(This is Part 28 of a series. Go back to Part 27.)
The final thing to be considered in this series on military strategy is the principle of unity of command.
It's well-recognized in military theory that an army with a divided command is severely hampered. Conversely, an army whose strategy and tactics are determined ultimately by one general has a great advantage.
Examples abound illustrating this principle. For instance in 1805 at the Battle of Austerlitz, the Russian and Austrian armies were joined together for the battle but still had two commanders—Tsar Alexander of Russia and Emperor Francis II of Austria.
In part, this divided leadership led to overconfidence that Napoleon would be easily beaten, since he was outnumbered and appeared to be in a weak position. Thus their plans for the battle the next day did not foresee the trap Napoleon had laid for them—or the resultant disintegration of their army.
Another example is the Chinese communist "Long March" in the early 1930's. A small elite in China had had been exploiting the peasants for a long time, and currently this elete was embodied by Chiang-Kai-Shek and his Nationalists. The Chinese communists were desperate to try something different.
Naturally, Chiang tried to obliterate this movement and mostly succeeded. But a small group of about 25,000 communists set out on a 2,000 mile retreat to the remote northwest provinces of China where they would be secure.
But during the first part of the retreat the communists had divided leadership and suffered numerous reverses. Various leaderhsip factions—the "urban" faction, the "peasant" faction, the "Soviet Union" faction, etc.—were all vying for power, and as a consequence Chiang was slowly but surely wiping them out.
In desperation the various factions agreed to unify their command under Mao Tse-Tung. Previously they had mostly ignored Mao, who would submit military suggestions from time to time. But now the factions realized that if they did not end their fractiousness and unify under one command they were doomed.
Unifying under one command would not ensure their success, of course. It would simply increase their odds.
Fortunately for the communists, Mao turned out to be a military genius. He conducted the 2,000 mile retreat, against overwhelming odds, with such skill that military historians consider it the most brilliant retreat in history.
Much later, after Mao had gained absolute control of China, he took actions that, in my opinion, greatly damaged his country. But earlier, when the Chinese communists unified their command under him, he did a remarkable job.
What does this have to do with our daily lives? Simply this: That it is important to "unify our command" as much as possible. What this means is to 1) bring our goals in alignment with each other, and 2) unify our consciousness.
The easiest way to bring our various goals in alignment is to have a strong intention to do so. And then we can simply ask ourselves an empowering question and let the answer manifest however it does:
How can I align my goals so they're all pulling in the same direction?
Secondly, our minds are beset with cross-currents of various kinds—thoughts, feelings, sensations, desires, aversions—all competing for center stage. Unifying our consciousness means to allow these various cross-currents to gradually merge into a larger theme.
Inside each of us that larger theme already exists, though it is not separate from us in any way. That theme we can call "God" or "the eternal" or our "Buddha-nature" or the "Christ principle" or whatever, but whatever our name for it is, it is within us.
God within us. That is the unifying reality-that-is, the underlying principle. The Absolute is not only everything but is also within, though not separate.
The best way I know of to get in touch with this divine presencee that is within us—and is us—is to profoundly explore the seeming absence that we call "silence."
There are numerous therapies and affirmations and prayers and techniques of various kinds for unifying consciousness. I've tried many of them and honor them all, but in my opinion there is no substitute for penetrating as deeply as possible into silence. A good way to do this is to set aside some time each day to do it.
There is something about silence that begins to unify our consciousness like nothing else. It's like penetrating into a great mystery without end that begins to call to us like a distant melody. And silence gradually reveals that we've been laboring under a mis-identification all this time.
This mis-identification about who we are is the fundamental cause of our suffering, stress and anxieties, including our fear of death.
Conversely, the divine mystery that silence reveals is suffused with a unifying love of existence, a love that is not showy at all but simply begins quietly radiating upon itself, like an invisible sun eternally shining.
—jim sloman, 10.12.03 for 3.10.05
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