THE NONENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

Let me put this posting on English because I love the words…

The problem we all face in strategy, and in life, is that
each of us is unique and has a unique personality.
Our circumstances are also unique; no situation ever
really repeats itself. But most often we are barely
aware of what makes us different--in other words, of
who we really are. Our ideas come from what we read,
teachers, all kinds of unseen influences. We respond
to events routinely and mechanically instead of trying
to understand their differences. In our dealings with
other people, too, we are easily infected by their
tempo and mood. All this creates a kind of fog. We
fail to see events for what they are; we do not know
ourselves.
Your task  is simple: to see the
differences between yourself and other people, to
understand yourself, your side, and the enemy as well
as you can, to get more perspective on events, to
know things for what they are. In the hubbub of daily
life, this is not easy--in fact, the power to do it can
come only from knowing when and how to retreat. If
you are always advancing, always attacking, always
responding to people emotionally, you have no time to
gain perspective. Your strategies will be weak and
mechanical, based on things that happened in the
past or to someone else. Like a monkey, you will
imitate instead of create. Retreating is something you
must do every now and then, to find yourself and
detach yourself from infecting influences. And the best
time to do this is in moments of difficulty and danger.
Symbolically the retreat is religious, or
mythological. It was only by escaping into the desert
that Moses and the Jews were able to solidify their
identity and reemerge as a social and political force.
Jesus spent his forty days in the wilderness, and
Mohammed, too, fled Mecca at a time of great peril
for a period of retreat. He and just a handful of his
most devoted supporters used this period to deepen
their bonds, to understand who they were and what
they stood for, to let time work its good. Then this little
band of believers reemerged to conquer Mecca and
the Arabian Peninsula and later, after Mohammed's
death, to defeat the Byzantines and the Persian
empire, spreading Islam over vast territories. Around
the world every mythology has a hero who retreats,
even to Hades itself in the case of Odysseus, to find
himself.
If Moses had stayed and fought in Egypt, the Jews
would be a footnote in history. If Mohammed had
taken on his enemies in Mecca, he would have been
crushed and forgotten. When you fight someone more
powerful than you are, you lose more than your
possessions and position; you lose your ability to
think straight, to keep yourself separate and distinct.
You become infected with the emotions and violence
of the aggressor in ways you cannot imagine. Better
to flee and use the time your flight buys to turn inward.
Let the enemy take land and advance; you will recover
and turn the tables when the time comes. The
decision to retreat shows not weakness but strength.
It is the height of strategic wisdom.
The essence of retreat is the refusal to engage the
enemy in any way, whether psychologically or
physically. You may do this defensively, to protect
yourself, but it can also be a positive strategy: by
refusing to fight aggressive enemies, you can
effectively infuriate and unbalance them.
Most people respond to aggression by in some
way getting involved with it. It is almost impossible to
hold back. By disengaging completely and retreating,
you show great power and restraint. Your enemies
are desperate for you to react; retreat infuriates and
provokes them into further attack. So keep retreating,
exchanging space for time. Stay calm and balanced.
Let them take the land they want.
They will start to overextend themselves and make mistakes. Time is
on your side, for you are not wasting any of it in
useless battles.
War is notoriously full of surprises, of unforeseen
events that can slow down and ruin even the best-laid
plan. Carl von Clausewitz called this "friction." War is
a constant illustration of Murphy's Law: if anything can
go wrong, it will. But when you retreat, when you
exchange space for time, you are making Murphy's
Law work for you. War is a physical affair, which takes place
somewhere specific: generals depend on maps and
plan strategies to be realized in particular locations.
But time is just as important as space in strategic
thought, and knowing how to use time will make you a
superior strategist, giving an added dimension to your
attacks and defense. To do this you must stop
thinking of time as an abstraction: in reality, beginning
the minute you are born, time is all you have. It is your
only true commodity. People can take away your
possessions, but--short of murder--not even the most
powerful aggressors can take time away from you
unless you let them. Even in prison your time is your
own, if you use it for your own purposes. To waste
your time in battles not of your choosing is more than
just a mistake, it is stupidity of the highest order. Time
lost can never be regained.