en speaking of tactics, Sun Tzu wrote:2He wins his battles by making no mistakes. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. (Clavell 1983, 7)So if the commander is thoroughly able to carry out his plans, he will have beaten the enemy before stepping onto the battlefield. Sun Tzu argued that success was in the hands of the commander since, “the consummate leader cultivates the Moral Law and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success.” (Clavell 1983, 20) Strategy is key to success, not just in war but in any aspect of life.The monks who lived in lived in the desert felt strategy was important, but used it in an entirely different context. Their strategy was to avoid conflict at all costs and if it did occur, then it should be resolved peacefully. At the same that they advocated peace, the desert fathers also felt the conflict with evil should be dealt with actively. In his book The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton wrote:The saints of the desert were enemies of every subtle or gross expedient by which ‘the spiritual man’ contrives to bully those he thinks inferior to himself, thus gratifying his own ego. They had renounced everything that savored of punishment and revenge, however hidden it might be. (Merton 1960, 18)Patience and charity were the strategies used by these desert Abbot to overcome conflict. One episode in Merton’s book tells of some robbers who came to the home of a monk and wanted to steal all his possessions. The monk replied:My sons take all you want. So they took everything they could find in the cell and started off. But they left behind a little bag that was hidden in the cell. The elder picked it up and followed after them, crying out: My sons, take this, you forgot it in the cell! Amazed at the patience of the elder, they brought everything back i...
