95. The art of weiqi (go/baduk) war (碁#9) ☴
The Way through Baguazhang - 八卦掌道 - A podcast by Peter Hainzl
So here we are in the Weiqi game: The place where - how we end things - is most critical to the successful outcome of the game. Unlike real war, where people tend to actually die a hell of a lot, the business of business warfare is like a grinding millstone that never ever ends. Yes, we are sold the dream of victory and success through wealth and riches, but those materialistic goals tend to leave a bitter taste after a while. And so, there comes the point where we start to daydream of taking off the crown, removing the signet ring, getting if the throne and stepping down the dias. As we do this, everybody in attendance is watching in awe and shock at such a scene, because just a few moments prior it seemed like you're an old hardass bastard who's hand couldn't let go of his sword; even if he wanted to. But in that, how we end the game lies freedom. The freedom to walk out the main door and out to the white light of victory: True Victory. Not that I am going anywhere. By studying other games that is what one notices: After the tipping point comes. The point where you know it is over. And everybody is just waiting for it to be over. In sports that's usually when the clock runs out. But in Weiqi this ending can drag on and on (almost indefinitely). I say almost indefinitely because novices tend to think that the game is bound by a machine that measures time by counting down the hours, minutes and seconds. It is nothing of the sort. A true master of the game knows that time is measured by the alternating placements of black and white stones until they are used up. With time between placements varying from a few seconds to weeks and months. And those spacings in-between - the lull, the set up, and executions having the exact value as zero. Now there's a piece of real human quantum entanglement played out on a human level ⚔️圍棋戰聖