Many people play the game of chess as a hobby or pastime diversion. As far as games go it is superior to many others in that it builds one's critical thinking skills as related to strategy. One has to think every move out thoroughly in order to be successful. While playing you have to ask your self if you should be playing offensively, defensively, what will be the consequences of making this move? You have to think multiple steps ahead of every move you make. Some people make the connection between the strategy employed on the chessboard and the way we should be thinking about our lives in the same manner. How many of us
think a few steps ahead of the moves we make day to day? Looking at the condition of my community and others like it, we would have to say not to many. We would agree that a lot of people are barley or not thinking at all about the things they do,& the moves they make. Did that kid getting blazed and drunk while cutting school think ahead about the possible consequences of that move? Did he think that he could get jammed up by the local police gestapo for being a minor intoxicated in public, that he could cross paths with some stick up kids on the way home and not be properly prepared to deal with the situation due to not being in his right state of mind? Now lets look at that situation the other way around. Say this same kid goes to class listens to whatever the teacher is talking about, even if it's some wack ish that seems irrelevant, but none the less does the work and gets that good grade, and later goes on to get a trade or a degree. What would be the likely long term difference between the same kid making those different choices based on thinking a few steps ahead of his decisions? It' s the difference between making good VS. bad offensive moves. This is just one simple example of thousands where we could benefit from thinking ahead and planning the right course of action. One of my favorite movies is "Fresh". It's about a young dope boy who wants out of the life, and makes moves to get out like he is playing a game of chess. He plays regular games with his father ( played by Samuel Jackson) who is an old drunk, but a chess master who holds it down in central park. He puts fresh on the clock and forces him to make moves fast, cause life ain't always gonna give you a lot of time to make choices. If you haven't seen it go head and check it out.
Now lets look at making defensive moves, here is where the cipher and general orders come into play. What is a cipher as relates to our life? Our cipher is the totality of everything in our circumference. So when deciding what to let into our cipher, whether it be people, ideas, or anything else, we need to check to see what its all about. Is it going to add to our cipher in a positive, negative or indifferent way? Anyone who has been in the armed forces or the Mosque/Temple of the NOI is familiar with general orders. The general orders of both organizations are basically the same with some minor word changes in those of the NOI. The purpose of bringing general orders into the discussion is that you can use them to keep negative things or forces from entering your cipher, here is an example. General order #1. To take charge of my post and all temple property in view. So what is the temple we our dealing with here? That would be ourselves, 'Know ye not that you are the temple of the living God?" That would be" Don't you know your the temple of the living God" for the Shakespearean impaired. So we need to be on post at OUR temple. General order #2. To walk my post in a perfect manner, keeping always on the alert and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing. So, we need to be alert, watching what is coming near our cipher trying to gain access. This is playing good defense. In conclusion, if you are not already a chess player I would encourage you to become one. Get those strategy skills up...Peace...
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