Hi Steve,

Quote Originally Posted by Surferbeetle View Post
Miyamoto Musashi provides some interesting things to think about on this topic as well:
I've got to admit that Musashi is one of my favorites (I use the Harvard Business School translation). One of the problems with reading Musashi, however, is that his basic cosmology is so different from that of most in the West, that a lot of his insights and attitudes are almost incomprehensible.

To name just one, for Musashi, reincarnation was a proven fact, so the development of one's "self" as a warrior was in keeping with the fact that one was born as a warrior. This ties back in with the earlier, Vedic, discussion between Krishna and Arjuna on the role one plays in life and the duty that one has to that role. This really isn't the type of thinking (and perceiving) that Christianity or any of the JCI religions accept which, in turn, impacts styles of leadership, cosmological requirements for "leaders", and the responses one can expect from those one leads.

The disjuncture gets even worse when he starts in on the 3rd Book. For example, can you imaging what would happen to any officer who told his commanders that he "became" his opponent and based his operations plans on that ability to "become"? My suspicion is that he would swiftly discover the joys of a white jacket with long arms .