The art of war, Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu was a chinese military and strategist, he wrote the book "The Art of War". The book is required in the main military academies of the world and in the marketing and business administration careers. Is basically a book of strategy and gives a series of recommendations and rules to take into account to achieve victory over the enemy in the field of war.
The book has served as an inspiration to militaries and great authors like Clausewitz. Studing the book,we can talk about a philosophy of war, the book has similarities with the work of Aristotle ("the common sense is the proper virtue of the governant") and Nicolas Maquiavelli ("The main activity of the prince is the war")
Sun Tzu clarifies that every advantage over the enemy comes from the virtues of the strategist. He asks: who is the most wisest and most capable commander?, which army has the best trained men?, which is the most disciplined army?
Every successful action begins with good calculations and affirm as a principle:

Know Yourself, Socrates

Plato in his books talk about Socrates. This philosopher center his teaching in the dialectic method. An example of this method is describe in the book "The banquet" of Plato.In this book the socratic method is used to searh the nature of love, the Agape, the love for the good. A famous phrase attributed to Socrates is "Know Yourself". Self Knowledge is one of the most important philosophical searches, the expression is similar to that of the oracle of Delphi. Everything about Socrates comes to us through Plato. We can say that Socrates was one of the most important greek philosophers in history, and his ideas about the self knowledge and the socratic method are currently used in philosophy and other sciences based in the human behavior.

The Kingdom of God is among you, Luke 17:21

The Kingdom of God is the center of the teaching of Lord Jesus, the teachings begin in the sermon of the mountain with the beatitudes (Matthew 5, Luke 6) and continue with the parables that describes the Kingdom. The kingdom of God is secret (parable of the hidden treasure, Matthew 13); is progressive (parable of the mustard seed, Mark 4); is sovereign (Parable of the Great Banquet, Luke 14), is new (the kingdom belong to those who are like the children, Matthew 19) The Kingdom of God is not the church, is the transformation of man towards his nature, to his full development, the likeness to God, and also the correct order of the society.

Sowing in the spirit

To understand what it means "sowing in the spirit", we have to know the meaning of the parable of the good samarithan (Luke 10:25-37), and the parable of the sower (Matthew 13). The parable of the good samarithan explain to us that we have to choose between the sin like the pharisee or we live righteously like the good samarithan. The good samarithan acts according to the golden rule, this rule is known as the spiritual gift of rectitude or imitate god. Imitate God is to live according to the spirit. Practice the sin is to live according to the flesh. We have to choose. The 10 commanments is these scheme is a form of error, an heresy.
The parable of the sower explain to us the importance of receive the wisdom of God, retain it and put it in practice with constancy. The spiritual gift of fear of the lord or serenity is define as constancy, firmness, devotion, ecuanimity. This gift is the path to ilumination.
Sowing in the spirit is the resume of this parables, is to live righteously, to search the wisdom of god with contancy and firmness. The kingdom of god as ethical concept means all this, to search the true good for men: the eternal life.

Godliness

When we talk about ethics we talk about spiritual gifts. The spiritual gifts are perfections. The main characteristic of the spiritual gifts is the progressivity: "godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life wich is now, and of that wich is to come", this thought speaks about the idea of the progressive work, the progressive life, the progressive improvement, a life is the preparation for another. This way or mood of thinking can only be perceived by the eye of the mind, the guide of god.This is not fate, this is security in God. This way of thinking, of preparing ourselves, of working progressively, is the true essence of eternal life, the life in glory.

The Wise

To understand what is a wise man, we have to study the metaphysical concepts of essence and substance. The essence is the main characteristic of the being. Example: the essence of man is reason, the essence of God is wisdom. The substance is that of what is preach. For example: when we talk about God, what we talk about? We talk about wisdom, the wisdom is the substance of God. When we talk about men? what we talk about? We talk about the person. The person is the substance of man. In Metaphysics there is similarity when there is participation in the essence. Man and God have different essences, there is no likeness between man and God. And this is where the idea of the wise arises, a wise is a person with the essence of God: the wisdom. The wise is by his essence the bridge between men and the divine. Aristotle in his book, "Politics" explains that the good government depends of the leadership of the wise men and in the succession from a wise to another the quality of life in the community.

Blessed are those who emulate God

The tractate of the perfect and moral virtues is a book that resume the classic philosophy from Plato until Thomas Aquinas. Is fundamentally a book of ethics, using practical cases and metaphysical concepts and definitions; showing to what the man tends towards his development and the correct order the society: the kingdom of God.
The tractate is a book aimed primarily to those who seek the wisdom of the ancient word, and with it the ultimate destiny of humanity. The world needs the classic wisdom to survive, the philosophy is a science that serves as the basis for other sciences.
The wise is the best philosopher, and in the measure that human society develop better philosophers this will solve his problems as Plato said.

The Spiritual Gift of Justification

The doctrine of Justification is understood by knowing that justice is necessary but not enough. Justice is a form of error because the spiritual gift of counsel is precise and accure. The practice of the virtue as Aristotle teach to us is an heresy, because happiness is an apparent good, the true good for men is the eternal life not happiness. The kingdom of God means dominion, empire of the divine perfections, the kingdom of god is not about virtue but perfections, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect", Matthew 5:48. To live according to the divine law we need a special help because justice is not sufficient, the strength of the soul is not enough to reach salvation, we need more, and this moore is the Justification,a special help, a gift from God.

There is no fear in love

John is the disciple most beloved by Jesus. He is the author of the Gospel of John and the letter 1 John. In his texts speaks frecuently about the nature of love. For this author to know God is "love". He expresses: "Whoever does not love does not know god, because God is charity" 1 John 4:8; and, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear", 1 John 4:18.
We can extend the text in another way; we cannot attribute imperfections to God. God is the origine of the perfections that we see in the universe, explains Thomas Aquinas. Then he adds: "God is love wihout passions". The fear is an imperfection of the soul. The love as spiritual gift of God (Charity), is the love free from fear, free from the sin and the punishment. Remember the difference between passions and attachments. The hope and the joy are moviments of the spirit and guide men towards the good; instead the fear and the shame (passions) for example, are movement of the soul and guide men to evil. A practical case of Charity, is the parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32.

Friendship is equality

Aristotle in his book Nicomachean Ethics speaks frecuently about the theme of friendship, he speaks about the mercy, "the ethical friendship"; the justice, "the general friendship; and the Concord, "the political friendship". For Aristotle friendship is not also necessary but beautiful:"friendship is equality", "the benevolence is the beginning of the friendship" expresses to us.
Friendship is equality because it is closely related to a form of love: "Philia". In the ancient greek lenguage each form of love had his own name: eros, the love of lovers, agape the love for the good and Philia. This last form of love is the love that arises from the pleasure of seeing ourselves reflected in the others. The natural love, Philia is the origine of the friendship and the equality, the likeness, among men.

Take hold of the eternal life

The Apostle Paul of Tarsus wrote two letters to his disciple Timothy. In his first letter exhorts us to seek eternal life and no the opinated goods. But what is eternal life? Eternal life could be understand as a fruit of the spirit. A final result of the righteous life, of which the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) is an example. Aristotle tells us that the end of man is happiness, but Christ in the Gospel of Luke 6: 24-26 explains that happiness is an apparent good, happiness appears to us as a good, the 4 curses are an example. Christ in the sermon of the mountain teaches us not to follow the false goods (this is related with the concept of heresy), not to live according to the flesh. The true good of man is eternal life. Eternal life is contemplative activity explains Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica), remeber the text in the bible: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God", John 17,3. This knowledge of God is more than contemplation is happines of the heart (the gift of happiness), is longevity (meditation is related with the long life), is security in God. In resume the eternal life is a "set of blessing", that describes the life in glory.