation and its people.

I vigorously maintain that the hoarders of world wealth do not understand the American people — even though many of them are Americans themselves. Because what it really comes down to is they don’t understand humans and humanity. And they don’t understand the underlying spirit that lies within human beings.

They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. — Isaiah 44:18

I will grant the one percent a concession: that they understand wealth and greed better than I do. But just like the Americans in Vietnam understood napalm and B52 bombers better than the local citizens did, they somehow managed to lose to a far less empowered populace.

Why did they lose? Because the foreign invaders completely overlooked — time and time again — the strength of the Vietnamese people themselves. As General Giáp summarized, persistence of will, courage, intelligence and wisdom won the war. Not terrifying bombers. Not intimidating, wealthy, overwhelming force.

During the Vietnam War, the people owned the land. This is also true for us. We own the terrain. After all, it’s our planet.