"Stay the course" vs 以不變應萬變 (#246, Topic K)

The feature article in the current (11/6/06) Election Preview issue of TIME begins with the sentence: "'Stay the course' is a time-honored rallying cry in politics" -- it is (or, more accurately, has been) one of the President's favorite utterances. The article then trivializes it by saying that "it has always been more a slogan than a strategy, meant to show the steadfastness of the person who shouts it rather than what he actually intends to do" -- and then ridicules it by saying that "when staying the course turns into 'constantly changing tactics to meet the situation on the ground.' That is how President Bush is now describing the battle plan in Iraq." I first heard the President's description (using the word in TIME) when he held a long press conference (and duly broadcast over CNBC) a few days earlier in the Rose Garden; at that time, I thought it odd that the President had to offer a clarification of his favorite saying -- to me, it was self-evident and, thus, unnecessary. As to the article in TIME, I only had time to read the first few sentences (quoted above) before I was called by the dental hygenist for my turn of teeth cleaning. As it turned out, lying on a dentist table with nothing to do was a perfect occasion for me to ponder this question: Why the popular reaction to the President's clarification differs so drastically from mine? Before long, it dawned on me. The functional equivalent to "stay the course", in Chinese, is 以不變應萬變, which may be rendered as "Use no-change to combat myriad changes". In China, with her sophisticated understanding of nature, 不變 (no-change) never denotes unchanging -- nothing under the sun is unchanging: one gets older with every passing nanosecond; one's position in the universe differs with every fractional rotation of the earth. This philosophy is best expressed by Li Er 李耳 (c571-c477 BCE) in his 5262-word essay, Dao De Jing 道德經: 獨立而不改，周行而不殆 (25.1) (It stands by itself, unwavingly; it is in motion, unendingly.) (my translation, published in 2001) By contrast, the west, particularly USA, is too heavily influenced by biblical sayings, for which no-change does indeed mean unchanging -- unchanging with respect to time, unchanging with respect to space. Thus, when a westerner says "stay the course", he is, using a word that has just gained currency, stuck with it -- any minor deviation therefrom is viewed, using another word precious to biblical followers, as being unfaithful. By contrast, when a person of Chinese ancestry says 以不變應萬變, it is understood that while one's policy is unwavering, one's tactics must necessarily adapt in the face of ever changing environment. This is exactly what the President saw fit to clarify. Q.E.D.