Book of Five Rings
By: Miyamoto Musashi
4 out of 5
This book was wildly confusing for the first third of it, but eventually, something clicked and I began to understand the message of the book. Once I broke through, I even went back and re-read the first portion to ensure I was getting everything.
Based on other reviews I read, I was not the only one that felt this way. A good, interesting read, but approach it with patience and an open mind!
Musashi is one of the greatest samurai of all time, so the book uses many swordfighting and martial arts analogies. Luckily, they’re pretty easy to extrapolate out to other professions, hence why it’s a book on “strategy” and not “swordfighting”.
The kicker of the whole book is that “Mastery” is not something we achieve, but a goal to continually strive for. He urges us not to get complacent or rigid in our craft (whatever it may be), so that we are continually able to adapt to any new scenario or environment we may find ourselves in. Look for new techniques or ideas to learn or implement into your repertoire as a way of continually learning more and more about your field.
He talks about the “spirit of the thing” which you’re doing and the more you honestly do that thing, that activity, the more the spirit reveals itself. Originally, I was like ‘“spirit of the thing” what the heck are you talking about??’, hence the first third where I was quite confused. I’m not a huge fan of flowery language and vague descriptions, but once I cut through the wording I realized he was just talking about getting lost in your craft, getting to the essence of the thing you’re doing (It seems pretty straightforward now, but for a little while, he had me confused). To me, it seemed to be the idea of that deep focus we find ourselves in when we’re in the middle of something we love to do. You won’t let anything distract you, your phone is a non-factor, and you’re practically in your own world. To me, that’s the “spirit of the thing” Musashi is talking about. It’s in continual practice, in doing the thing, that we begin to experience that state more and make meaningful steps towards improvement.
I don’t know if this book shares anything groundbreaking (the idea of mastery being a moving target is not new), but it does present different ideas in ways I hadn’t really thought of before, which I found to be refreshing.
I have a full note card of bullet points I could write about, but I want you to read the book. I also don’t want these opinion pieces to be too long at the risk of boring people. Buuuuuuut, this book also talks about focus, FULL commitment, being a lifelong learner, fortitude, and openmindedness.
