Winning by "Losing"

[dweller]

By Dr. Gerry Lower
Apr 12, 2005, 00:15

April 11, 2005 -- In other words, the spiritual rebirth of the martial arts in Okinawa and Japan was created on the pan-cultural ground of human enlightenment. It was Chojun Miyagi who set this grand evolutionary program in motion, making his own life into an exemplar of human morality at the top.

As legend has it, a street bully, hoping to establish notoriety for himself, once spat in Master Miyagi's face as he strolled through the streets of Naha.
Master Miyagi merely reached up and wiped the spittle away, never losing stride in his walk, as if nothing at all had happened.

The objective of the enlightened Master is to "prevent violence before it begins" and Master Miyagi achieved precisely that goal, with almost no effort at all.
Master Miyagi was a Master's Master who maintained a personal ego approximately the size of the Universe. As a result, it seemed as if he had no ego at all. After all, what could a pathetic street punk possibly say or do that would distract at all from a true Master's self-esteem and self-control?

In fact, the street bully lost the encounter and he lost it badly since Master Miyagi had simply and thoroughly ignored him as if he didn't exist. To ignore someone so desperate for attention is a clear intimidation. The street bully had only proven that he was a nobody, a non-entity in the world of the material and the consequential.

snip

Losing by "Winning"

The converse of the concept of "winning by losing," of course, is the concept of "losing by winning." Nowhere is this better exemplified than by the behavior and policies of George W. Bush and his neoconservative, CEO administration.

As legend has it, George W. Bush was appointed and anointed president of the U.S. by an act of the Old Testament Roman god, made manifest through the US Supreme Court. Accordingly, the Bush administration took office as if it had a mandate from god when, in fact, it didn't even have a mandate from the people, aka "Jefferson's God " (Jefferson's Jesus, AxisofLogic, March, 2005).

The objective of the born-again religious capitalist is to prevent loss of political clout and acquire as much capital and control as possible, no matter what it takes. The ends justify whatever means it takes in the interest of "winning." There is no other way for this mindset to survive. As a functionally-illiterate, self-deprecating, born-again religious "Christian" and business world failure, George W. Bush has no legitimate justification for having an ego at all, least of all on merit of his own. As a result, he assumes the ego of the Old Testament Roman god (whom the Bush administration defines), a god above honesty and truth, a god infallible, vengeful and self-righteous on a global scale.

more here

dp

[teryang]

1. Not sure this is incontrovertible but it may be all we have

...I've noticed that the democratic leadership is coming out lately and sensing vulnerability in the extreme right's uncontrollable rhetoric and above the law manuevers and threats. They are lamenting the abandonment of the basic constitutional tenets.

Characterizing the actions of the right as un-American and harmful to the long term interests of all is the way to go.

We are in the process of a long term seismic shift in world history, similar to that of England losing its pre-eminence as a world power. This loss of power was impossible to perceive as the empire appeared omnipotent throughout the world. Malthusianism, social Darwinism, racism and other discredited ideologies were used to justify English aggression as well.

Little good it did them. We have the added impediment that the instruments of the police state have been implemented in order to forestall the inevitable reaction to rightist extremism. This is a complication that renders passivity a questionable tact.

However, the superstructure of oppression and corruption may have to fall from it own internal failings or from the external enemies it draws to itself.

[OneBlueSky]

2. Master Miyagi, huh? . . .

wax on, wax off . . . was ON, wax OFF . . .

(sorry . . . couldn't resist . . .) :)

[Moderator]

3. dweller

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.



Thank you.


DU Moderator

[dweller]

4. otay. . . n/t

[ixion]

5. indifference is a powerful weapon

and this is a textbook example of it.

Ironically, that action is labeled 'weakness' or 'cowardice' in this society, because the "real man's" response is supposed to be to stop and kick the crap out of the guy, which solves absolutely nothing, of course.

It demonstrates, in spectacular fashion, the difference between enlightened people and the barbarians currently at the helm.