Recently I’ve been reviewing John Boyd. In this I’ve a few thoughts. I believe looking at Boyd’s Discourse in Winning and Losing is much like looking in Dumbledore’s pensieve; it’s hard to get one’s head around the thoughts whirling and swirling. Though I believe he would be aghast at all our internal discord. We need to find ways to harmonize. Boyd found harmony internally and among friends important though so too did Henri Jomini. Jomini would suggest time will solve current passions.* Boyd’s work may have a suggestion as to a means to hasten calm which should reduce or resolve discord thus allowing for harmony. This comes from morals as the means.
Here’s John Boyd on morals:
“Morally we interact with others by avoiding mismatches between what we say we are, what we are, and the world we have to deal with, as well as by abiding by those other cultural codes or standards that we are expected to uphold.”
“Morally adversaries isolate themselves when they visibly improve their well-being to the detriment of others (i.e. their allies, the uncommitted, etc.) by violating codes of conduct or behavior patterns that they profess to uphold or others expect them to uphold.”
“Defeat existing regime politically by showing they have neither the moral right nor demonstrated ability to govern...”
“How do we morally isolate our adversaries yet maintain the trust/confidence of others and thereby interact with them?”
“Moral Isolation - occurs when we fail to abide by codes of conduct or standards of behavior in a manner deemed acceptable or essential by others outside ourselves.”
“Acquaint adversaries with our philosophy and way of life to show them that such destructive behavior works against, and is not in accord with, our (or any) social values based upon the dignity and needs of the individual as well as the security and well-being of society as a whole.”
“Reveal those mismatches in terms of what adversaries profess to be, what they are, and the world they have to deal with in order to surface to the world, to their citizens, and to ourselves the ineptness and corruption as well as the sub-rosa designs that they have upon their citizens, ourselves, and the world at large.”
“Evil - Occurs when individuals or groups embrace codes of conduct or standards of behavior for their own personal well-being and social approval, yet violate those very same codes or standards to undermine the personal well-being and social approval of others.”
“Corruption - Occurs when individuals or groups, for their own benefit, violate codes of conduct or standards of behavior that they profess or are expected to uphold.”
“On the other hand, if the group cannot or does not attempt to overcome obstacles deemed important to many (or possibly any) of its individual members, the group must risk losing these alienated members. Under these circumstances, the alienated members may dissolve their relationship and remain independent, form a group of their own, or join another collective body in order to improve their capacity for independent action.”
“If your boss demands loyalty, give him integrity. But if he demands integrity, then give him loyalty.”
* Henri Jomini in The Art of War:
“The means were not fortunate; for war and aggression are inappropriate measures for arresting an evil which lies wholly in the human passions, excited in a temporary paroxysm, of less duration as it is the more violent. Time is the true remedy for all bad passions and for all anarchical doctrines. A civilized nation may bear the yoke of a factious and unrestrained multitude for a short interval; but these storms soon pass away, and reason resumes her sway. To attempt to restrain such a mob by a foreign force is to attempt to restrain the explosion of a mine when the powder has already been ignited: it is far better to await the explosion and afterward fill up the crater than to try to prevent it and to perish in the attempt.”