Integrity - the mysterious and dynamic power

The "magnetic pole" of The Five Rings method is a single word - Integrity - in which we have uncovered a new, mysterious, and dynamic power. Integrity is the capability of all living things to maintain their sense of connectedness, coherence, wholeness and creative vitality. By developing this fundamental life skill, you will possess the Pilot's Compass.

In ancient China when the dikes gave way and the floods came and the barbarian hordes poured over the mountains from the West - signifying to the ruler and his people that the Mandate of Heaven had been lost - only human virtue (te) or integrity, the Chinese sages believed, could reverse the challenges of nature. What is the te?

The Chinese concept of the "te"

It is written with a complex character, so beautiful it could be a poem. On the left is the character for "action". Integrity always demands action. On the top right is the character for the number "10", which can also be read "whole" or "balance." Underneath is the character for the number "4", but if this "4" is repositioned and read vertically, the meaning transforms into "eye".Thus there are four "eyes" - the external "eyes" of logic, intelligence, and common sense - and then there is the inner eye of direct-knowing or intuition. Four eyes that can see singly as one. Underneath is the character for "heart."

(c) Copyright, Julian Gresser, All Rights reserved, excerpted from Piloting Through Chaos: Wise Leadership * Effective Negotiation for the 21st Century (Five Rings Press, 1996)

"Cultivate integrity in your own person And it becomes a genuine part of you. Cultivate it in the family And it will abide. Cultivate it in the community, And it will live and grow. Cultivate it in the state, And it will flourish abundantly. Cultivate it in the world, And it will become universal. How do I know about the world? By what is within me."

Tao Te Ching

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