Losing to win

Losing in order to win is a paradox most people aren't familiar with, but I can attest to its wisdom. Sometimes winning becomes so important it's difficult to see that temporary retreat is the only way out. One of the attractions to zen is that it contains some pearls of wisdom. Many of us are trained from an early age that doing whatever is possible to win is important, even though parents might teach that winning is not everything -- most people see this as a way for them to make us feel better when we lose -- however, all around us are the lessons of winning at all costs.

 

The point is not that winning is unimportant and that we should all become losers, but rather what is worth winning and what does it take to win that which is worth winning. We become so afraid of losing, it never occurs to the avererage person that losing a few battles might be what it takes to win a war. Sometimes you have to surrender to reality and take another path. The country is in a position where we might have to lose a few battles to win the war of limited government.

 

The independent movement is a form of retreat and re-grouping. Many conservatives and libertarians had supported the Republican Party as a way to slow down the growth in power of government. Now that the Republican Party has shown its flawed structure as just another party dependent on statist control, a part of the political status quo of cronyism and corporate entanglements, the independents are withdrawing their loyalty, surrending to the reality of corruption, reassessing their political philosophy and developing a better plan.

When I asked the Master how we can survive so much stupidity and corruption, the Master said, "Don't be stupid and corrupt." Duh! There's got to be more to it than that.