First Look at the Book of Five Rings:

I have read this book about twelve times already, spread over the last ten years, It is not much of a book coming in at 49 pages. I have seen some people take a crack at it, and as they have been warned they did not grasp the essence of the book. For many this text remains locked to them, while speaking of really powerful ideas, like being able to defeat 10 people with your spirit. Upon first glance again I do realise something right off of the bat, what we are dealing with here is an outline of a very rough life.

I mean the guy actually killed more than 60 people in cold blood while in duels to the death, and this is besides the two wars he fought in, where he ended up dying in a cave. Not before recording his school of strategy, which was addressed to his student. This is just in broad strokes, as there are other books he has written, which I am yet to read. Now before you label me as a bloodthirst and power hungry psychopath - since this is basically what this book teaches you how to be - You must realise the broader context of the book, in it he speaks primarily of the way of strategy, which is equivalent to the Dao. When we look at it with this in mind, he is teaching us how to live in order to never fail.  

That particular aspect of this book is why it is so alluring to me. Today I have went through much of the book again, and that is the backing of what you see here. I am not going into much detail, because I am saving that for later, right now I think that it is good to ease myself into this. Keeping the tunnel vision at bay, otherwise I may become a hermit for three weeks, instead of sharing the gems I have found in this book.

To begin off with what I am going to do is follow some advice given in the book, in the effort of understanding it. Miyamoto Musashi suggests that I take every point and think about it deeply. That means I am going to take each Idea and flesh it out until there is something of practical use as a result. 

Reading

I am knocking on Mortimer J Adler’s door today, and he is going to share the method he uses to understand difficult books. This kind of reading is required of philosopher’s, as it aims for understanding. This Idea is hit home in the Hagakure, it poses the ideal that you should read a book once and then burn it. We are not taking that too literally, but it is an aim. That once you have read a book you are done with it, even if it takes months to read it. You should be able to give a lecture about the book, and explore the ideas within it as to captivate the audience,  giving them something of substance, and changing their lives. 

Let’s get into it. There are different kinds of reading that he proposes we get involved in. The first is to inspect the text. The second is to read it analytically, and the third is Syntopical reading. 

Inspection is actually how a lot of people study. They read the introduction and conclusion of the book they are reading, and then they read the introduction of every chapter and it’s summary. I used to do this when I was cramming, and the results were unfavourable. Although this is just the beginning of this process. After that a read through the book to get the general ideas on paper to build a framework of the book in your mind. This also prepares for later where you are going to weave the details into this framework. The motion is from the general to the specific. Today I completed most of this phase with the book of five rings. From here I must move into the analytical phase.

In the Analytical phase the aim is to get a grasp on what the book means, and this is the part where you are going to be buried in the book for days, where it is constantly on your mind. It is through this process that you absorb the book in full, without passing judgement, like musashi says the teacher is the needle and the student is the thread. In this phase you must be content with being the thread. Allow the author to take you where he wishes, even if he is your despised enemy. Most of this phase is spent dealing with the arguments of the book, and defining the terms used as well as figuring out in what sense they are used in. Eventually you will know in your bones what is being inferred. 

The second part of the analytical phase of reading is the criticism. A lot of us know how to rant, and rave. For some people their intellectual discipline consists of chanting some ridiculous slogan to shut people up while they are talking. What I want to encourage you to do in this phase is put your anger aside, and look out for things that only a sober mind can see. a) where the author was ignorant of the facts , b) what the valid points are, and c) what you agree/disagree with. Once you have done this it is time to move to Syntopical reading - if that is ever necessary 

Syntopical reading is at the level of honours, masters and PHD reading. This is the toughest form of reading and it takes the most energy out of you. If you go back to my first reading list 

you will see that I am planning to read the book of five rings, hagakure, and The unfettered mind together. This is an example of syntopical reading. I am aiming to blast the boundaries of these three books away to find what is at the core of them, and then finally distill it into something purer. 

Watching 

I watched the first two lectures of maps of meaning and there is nothing of much use to report, the subject matter is too broad and deep for me to even begin to understand what I am consuming. I am going to have to rewatch them. Although this is common, The thing is that each lecture is around two hours long so it is going to be a while for me to release any good content based on what Dr Peterson has to say.The reason I am putting myself through that effort is because it unlocks story telling for me, and nothing is as powerful in communication as storytelling. Although these are very old stories, they are the reason star wars and Lord of the rings are so popular, there is something that resonates within us when it comes to archetypal stories and I wish to soak that up.

Listening 

I have been Listening to a lot of Yann Tiersen lately, especially the song of his I am learning on the piano, you see my fingers may not yet have the ability to play the son but I can hear what is supposed to be next and I am guessing this is how you know that a song is getting into your brain. The task I am putting myself to is to learn the soundtrack  of the movie Amelie, which i believe is about two hours long 

Challenge

I got the chords down of the song, and very quickly I made it to the part 2 very quickly, but my hands are not nimble enough to go any further, and my hands started aching. As I moved on I started making silly mistakes It is about that time I decided to take a break. Although now I have a productivity weapon at my fingertips. I reach a point in my work where things are just too much and my head is full, it is like I charged up, and ready to explode. So I need some way to diffuse my energy levels and nothing is like five or ten minutes in front of the piano to take my mind off of everything.