The Sage Commander

The chief impediment to knowing...is fixation. Instead of being the water cascading through the ravine, we are our own enemy, impeding its flow. We hold to a diminished view, a small part within the larger movement, rather than movig fluidly through it. We can become fixated in many ways. One is a matter of habit, ancient patterns of thought, like rivulets in the sand through which our thoughts always run. Good habits can be as limiting as bad...

Resolved to die, one can be killed.
Resolved to live, one can be captured.
Quick to anger, one can be goaded.
Pure and honest, one can be shamed.
Loving the people, one can be aggravated.

From the Art of War, Sun Tzu [Denma translation]