(To win, you have to keep up with the system.)

You must have heard of the “Trojan horse” story in one way or another. Due to the broad popularity of the story, we chose this pattern to be the first method of thinking discussed in this book. It happened that war arose between the Romans and the inhabitants of Troy—whose remains are present in Anatolia in Turkey—that was around 1200 B.C. when the Romans besieged Troy city during the war for 10 years to no avail. The city of Troy was fortified with high walls and impenetrable from all sides. The story tells us that a Roman knight named Odyssey presented an innovative idea, the idea of which was to make a huge horse of wood and hide inside several knights, while the army and ships of the Romans pretended to leave.

Indeed, the idea of “Odyssey” was implemented, and the Trojans from above the walls of their city saw the Roman ships sailing away, and the soldiers who were besieging the city withdrew. And so the Trojans assumed that the Romans had finally surrendered and were tired of the long siege in vain and were defeated by the hardness of their fortresses. The Trojans opened the doors of the city and found among the remnants of the Roman army tents, weapons, equipment, and other huge wooden horse. They considered them all booty and dragged them into their city's walls.

At night, the 30 soldiers hiding inside the wooden horse infiltrated, attacked the Trojan keepers inside their city, and opened the gates of the fort from the inside to the rest of the Roman army, who returned from the sea. The Roman army entered Troy city at night and burned it completely. It was a major historical defeat that Roman poets mentioned in their epic poems “The Iliad and The Odyssey”. The story continues to this day telling the intelligence and superiority of the Romans at that time. It also provides a genuine, reusable solution for similar situations, as one of the successful patterns of unconventional thinking.

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The Trojan horse tactic explains the problem of “how to enter a city surrounded by an impregnable fortress”. The Romans' answer was to keep up with the system. The solution to this dilemma lies in asking the appropriate question. In this case, what can easily enter the city's forts effortlessly? The answer is “the spoils,” of course, because we are at war, and the only thing that can enter the city, in this case, is the spoils. If we need to keep up with this solution, we need to be the booty ourselves to break through the system and enter the city easily. Otherwise, confronting the system directly will met by resistance.

The story of Troy might not be the first in history to reveal this technique. This thinking pattern is so intuitive that we would not be surprised to find some animals using it to escape or to hunt their prey. Adopting the laws of

a system or disguising yourself to appear as part of it makes it easier to get through.

The Trojan horse tactic is also right beyond physical entities. Because when we confront any balanced system and attempt to disrupt its equilibrium, it will naturally reject our actions and fight any change that we are attempting to impose on it. The resulting reaction is counter to our applied force. Whether that reaction is strong enough to repel us or not, it will minimize our efforts.

One day, the police detectives in Khartoum faced a problem. They suspected a drug dealer who was working under diplomatic cover. The man was very cautious, surrounding himself with guards and a fortress villa monitored with cameras. The police team devised a plan: if they cut off the electricity power to some houses in the area, the suspected villa residents would complain to the electricity supplier office. Two police officers then will go to the villa undercover as maintenance workers. It will be easy for them to install surveillance devices in the house to collect enough evidence and arrest the man. The residents will not suspect the undercover cops because they did not come on their own but were called in by the residents themselves.

From the previous story, we can see that the key to the solution is in asking the right question. If we asked “how can we enter the house without drawing the attention of its residents?” the answer would be difficult. However, if we asked, “Who can easily enter that house?” the answer would be: electricity maintenance workers, telephone and Internet tech-support workers, or house cleaners. Based on such answers, one can construct a solution to break into.

The Trojan horse pattern can be used in any situation where resistance is encountered. The following cases show examples in which the pattern was used with great success.

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In Medicine (Penicillin):

Many diseases are caused by pathogenic bacteria. Scientists have created two anti-bacterial types: one that suppresses bacterial function and the other that kills it. Penicillin is a powerful antibiotic that kills bacteria. The Scottish scientist “Alexander Fleming” discovered it in 1928. The penicillin molecule was isolated and correctly identified ten years later by two scientists named “Ernest Chen” and “Howard Florey.” The three scientists were then awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1945.

Any bacterial cell has a protective wall that it constantly grows and strengthens. The cell binds two acids, “alanine and glycine,” to build the last stage of the wall. Because penicillin has a similar chemical structure to “alanine” acid, the bacteria thinks it would develop their walls, but the penicillin molecule breaks the wall rather than strengthening it. When a flaw or weakness occurs in the cell wall of bacteria, external water pressure overcomes the wall, crushing the bacteria and causing it to die instantaneously. It is worth noting that because animal cells in people and animals lack a wall, penicillin has no effect on them. Simply, penicillin deceives bacteria by imitating the Trojan horse mechanism.

This pattern of thinking is of great use whenever you encounter an immune system that you need to defeat. Bear in mind that the system doesn’t have to be a fortress or a physically protected area; it can be anything that reacts in "push-back" defence behavior when confronted. The system could be physical, psychological, or mental in nature. More details on the metaphorical use of the Trojan horse pattern will be discussed in the "metaphor thinking" chapter.

The “Trojan Horse” thinking tactic is used to influence a system indirectly to avoid any counter-reaction.

Confronting any stable system directly results in a resistive reaction that reduces or prevents any changes we try to impose.

You may take advantage of the system's reactions and properties to attain your own objectives.

If you want to win, you have to go along with the system. The key to this is to ask the right question, such as, "What can naturally enter the system without resistance?"

If you can “disguised” as a part of the system, you can overcome it from within.