Creative Intellect

War, Life, and Philosophy

         Sun Tzu’s writings still are very relevant in today’s life. Many of his points in The Art of War are pragmatic, common-sense ideas that a person should follow. Even if a person is not interested in war, applying these ideas to everyday life works just as well. For example, in chapter 6, point 65 states “If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.” These open doors, in life, could be symbolic of opportunities. Waiting too long and letting the door shut is unwise, because that is a missed opportunity. Sometimes, this missed opportunity will come back in many ways, because not going with the open opportunity creates a rift in the time-space dimension, according to Buddhist philosophy. By not going with the plan the universe set down for you, you mess up everything else, and some things will come harder because of it.
         My family and I had such an experience when I was in seventh grade. My Buddhist family in Australia was hosting the World Buddhist Sangha Youth 5th Annual General Conference in Tasmania, at the beginning of December. The plan was to have the conference last 4 days; my sister and I would miss a week of school. My sister wavered at the thought of having to miss a week of school, and ultimately, Mom decided we would not go, because my sister was too afraid of falling behind if she were to leave for a week. Later in December, when we made the tri-yearly trip back to Australia, the incoming airplane from JFK airport that was to take us to Sydney was delayed and ultimately cancelled due to inclement weather. Our luggage was later lost in Sydney- they had been put on the wrong plane. When we got to Tasmania in Australia, around 6 or 7 in the evening, the airline told us our luggage would not arrive until close to midnight, on the last flight into the island that night.
         While nobody was actually harmed, and everything was safe, Mom explained to us that the experience had come from us “messing” with the time-space dimensions of the universe. We had an open door to enrich our religious understanding and belief, but we waited too long and let it pass. In this case, you could argue we did not let the original opportunity pass; we shut the door ourselves.

Works Cited:
Tzu, Sun. The Art of War. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc, 2013. 46. Print.