The title is a reference to Sun Tzu's "Art of War"--"if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss."
I have been experiencing an emotional time in my life recently. On one recent occasion, my emotions took from me a deep friendship, and assaulted me with it as though it were a sword. In an instant I was defeated. The sublime power which I had heard that my emotions carried was equal to that of any samurai. And in an instant, they turned, left me for dead, their victory assured and complete.
But I am not dead. The power of my emotions' sword was softened by the friends' unwillingness to drive me to death. And now I have seen my emotions in battle.
When I knew not the power of my emotions, I was defeated by them.
When I knew the extent of their power, but not their nature, I was defeated by them.
Now, when I have seen how they draw their sword, how they aim their cuts, how easily they slice through a man, do I have hope? Can I find a weakness in their stance, can I find a power in myself?
Do I know my enemy well enough to win a hundred battles?
"Therefore one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skillful."
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