Distilling Sun Tzu to Self Defense

Below is an excerpt from a post at Okinawan Fighting Art, which adapts the "Five Essentials" of Sun Tzu's Art of War to personal self defense. The full post may be read here.

Sun Tzu, The Five Essentials for Victory:

1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight;
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces; 
3. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks;
4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared;
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

You already understand and you probably already know that in a modern society there is inevitable changes to mandate how one provides security and safety for themselves, their families and the social structure or group to which his or her families belong. It is my expert provision in this article to expand on these essentials for victory as set down centuries ago how great Generals would successfully carry out the mandate of Heaven and his sovereign to gain victory agains all enemies both domestic and foreign. 

In our world of martial prowess where self-protection is provided we can readily detect a need to follow these ancient teachings while making allowances to our modern times. Therefore the above will be revamped to reflect those changes and mandates as set down by law, the legal system and those who enforce for the sake of societies protection, security and safety. 

There are “Five Essentials for Self-Protection.” 

Commentary: I don’t use the term victory because that tends to lead to certain dissonances due to our modern societies pension toward competitive sports where the dangers of grave harm and death are governed by rules that are sanctioned, mandated and set by society through its laws and legal systems. Even the use of self-defense if not fully explained can lead to mistakes in perceptions because it is used, generally, to explain actual defenses and it is also used, generally, to explain a legal definition since the legal system uses the term as a legal one. 

1. He will achieve success who knows when to protect and defend and when not to protect and defend;
2. He will achieve success who knows how to handle aggressions and force both psychological and physical;
3. He will achieve success who knows how to protect and defend within the limits set by social legal laws and systems;
4. He will achieve success who, prepared him/herself, waits to take the attacker unprepared; 
5. He will achieve success who has martial capacity and is not interfered with by societies systems. 

Now, commentary on the five essential principles of self-protection.