Akika showcases every point of view and it’s time to play true devil’s advocate and highlight one of life’s less compassionate philosophies. This mode of living pays no heed to morality and has a brutal result driven ethos. Ironically it is a Chinese philosophy, the same Chinese who, murdered, tortured & displaced the gentle Tibetan people from their country but it is not Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” which is an ode to peace by comparison. I speak of “Thick Black Theory” by Lee Zhong Wu which was written in the early 1900’s & has been updated for the modern world as “Thick Face Black Heart”.

Let us delve into this endearing ideology…. Concealing your will from others is “Thick” face which is the shield whilst imposing your will on others is the “Black” and the heart is the spear. The thick face is completely without conscience and the black heart is absolutely ruthless. The practitioner has no moral overtones, is above short sighted compassion and this ideology preaches that the wisdom of spirituality is the root of mundane living. “Black Heart” says you must reclaim the natural mercenary state of your true self which will be achieved by ignoring the conventions, manners, decency and respect that well-meaning people have taught you. Our “proper” social upbringing has destroyed our intuitive understanding of winning. Accept you imperfect self as your negativities are likely to be your strongest assets, use them to lift you up. Detachment is the key to magnetism, be possessed or attached to no one. And this pearler, evil does not lie in deception – use it to gain a winning edge.

These ideas are a shudder looking for spine to crawl up (courtesy Keating) but I have a nagging suspicion that they may be a little more intoxicating than the Llama’s gentle beverages. A cynical recipe for getting everything you want without care or concern. That’s Machiavelli, manna and money from heaven.

It’s not all milk, honey (&acid) either. Apparently there are 3 types of people. Those who are out to get you & say so; those who are nice people but due to their lack of ability resort to dishonesty; And those that act nice with every intention of screwing you without so much as a kiss. The killer instinct is decreed as the power that propels us to take proper actions in spite of our better nature and take a Captain Cook at some of the chapter headings… “Before Hitting A Dog Identify The Owner”, “Deception Is The Essential”, “Hitching A Free Ride To Success”, “Piranha Eats Shark” & “Effective Execution”. The last title would be completely innocuous in any other publication but in this warm and fuzzy piece I’m waiting for the guillotine to head south.

So there you have it, a cursory overview of a philosophy that is the antithesis of the Dalai Llama’s compassionate preaching. This philosophy is doing massive box office in our modern world and seems to be the weapon of choice for most of humanity. Yoda always said “Do not underestimate the power of the dark side” and maybe the wise Jedi Master was right. It would be nice to believe that nice guys win but we all know they inevitably finish stone cold motherless. Maybe if the Tibetan people had a leader who didn’t love his enemies so much they would still have a country.
“Thick Face Black Heart” is available in your local bookshop, prescribed reading for all business students… God help us all!!