The Power of Yielding

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Lark_Truth
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Joined: December 24th, 2016, 11:51 am
Favorite Philosopher: Brandon Sanderson

The Power of Yielding

Post by Lark_Truth »

I don't know if any of you remember my "Powers of Humanity" thread, but one of the twenty-eight motivational characteristics that I listed, the very last one I believe, was Yielding.
Yielding has been a power that I have had a hard time understanding, and I would like some help to better know what it is.

Here is what I do know:
- It is a very hard thing to "let go." Especially for those emotionally attached, so it is a very difficult power to wield. So it takes strength to yield when you are emotionally attached.
- A metaphor: Water yields to the flow of the land by twisting and turning along the course of the river. But in doing so, it slowly erodes the land. Water can erode the hardest of rocks just by flowing around them.
- Another metaphor: a rigid oak can be uprooted in a strong wind, yet the willow will bend to the wind and still be standing.
- Sometimes yielding is an advantage.
- Sometimes you get more out of yielding than out of fighting.
- Yielding can be a weakness. If you yield to sin and temptation ... bad stuff. So it takes a delicate knowledge to know how to yield.
- Yielding is not a spectacular power. It is very difficult to master.
Truth is Power. Reason is Wisdom. Intelligence is Experience. Hope is Bright!
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Webplodder
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Joined: April 27th, 2017, 2:25 pm

Re: The Power of Yielding

Post by Webplodder »

The question is: How much to yield and how much to resist.
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LuckyR
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Re: The Power of Yielding

Post by LuckyR »

Lark_Truth wrote:I don't know if any of you remember my "Powers of Humanity" thread, but one of the twenty-eight motivational characteristics that I listed, the very last one I believe, was Yielding.
Yielding has been a power that I have had a hard time understanding, and I would like some help to better know what it is.

Here is what I do know:
- It is a very hard thing to "let go." Especially for those emotionally attached, so it is a very difficult power to wield. So it takes strength to yield when you are emotionally attached.
- A metaphor: Water yields to the flow of the land by twisting and turning along the course of the river. But in doing so, it slowly erodes the land. Water can erode the hardest of rocks just by flowing around them.
- Another metaphor: a rigid oak can be uprooted in a strong wind, yet the willow will bend to the wind and still be standing.
- Sometimes yielding is an advantage.
- Sometimes you get more out of yielding than out of fighting.
- Yielding can be a weakness. If you yield to sin and temptation ... bad stuff. So it takes a delicate knowledge to know how to yield.
- Yielding is not a spectacular power. It is very difficult to master.
Getting away from rocks, water and trees to something more tangible, you can think of offense and defense. Typically folks think of winning coming out of a strong offense and Not Losing coming from a strong defense. But we call know that non engagement (or more accurately: selective engagement) can actually win a war. Gandhi's revolution and the North Vietnamese beating the US Armed Forces being two well known examples.
"As usual... it depends."
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Sy Borg
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Re: The Power of Yielding

Post by Sy Borg »

That's what mediation is about - surrender, as opposed to active engagement. Ditto sleep. You surrender your active mind.

This allows the microscopic communities in your body to get on with their jobs rather than dealing with your whimsy, much like government departments just freed from political interference and able to just get on with their work.
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Grotto19
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Favorite Philosopher: Epictetus
Location: Niagara Falls, N.Y. USA

Re: The Power of Yielding

Post by Grotto19 »

I know a bit on this topic though I am at best only mediocre at its practice. Here is some of what I know regarding the art of yielding. Let’s imagine you are attempting to persuade a person of your political view. Now if you attack his view directly even armed with perfect logic and facts behind you will you achieve your goal or persuading him? All evidence points to a near 100% failure rate by this method, despite us continuing to choose it nearly exclusively even now. This tends to only redouble their certainty of their position.

However if one were to surrender, to yield several times the validity of ones opponents arguments and only inject subtle shifts of perspective peppered in lightly. A shift only though not ever a direct clash. Ah now you can erode their position. This is possible only because instead of triggering them to raise their shield they were unaware of any assault at all and can come to agreement with you without having to perceive that they had been wrong at all.

Telling someone they are wrong has never persuaded anyone of anything unless they feel mentally incompetent relative to the source, and often not even then. But tell them hey your right but re spin what they said to one step closer to your position and they will likely whole heartedly agree with you. Repeated enough times that stream becomes the Grand Canyon. This is how surrender becomes power. Because done right it is irresistible. The rub is of course it is quite difficult to do in practice. Our own ego’s get in the way so much.

Ah one last thing. One group of people quite good at it. Mothers married to tyrant fathers. We can learn a lot from them as they often master submission as a mechanism of power. Getting him to allow you to go on that expensive field trip to Europe, or getting her daughter birth control when dad said no fricken way NEVER!. How did mom manage that? She used the very tactics I am talking about. Power through surrender. Viewed from the outside we can see the real “man of the house” was her. And it works because at no point did he ever think it was not his decision. Mom smiles in the background and says to him “you are so wise” but it is him exercising her wisdom without ever realizing it. Brute force may be power, but what power is greater than when the subjects are willing and enthusiastic about exercising your will? That is true power and it can be achieved no other way.
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