To Mary

Short-term chaos and disorder, in exchange for long-term order and peace. That is essentially the plan in a nutshell. Within the book is this particular plan, and with the plan comes a logically holistic understanding of the international system. What follows from the book, plan, and the international system are the strategy, operations, and tactics associated with the book and the plan that shape the international system. Being mindful of the book and the plan within the book means that the strategy, operations, and tactics employed within the international system have to be tailored towards the book and the plan. To use a corollary – or if one is to employ a parallel – religion does not change for the culture. Rather, the culture changes for the religion.

Beneath all the different facets of our global reality (book, plan, system, strategy, operations, and tactics) is the leitmotif. By definition, a leitmotif is a recurring theme associated with a book, musical composition, work of art, literature, idea, person, or situation. Perhaps the Ancient Greeks were most accurate in their adoption of the “Tragicomedy” as the leitmotif of human history. But one may wonder how the tragicomedy ends. As mentioned before, the plan is essentially short-term chaos and disorder for long-term order and peace. Thus, the story ends in a romantic comedy of sorts.

That may be hard to believe, given the narrative pushed by governments and media which depict never-ending chaos and turmoil. But as mentioned before, if we are able to identify cause and effect and in turn differentiate appearance from reality, the end result of human history and thus the Greek tragicomedy is a comedic romance of sorts. After all, we are now in a postmodern age, which is considered the final epoch of human history after the nomadic, agricultural, and modern epochs. With the final epoch comes the climax and the final scene. Thus, we are either at the climax, or we are fast approaching the climax from a historical or historiographical perspective. And after the climax comes the end result of the tragicomic human story.  

Thus, the final scene or the end result hinges upon the plan or the plot. And the plan or the plot dictates that the final scene or the end result be long-term order and peace in exchange for short-term chaos and disorder. As a result, the short-term chaos and disorder part is the tragicomic part. The end result – namely, the comedic romance – results from the long-term order and peace.

Evidence of the tragicomedy can be found everywhere, whether it is from an individual standpoint or between nations and the international system as a whole. What matters, however, is the book we employ in order to understand the plan and thus garner a logically holistic understanding of the international system. Because of the book, plan, and the nature of the international system, strategies, operations, and tactics tailored towards war are now essentially futile. To use an anecdote, three decades of American global hegemony ended in Donald Trump, the resurgence of Russia, and the rise of China. Even if you’ve misunderstood the plot thus far, it’s still not too late to grab the popcorn as we await the climax and final scene.