Iron Heart

Surviving Tough Times

Mitch Horowitz

• Publisher: G&D Media
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781722505172
• eBook ISBN: 9781722526153
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

DISCOVER MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL RESILIENCY IN FIVE ESSENTIAL CONDENSED CLASSICS The five works abridged and introduced by historian and New Thought scholar Mitch Horowitz in Iron Heart inspire you towards the mental toughness and fortitude you need to face any adversity. • Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince teaches you to navigate an amoral world with foresight and self-control. • The Art of War by Sun Tzu is the definitive key to power and victory. You will discover essentials of overcoming an adversary and restoring peace. • In Power and Wealth Ralph Waldo Emerson teaches how focusing on a single aim and repeatedly working at it, to the exclusion of all lesser concerns, is a winning strategy. • In Charles Fillmore's Atom-Smashing Power of Mind you learn how your mental images are the most powerful force in the universe—you are only as great as your ability to control them. • Anthony Norvell reveals the simple but profound secrets to self-mastery in The Million-Dollar Secret Hidden in Your Mind, as he directs you towards ethical methods of attaining your desires. The works collected in Iron Heart teach you the strategy and persistence you need to become an indispensible person in a changing world.

THE ART OF WAR

THE ART OF WAR

by Sun Tzu

History’s Greatest Work on Strategy—Now in a Special Condensation

Abridged and Introduced
by Mitch Horowitz

Contents

INTRODUCTION

The Unlikeliest Classic

by Mitch Horowitz

CHAPTER I

Laying Plans

CHAPTER II

Waging War

CHAPTER III

Attack by Stratagem

CHAPTER IV

Tactical Dispositions

CHAPTER V

Energy

CHAPTER VI

Weak Points and Strong

CHAPTER VII

Maneuvering

CHAPTER VIII

Variation in Tactics

CHAPTER IX

The Army on the March

CHAPTER X

Dangers and Opportunities

CHAPTER XI

The Use of Spies

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Introduction

The Unlikeliest Classic

by Mitch Horowitz

Since its first creditable English translation in 1910, the ancient Chinese martial text The Art of War has enthralled Western readers. First gaining the attention of military officers, sinologists, martial artists, and strategy aficionados, The Art of War is today read by business executives, athletes, artists, and seekers from across the self-help spectrum. This is a surprising destiny for a work on ancient warfare estimated to be written around 500 BC by Zhou dynasty general Sun Tzu, an honorific title meaning “Master Sun.” Very little is known about the author other than a historical consensus that such a figure actually existed as a commander in the dynastic emperor’s army.

What, then, accounts for the enduring popularity of a text that might have been conscripted to obscurity in the West?

Like the best writing from the Taoist tradition, The Art of War is exquisitely simple, practical, and clear. Its insights into life and its inevitable conflicts are so organic and sound—Taoism is based on aligning with the natural order of things—that many people who have never been on a battlefield are immediately drawn into wanting to apply Sun Tzu’s maxims to daily life.

Indeed, this gentle condensation is intended to highlight those aphorisms and lessons that have the broadest general applicability. I have no doubt that as you experience this volume you will immediately discover ideas that you want to note and use. This is because Sun Tzu’s genius as a writer is to return us to natural principles—things that we may have once understood intuitively but lost in superfluous and speculative analysis, another of life’s inevitabilities.

I have based this abridgment on the aforementioned and invaluable 1910 English translation by British sinologist Lionel Giles. Giles’ translation has stood up with remarkable relevance over the past century. Rather than laden his words with the flourish of late-Victorian prose, Giles honored the starkness and sparseness of the original work. I have occasionally altered an obscure or antiquated term, but, overall, the economy and elegance of Giles’ translation is an art form in itself, and deserves to be honored as such.

Why then a condensation at all? In some instances, Sun Tzu, a working military commander, necessarily touched upon battlefield intricacies—such as the fine points of terrain or attacking the enemy with fire—that prove less immediately applicable to modern life than his observations on the movements and motives of men. In a few spots I also add a clarifying note to bring out Sun Tzu’s broader points.

I ask the reader to take special note of Sun Tzu’s frequent references to adhering to the natural landscape. It is a classically Taoist approach to blend with the curvature and qualities of one’s surroundings—to find your place in the organic order of things. Within the Vedic tradition this is sometimes called dharma. Transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson also notes the need to cycle yourself with the patterns of nature. As the great Hermetic dictum put it: “As above, so below.”

Another key to Sun Tzu’s popularity is the manner in which he unlocks the universality of true principles. What applies in warfare, if authentic, must apply to other areas of life. Human nature is consistent. So are the ebb and flow of events, on both macro and intimate levels. Be on the watch for this principle throughout the text.

Another central aspect of Sun Tzu’s thought—again in harmony with Taoism—is that the greatest warrior prevails without ever fighting. If a fighter has observed conditions, deciphered the enemy, and diligently prepared and marshaled his forces, the ideal is to overwhelm his foe without shooting a single arrow. “Supreme excellence,” Sun Tzu writes, “consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”

If an attack does prove necessary, it should be launched with irresistible force, like a seismic shifting of the earth. After your enemy’s defeat, quickly return to normalcy. “In war then,” the master writes, “let your object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.” Sun Tzu warns against protracted operations. “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare,” he writes.

Rather than seek glory, Sun Tzu counsels that the excellent commander practices subtlety, inscrutability, watchfulness, and flexibility. The good fighter, he writes, should be like water: dwelling unnoticed at his enemy’s lowest depths and then striking with overwhelming power at his weakest points, the way a torrent of water rushes downhill. This constitutes ideal preparation and formation for attack: practice patience, carefully study the enemy, know his limits and strengths and your own, never be lured or tricked into battle—and then strike with ferocity. And never fight unless victory is assured.

If I had to put The Art of War into a nutshell, I would use this one of the master’s maxims: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

In a sense, The Art of War is about unlearning the complexities of life and returning to the simple and true. This voice from millennia ago can teach us how to strip away obfuscation. May its wisdom bring you your highest effectiveness.

CHAPTER I

Laying Plans

Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence, it is a subject of inquiry that can on no account be neglected.

The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These are:

(1) The Moral Law;

(2) Heaven;

(3) Earth;

(4) The Commander;

(5) Method and Discipline.

The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.

The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.

By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.

These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.

Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this way:

(1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral Law?

(2) Which of the two generals has most ability?

(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?

(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?

(5) Which army is stronger?

(6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained?

(7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?

By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.

The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat—let such a one be dismissed!

While heeding the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.

According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans.

All warfare is based on deception.

Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem 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.

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.

If your opponent is bad-tempered, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

If he is at ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

Now the g...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• The Prince
• The Art of War
• Power and Wealth
• Atom-Smashing Power of Mind
• The Million-Dollar Secret Hidden In Your Mind
• About Mitch Horowitz