The Sun Tzu Way (TSTW) is designed to be a practical philosophy of life. If we look at the practical philosophies of the Ancient world (especially Ancient Greece), we see that the major philosophers of that time basically agreed that the goal of life was happiness. This is no different in TSTW. Indeed, to understand TSTW in a deep way, we need to explore the concept of happiness.

To start, when I say "happiness," I don't mean it in the sense of "glee" or "merriment." Rather I mean a deeper sense of happiness - a calm, peaceful state of contentment. The Ancient Greeks called this form of happiness eudaimonia - which translates to mean "good spirit." It is a kind of happiness that entails peace, stability, and well-being, and includes a general freedom from anxiety, worry, anger, or any other wild emotion.

The Ancient Chinese have a very similar concept for happiness as eudaimonia, which they called an. An is a happiness that encompasses the concepts of peace, security, tranquility, contentment. It is also the term Sun Tzu uses to describe the ultimate aim of a general - a state of literal peace and security for the nation.

Because of this similarity in the concept of happiness (eudaimonia and an), I'll use the word "happiness" to relate the Ancient Greeks with Sun Tzu.

Now the Ancient Greeks disagreed on what are the conditions for cultivating happiness (eudaimonia) in one's life. Some, like the Epicureans, believe that pleasure is the only condition for happiness. Others, like the Stoics, believe that the only necessary and sufficient condition for happiness is virtue.

The Sun Tzu Way offers a different understanding of the conditions necessary to cultivate happiness - one that comprehends happiness as an expression of the relationship between the individual and the environment or ecosystem in which he or she lives.

Under this philosophical view, there are three conditions of happiness.

The first condition is harmony. For an individual to be happy, there must be an overall sense of harmony between the individual and his or her environment - whether social or physical. This sense of harmony can express itself as a sense of belonging, or being in-sync with others, or being on the same page, or shared culture. Regardless of what it looks like, there needs to be a sense of shared understanding between people in the environment.

The second condition is security. To be happy, an individual must feel secure in their environment - physically, emotionally, mentally, economically. They must feel that their basic needs are not under threat - that they can secure their needs within their environment.

The third condition is respect. To be happy, an individual must feel seen - i.e. that their desires, needs, feelings, thoughts have a degree of importance and influence. That they matter.

A few notes on these conditions. First, these conditions are not absolute. There is no such thing as absolute harmony, security, or respect.

Second, these conditions are about how the individual feels within the environment they inhabit. It is about having a stable feeling of harmony, security, and respect.

Third, while it is true that none of these conditions are likely under any person's direct control, thus leading us to the conclusion that a person's happiness is not entirely up to them, under TSTW, they don't have to be. Absolute happiness is not the goal. The goal is to make progress towards meeting these conditions. To continually get closer to obtaining them.

So what happens when one of these conditions is not met?

When a condition is not met, the individual's situation tends to develop a specific kind of challenge. An issue with harmony, for example, tends to lead to a situation of conflict, where two or more parties in an environment have a disagreement, a general lack of consensus, on how to work together. A feeling of distrust or uncertainty can develop.

A lack of security in one's environment tends to lead to competition. If I live in an environment where I am not readily assured food or shelter or money or emotional companionship, then I must compete to secure these things.

Lastly, an issue with respect can lead to confrontation​. When someone does not respect you, they will likely disregard or trample over your desires, needs, or feelings, creating a situation where you will need to confront them in order to stop or weaken the lack of respect.

To cultivate our individual happiness, for which we are individually responsible, we must identify which condition(s) are not being met and work to ensure progress towards their being met. This requires applying the appropriate principle - cohesion, concealment, control - of TSTW.

For conflict situations, we must apply the principle of cohesion, where we are trying to identify the differences and develop a shared understanding between all parties as to the path forward. Applied effectively, this should lead to greater consensus between all parties.

For competitive situations, we must apply the principle of concealment, where we are trying to hide our designs and intentions while establishing our seemingly natural fitness for meriting a certain resource, advantage, or reward. Effective application should lead to a greater sense of confidence within the situation.

Lastly, for confrontational situations, we must apply the principle of control, where we try to weaken or undermine the strength of the opposition through the accumulation of advantages and the elimination of barriers. Applying control effectively leads to greater cooperation between you and the other parties in the confrontation.

With this theory of happiness and the three conditions, we can better understand why we are facing certain situations and how to better respond to them. Such understanding gives us control over our lives and allows us to cultivate a deeper sense of happiness over time.

In a previous post, I talked about how important it is to be responsive to events that occur, rather than indifferent to them. Such responsiveness is important if we want to cultivate and secure our sense of peace (an) in life.

But what does that entail exactly? How does one be responsive? Does Sun Tzu offer a framework for understanding and responding to events? And how can we adopt it into our daily lives?

In asking myself these questions, I've developed a unique framework, based on The Art of War, that allows us to adopt responsiveness as a trait in our own lives.

For Sun Tzu, there are three types of events in war: 

1. Solid events that clearly affect (i.e. strengthen or weaken) your positioning.
2. Empty events that have no real impact on your positioning. 
3. Obscure events, in which you are unsure of its effect on your positioning.

It is the general's role to determine 1) whether an event is solid, empty, or obscure, and 2) how to respond. In general, only solid events require a mobilizing response - that is, require the coordination and use of forces towards achieving a specific objective. Empty events can generally be ignored, but obscure events require vigilance and deeper investigation.

You can follow a similar framework in your own life. On your path to peace, happiness, security, many different events will occur. The question you must ask yourself is: how do these events affect me on my path? It is your role to determine whether an event is solid, empty, or obscure, and how to respond.

Accordingly, there are three kinds of solid events: conflictual, competitive, and confrontational. A conflictual event is one that undermines or threatens your sense of unity or harmony - your sense of togetherness. An example would be a disagreement you have with your spouse regarding how best to parent your child.

A competitive event is one that affects your chances of attaining some sort of advantage, resource, or reward. An example would be if you find out a colleague is vying for a position in the company you work for that you are interested in.

A confrontational event is one that threatens your ability to move forward, and may even threaten to make you regress in your path. An example would be if you find out your spouse has been gambling away your savings, or your business partner has been stealing from your company, or you have fallen off the wagon.

Empty events tend to run into two categories: diversions and ego-challenges. Diversions are events that seem engaging, entertaining, or full of excitement and the potential for pleasure, but ultimately do not serve you on your path. Diversions are not necessarily bad or dangerous in and of themselves, but they can be if you do not have the discipline and self-control to ignore or quit indulging them.

Ego-challenges, on the other hand, are events that seem to be solid, but do not actually affect your ability to advance on your path. Rather, they affect your ego. Because they look like solid events, there are three types of ego-challenges: ego conflicts, ego competitions, and ego confrontations.

Ego conflicts occur when someone disagrees with how you think about yourself. For example, if someone says you're "aggressive," when you view yourself as more assertive. Or if someone says you are "shy" or "reserved," when you view yourself as introverted or thoughtful.

Ego competitions generally occur when there is a perceived advantage, reward, or prospect at stake that would only really serve how your ego - i.e. how you wish to be seen or see yourself. An example would be a situation where you try to get credit for a project that you worked hard on. Or where you want your idea to be taken seriously by your boss so that you get recognition for how capable you are.

Ego confrontations occur when your ego - your reputation, your social standing, how people perceive you, etc. - is being directly threatened. Examples would be if someone openly criticizes or harshly derides an idea that you have put forth, or if someone directly insults you, or if an idea that you fought hard for implementing ends up failing poorly and noticeably in front of other people.

The last type of events is obscure events. These are events that could mean or lead to something more significant, more solid, but you are unsure. For example, it could be a weird interaction that you had with your friend that leaves you unsure whether they are upset with you. Or it could be a series of comments from your boss that leads you to suspect that your job position may be in danger.

With each type of event, there is an ideal response that aligns with TSTW. For solid events, you want to mobilize a response in accordance with the core principles of TSTW (cohesion for conflicts, concealment for competitions, and control for confrontations). For empty events, you want to ignore or minimize your response. You don't want to give much energy or focus to engaging them.

For obscure events, you do not want to mobilize, but you do want to stay vigilant and prepared. Play the spy, investigating the event more deeply. Develop contingency responses in case the thing you suspect ends up being true.