Miyamoto Musashi: Why Learning All Professions is Key to Perseverance

As you may have deduced from previous articles that I’ve written, the man known as Miyamoto Musashi, the author of Go Rin No Sho, aka The Book of Five Rings was the consummate warrior, swordsman, and Samurai of his day…and of all of the days besides. One of the precepts that he held near and dear was this:  “Learn all professions.”  What does this mean?  Well, we all have areas of expertise in our lives, but to modify a popular phrase, I submit this:

Be a Master of a trade or several trades and a jack of all trades, as well.

As a preparedness enthusiast, let’s explore a short (and by no means exhaustive) list of “trades” and skills that you should be able to have a working knowledge of:

1. Medicine: Traditional and Naturopathic
2. Guns: Marksmanship and their employ
3. Gunsmithing: repair and reloading
4. Physical Fitness: Weights, calisthenics, and exercise
5. Herbalism: wildcrafting, herbs endemic to your local geographic area
6. Warfare: Military history (such references as the U.S. Army Infantry Field Manual, the Ranger Handbook, and such)
7. Fighting skills: Martial arts, Krav Maga, MMA fighting, etc.
8. Languages
9. Electrical know-how: basic wiring, circuits, and power measurements
10. Specialty Skills: off the cuff, unconventional studies that only you can determine (such as how to hotwire a vehicle, how to drop an elevator, how to rig a series of explosions)
11. Land Navigation: everything about a compass and a map but the kitchen sink
12. Internal/Mental Development: scriptures, meditation

As written above, this list is far from exhaustive. There are so many more categories that you can take advantage of. Follow what you have studied in the past: study to show thyself approved, a workman worthy of his craft.

The necessity of mastery of as many of the professions and trades as you can handle is paramount.

You need to know how to drop an elevator car filled with explosives when you have the enemy on the ground floor. You need to know how to take down a circuit panel for a hydroelectric plant. You need to know how to drive “stick” and how to drive a semi.

These are skills that may not be needed for the moment, but they will come into play later. Trust me: you’ll need them.

Well-roundedness and the ability to excel in many areas is very important for you as a prepper and survivalist. The reason that we are taking the time to list such things it to stress the importance of not just concentration of your focus in a limited or narrow scope. You must concentrate on a wide variety of skills and disciplines. Musashi was the consummate Samurai of his day, and of always.

He emphasized the importance of being able to master any number of different skill-sets. This was to enable well-roundedness and improve upon himself.  He did not advise anything he did not personally follow. Well round yourself: study all trades and master as many as you can. Give yourself the advantage, and in the end,  you’ll congratulate yourself on a job well done.  JJ out!