The present is a battleground…where rival what-ifs compete to become the future ‘what-is’. How does one what-if prevail over its adversaries? The answer “Military and political power, of course!” is a postponement, for what is it that directs the minds of the powerful? The answer is ‘belief’. Beliefs that are ignoble or idealistic; democratic or Confucian; Occidental or Oriental; timid or bold; clear-sighted or delusional. Power is informed by belief that ‘this’ path, and not another, must be followed.
Yoshida Hayato in David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, p 205
