Motive Makes the War
Desire is what makes war war. The nature of war is determined by the nature of the desires pursued in war, not by the nature of the power used in war. It is tempting to assume the opposite. Power is easier to quantify than desire. Power is easier to grasp than desire. The power used in war is quite vivid. It can easily overshadow the sometimes nebulous desires sought in war. Yet the more spectacular species of power used in war are not always present in war. In contrast, desire is ever present.
The essence of war is hostile intentions. Your intentions are hostile if you want to make others conform to your desires when doing so is contrary to how what they’d do if they possessed both the power to resist you and sufficient knowledge of your true intentions. Any action taken on the basis of such intentions is war. Hostile intentions come first and hostile power follows.
The stage of war is set by hostile intentions but then the appropriate forms of power must be found to fulfill those intentions in order for hostile intention to become hostile realization. While hostile intentions can shift the nature of available power from forms of power that are less appropriate for pursuing a set of intentions to forms that are more appropriate, often the quality and quantity of desire must be adapted to the quality and quantity of the power available to pursue them. This process of reconciliation between power and desire is the essence of strategy. The reconciliation of power with desire will never be exact and many times will be fatally contradictory.
However, desire is the sun and power a mere satellite and, while the pull of power will influence desire, ultimately the gravitational pull of desire will prevail. While power waxes and wanes, desire will endure.
