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Strategy of the cork

25/2/2011

2 Comments

 
Picture“When the water rises, so does the boat.”


Don’t we all need firm ground under our feet?
​
Don’t we guard our sturdy roots and reliable traditions?

Don’t we build homes, sweet homes, with solid walls and deep foundations to withstand adversity?


Misfortunately, no ramparts resist the water that surges, when change floods and the wheels of History start to move. The unmoving attachment of the building becomes its very weakness and demise.
To prepare for times of change, I recall the Hagakure, the book of the samurai from old: “When the water rises, so does the boat.” [1] This is how I interpret it: Instead of bracing to keep where you are, have an open plan, as simple and light as a cork; be ready to float and rise wherever the water will soar.
This means among other subtle things, that you should not plan firmly what you will do in in this and that condition - which is equivalent with defending a fixed position - but plan instead what you will pursue in any conditions, to keep afloat and to sail, with your purpose, your values and your direction. Fluctuat nec mergitur... Curiously, in unfavourable times, the more you are flexible seen from outside, the better you can be unyielding at the core. I saw those who do the opposite, broken quite quickly.

If you feel curious, click here.
__________________________________________________
[1] The precise quotation is "The more the water, the higher the boat." Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure, The Book of the Samurai (Translation By W. S. Wilson), Kodansha International, Tokyo..., 1979.  As Daniel says, the boat is  who you are, the identity that gives worth to your life.
2 Comments
Daniel Tenner link
28/2/2011 07:23:47 pm

I would add to this that there is only one good definition for "the boat": it is who you are. This is an important addition because depending on how you define "the boat", this advice could mean anything.

"The boat" could be the entire ecosystem of people and places around you. Or it could be just your physical survival. Each person may wish to define it differently, depending on their own emotional ties or lack thereof.

But if the definition is too wide, then the boat is as solidly anchored to the earth as any mountain. And if it is too narrow, then the person floats aimlessly and will leave the point of it all drowning under the water.

I'm certainly a fan of survival, but at some point, you have to decide that on *this* water, you will not rise. Sometimes you have to take a stand because to rise with the water would be to strangle your own self.

(and yet, of course, even then there are many situations where it is possible to escape rather than make a stand, without losing your integrity... it's a matter of timing, I suppose)

So, I guess my point is, this is the kind of advice that is a good principle to bear in mind, but cannot be applied universally. The wisdom of this idea is entirely in the person applying it.

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Ioan Tenner link
28/2/2011 07:47:10 pm

In what you say you are so right, Daniel. There comes a moment when you would not float on such water, as there are choices you would not make.

The boat I am speaking about is simply your way of thinking. What I met with most people is planning ahead in the “positive” style anchored in what we know now; from here the planer decides that that or that will happen and then we will do this and this. I complete this kind of thinking with what helped me a lot in my life. I plan towards the unknown by keeping my hands free and my mind unfettered by precise plans. I make a difference by selecting objectives, intentions, values which I will take with me (if I can) anywhere the water will take me. That is the wood that floats, wherever the water.

You cannot make float the larger boats you mentioned. The resilient ones are your intentions. That is your integrity when the world is out of your hand.

The meaning of my post is a strategy opposed to the forecasting, based on the past, of what will be.

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