We had a team lunch today, and The Art of War came up in our discussions.
One of my colleagues had tried to read through it, and found it quite dry and unpalatable – I don’t seem to understand the point of it – she said (or something like that).
Actually yes. If you read it as it is – it is dry, and sounds pretty impractical – I responded. After all, it was written way back in the 5th Century BCE – we have come a long way since then. But no, it is not as irrelevant as thought to be. Reports have shown that the treatises found its applications in many modern wars, including the Vietnam War, where a seemingly rag-tag bunch made the great American war machine bite the dust.
So yes, as a book on war, it is very relevant – the weapons have changed, the humans have not.
But we are not going to war, so is it relevant to the average Joe – me and you?
The Art of War has found admirers in multiple disciplines, and applications in multiple areas – espionage, culture, politics, sport and even office politics. Here is where the way you read the book should change – the book is a substrate – a foundation – you have to seek the hidden meanings, the application layer (borrowing this term from technology).
A lot of books on mythology and religion are also very old – but timeless because the message is still there – hidden behind the stories that sound illogical to the modern me and you….
So do keep this in mind when reading books that have transcended generations of humankind – and also, there should be something special in it, that it survived centuries? Don’t know if a Dan Brown or a (cough cough) Chetan Bhagat will be remembered a decade or two from today:)
Also brought back an older blog, that is tangent to this conversation – do have a read:)
Is there a God?
Are there many Gods?
Who writes our destinies? Are they even written? Or does life play out in it’s own way and then we die, never to be seen or heard of again?
Do we come back? Even if we do, how would we know?
What lies beyond the Universe? Science says it’s the wrong question, because space and time do not exist outside the universe, but common, there should be something?
How did existence come into being? What came first?
These are some existential questions to which we don’t yet have any answers. Those who follow the path of science will dismiss some (or all) of these questions in a huff, not knowing that science at one point turns to belief (try the quantum theory for instance).
Those who follow the path of religion will point towards religious books and seek (or narrate) answers from there.
Those who follow the path of spirituality will seek these answers through experience.
So which path does one follow? How can we be assured that we will reach the destination, the answers, the realization?
Bad news here. There is no assurance. But there is faith. And as we all know, faith can move mountains…
And faith it is that keeps us going through hard times. We don’t think much when times are good – but when the chips are down, all the knowledge of science doesn’t help you. Your faith in yourself and what you believe in takes you across.
Food for thought:)