Sun Tzu wrote: “Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.”


Excellent advice: until you become the very enemy
you are fighing.

Which leads me to my words of wisdom today, which could be applied in a number of ways, as “adjusting ratios” is imbued with a sense of cryptic wonderment, but I find great admiration for concepts that have multiple interpretations.

I think at base level, when I posit the notion of “adjusting ratios”, I first had in mind a balancing of the mind/body dichotomy, in a literal sense of making sure one is not solely thinking without action, and equally so, not just doing without thought . I find many are led astray by the notion of how to balance one’s everyday, and when one spends too much time within imbalance, everything that follows, will do so in a lopsided way, whether that be suffering analysis paralysis and idling yourself to death, or being a workaholic to the point of mindless, exhausted delusion, you will become a self-appointed executioner at the gallows of your own fabricated damnation.

Initially, my words of wisdom, which I had been kicking around for awhile, were going to be “Think, Act, Do”, which still relate to the bottom level notion of which I speak to, as not having a sense of causation and correlation involved with the concoction of said idea, related to the follow up of execution, and then finishing up with the physical representation of the thought idealized, leaves one in a disjointed sense of existing. However, I think “adjusting ratios” works out better, as it does relate to a variety of notions involving the everyday, if one is so willing to apply the logic, and parse the details of how to do so.

I was spurred on by the notion of finally utilizing the words “adjusting ratios” involving the mind/body problem, due to my want of going back and reading a Kierkegaard book, but not knowing which one I should follow up on. Luckily, a Youtube video posted by Michael Burns referencing Kierkegaard’s book “The Present Age”, helped reinforce the notion of my words of wisdom, as good old ‘Kierks posited similar notions 100’s of years ago, adding credence to my own thoughts, before I had heard his on the matter more explicitly laid out. Happens more than you think to me, which is always a small delight of inane fancy, as one could imagine in the moment of justifiably reinforced inspiration.

But yes, in a nutshell, Kierkegaard observes that the qualities of some ages tend to be those of a languishing nature, and bemoans the sense of inaction that follows. One of his choice quotes on the matter says as much:

“Our age is essentially one of understanding and reflection, without passion, momentarily bursting into enthusiasm, and shrewdly relapsing into repose.”

There is much more he addresses, but in the spirit of keeping a brevity to words of wisdom, as they are intended to be, Kierkegaard ends up lamenting the lack of acitivity that befalls humanity, when they get too cozy, rest on their laurels, and are allowed to spend too much time sitting around and reflecting on the everyday, without ever making time to just “get shit done”, and literally do the thing they are thinking about.

So, in both big and small ways, we need to do more. From helping to contribute to something like a social change, to concocting a personal rebellion against your own sour machinations and bad habits, or even something far loftier, like contributing to a revolutionary standard worthy of time investment, we simply aren’t spending anywhere near enough time getting involved, sitting around only self-reflecting on the notions, and utterly failing a greater sense of literal engagement in the grand spectrum of reality.

What’s more, much of what Kierkegaard bemoans in the lack of everyday activity by others, scales to nearly everyone in society at large, regardless of time period. He observes that we spend too much time reflecting on an act, disproportionate to the doing of the act, and one great example I can provide from personal experience is the simple notion of writing about video games rather than playing them, a constant and vile plague upon my house as of late, though you can obviously choose just about any relative action of preference here, and the logic stands. Both in big and small ways, we are in our heads too much, and not out in the real world actualizing it, and you know it’s bad when a philosopher is urging you to cut the shit with thinking too much, getting off your ass, and actually doing something with your time. Dire indeed.

So yes, instead of just saying “go, go go,”, just start doing, and damn the reason to it all, totally advising against the idea of at least reasonably contemplating an act before doing it, but still in agreeance with Kierkegaard all the same about not just thinking, but doing, I reinforce the notion of “adjusting ratios”, in that making sure you aren’t solely thinking without doing, and vice versa. That way, you won’t be confounded with the reality of being drowned in theory with no practical experience, nor will you be honing a craft or putting your hands to the grind stone mindlessly. With a little consideration on the matter, you will be able to take your hard placed efforts, and then effectively contemplate on how best to self-improve moving forward, and how your actions may help others at large down the road, in a meaningful, but actionable, way.

As always, take care of yourself, and others.

~Pashford