153. The art of Weiqi (Go/Baduk) war (碁#17) 乾 (☲/☱)

While recently I have been adventuring around the fringes of qigong, regarding pendants and how to use them to facilitate the acceleration of qi cultivation, I kept as always my baguazhang practice going alongside my i-ching. To me, baguazhang, i-ching, qigong, chazen, weiqi and bingfa or the Art of War, are all just pretty much one thing. Just like seeing with the eyes different objects but knowing underneath it all, it is just energy; Energy expressed in different forms. So in amongst my little adventure, I found the time to play some weiqi. Black stones and white stones circling each other again and again, until a pattern emerges. Or even better, a fundamental realization that can be shared with my readers and listeners... The Art of Weiqi War is about conducting warfare by using weiqi as a guiding tool. This is its origin. It does not necessarily mean one needs to actually fight. Because fighting is seen as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted. I repeat: When all other options have been exhausted. However, with the way things tend to go with some people, it seems like fighting is the only option available. And so, winning without harming others is an impossibility for them. And this impossibility, which is a creation of the reality they wish to live in, is also their prison. The violence they project on others, becomes their attempt to overcome or control the beast they have created. Which is funny in a not good way, because the greatest strength the game of Go has to offer is how to place massed troops around a given territory so that if war comes, winning is easy. The Art of Weiqi War is about having military bases strategically located here and there. At the same time, the use of troop deployment becomes the subtle art of putting the squeeze on one’s opponent in an effort to get them to either capitulate to one’s will or force them to trip up in such a way that one remains clean, while having the moral right to defend oneself against a supposed aggressor. And the whole enterprise is an art. Something that cannot be easily deduced through rational thought, science or mathematical calculations. For, not all decisions are made by the head. A lot of it is done by the heart or crutch. Nevermind the spiritual stuff. Although for people who do things on base instincts, everything above the waistline can seem like spiritual woo-woo. I had a reminder of it today when I was in a beautiful park and I listened into a group of loud teenage boys strolling past me. Almost three quarters of their conversations, no matter how mundane the topic kept turning into threats of violence against each other or quasi-insults that led to threats of violence. I say, quasi-insults because half the time what one person perceived as an insult to me sounded more like either a compliment or just a typical everyday question. But I could be wrong. Things change. Energetically I felt nothing. No charge or need to do anything but let it pass. If it had been a weiqi move, then I guess a stone was placed too close for comfort and I was being put on notice. At least that is what somebody thinking loud and obnoxious would do. Until of course it is my turn and I’m wondering what the obnoxiousness is distracting me from? I would go after that instead... Liked what you heard & want to connect with me? Join me at… linkedin.com/in/peterhainzl/ ⚔️圍棋戰聖