“Constantly denigrate the enemy with great spirit. Do not acknowledge the possibility that the enemy is stronger than you. Do not accept the possibility that the enemy is smarter than you in any way. If you are aware of the Way of the warrior, you are aware of the Way of the warrior. The Way of the warrior does not allow you to accept a position inferior to anything. Either you are the best or you are not the best. If you are, then you will win; if you are not, you will lose. There is nothing to discuss here You also have to remember your level of understanding. This falls in the area of knowing yourself and knowing the enemy by becoming the enemy. the enemy, see yourself as the enemy of your enemy. If you understand the strategy, you’ll know how defeat the enemy. Think about this until it is clear in your mind.”
It is essential to understand what war is about. War depends on individual perspective and personal cost in single conflicts, but it also depends on national perspective and national cost. They can be considered as two different things when you consider the details, but they are the same. Without a fundamental idea of what the conflict is about and, from a somewhat studied approach, the above quote from my version of Five Rings has relevance and meaning based on the strategy of winning, which is the only reason to enter into a conflict, unless you are an idiot and do not consider winning for the benefit of all concerned.
By denigrating the enemy, you put him at a psychological disadvantage, especially if he’s not as excited about winning as you are. He can momentarily overwhelm an opponent even when he has a real cause behind his actions, except self-aggrandizement and greed. However, the conquered will generally try to rise up and thwart all your further attempts to subjugate them, regardless of how you verbally approach and define the problem for your own people. And, because that certainty exists, he must continue to insult and demean the entire surrounding population. Here, too, unless you’re thorough in your takeover, they’ll get support from places that might not be productive for you to deal with at the time. The enemy’s allies will rise from the dust if you don’t continue your barrage of degrading them and backing them up with actions based on your intent; it must be done with sophistication.
Approaching a land for the taking of resources, which is always the main reason for war (forget idealistic platitudes, they are false), and again regardless of how you dress and what words are used to appease to detractors, you must commit as a leader to your warriors to end any action so it doesn’t come back to you. If you don’t reach out and close like this, then you’re setting yourself up for some insanity that will follow you for eternity.
Becoming the Enemy suggests that in addition to understanding your own reasons for the conflict, you must also understand the enemy’s ideals and psychology in order to become a proper enemy and easily take over the kingdom of your choice. If you don’t understand the enemy and the culture, you won’t be able to understand why most of your own people won’t want to comply with your bogus raid. This doesn’t take into account those who would sell their mothers for a glass of wine to become your friend until they can best your best efforts from within your ranks. Never assume your reasoning will prevail unless you are sincere in your desire to take land from your chosen enemy. Seeing yourself as your enemy’s enemy allows you to see his weaknesses as well as his strengths, and determine what will allow you to quickly and easily overcome any resistance.
