The+48+Laws+Of+Power

["'l'l||I ll \\\\ F'|\u2018|.lt r\u2019\\\\'l\u2018 Interpretation Catherine had seen very early on the sway that a mistress has over a man Pll;\\\\R>i,\\\\l.l.\\\\ of power: Her own husband, Henri II, had kept one of the most infamous mistresses of them all, Diane de Poitiers. What Catherine learned from the When the (W1) armies experience was that a man like her husband wanted to feel he could win a \/Julius Cazamriv tmrl woman over without having to rely on his status, which he had inherited Pampry\u2019s] were came rather than earned. And such a need contained a huge blind spot: As long as the woman began the affair by acting as if she had been conquered, the intu Plturyzllitt, and man would fail to notice that as dine passed the mistress had come to hold power over him, as Diane de Poitiers did over Henri. It was Catherine\u2019s both mmmpterl Ilwre. strategy to turn this weakness to her advantage, using it as a way to conquer Pompreyis tlzrmghtx ran and control men. All she had to do was unleash the loveliest women in the the xurne way as they had done before, court, her \u201cflying squadron,\u201d on men whom she knew shared her hus\u00ab ba.nd\u2019s vulnerability. agtumtfiglztiug. . . . But Remember. Always look for passions and obsessions that cannot be those who were about controlled. The stronger the passion, the more vulnerable the person. This may seem surprising, for passionate people look strong. In fact, however, him were grmtly (,\u2019(mfl- they are simply filling the stage with their theatricality, distracting people ifzlrm o nu\u2018cz'ss. . , us from how weak and helpless they really are. A man\u2019s need to conquer women actually reveals a tremendous helplessness that has made suckers tlugv hml \u00abI\/ready out of them for thousands of years. Look at the part of a person that is most mru\/uerod. . . . The visible\u2014their greed, their lust, their intense fear. These are the emotions rruvulrv t.'.i\u2018\/7r'<tt'all_v were they cannot conceal, and over which they have the least control. And what obstinate farfigltrtrzg, people cannot control, you can control for them. bflmg vplerzt\/izlly armed and bravely mnuntzvrl. Observance IV and valuirtg thmzsrelves upon thcfine horses Arabella Huntington, wife of the great late-nineteenth-century railroad they kept, and upon magnate Collis P. Huntington, came from humble origins and always struggled for social recognition among her wealthy peers. When she gave a their own hand mrm\\\" party in her San Francisco mansion, few of the social elite would show up; persons.\u2018 as also upon most of them took her for a gold digger, not their kind. Because of her hus- the atlvunmgc of their band\u2019s fabulous wealth, art dealers courted her, but with such condescen- numl1er\\\\'. for they were sion they obviously saw her as an upstart. Only one man of consequence five Ihtmyaml against treated her difl\u2019erently: the dealer Joseph Duveen. one thousand of For the first few years of Duveen\u2019s relationship with Arabella, he made (Trtcxtrrit. Nor were the no eifort to sell expensive art to her. Instead he accompanied her to fine stores, chatted endlessly about queens and princesses he knew, on and on. number: ofthe infamr_v At last, she thought, a man who treated her as an equal, even a superior, in less t1i.\\\\[Irt)pnrtitmult'. high society. Meanwhile, if Duveen did not try to sell art to her, he did sub- there lwing forty-five tly educate her in his aesthetic ideas\u2014\u2014n-amely, that the best at was the thousand of Pompey It most expensive art. And after Arabella had soaked up his way of seeing uguimt !WL\u20197t\/\u2018V-(wt) things, Duveen would act as if she always had exquisite taste, even though before she met him her aesthetics had been abysmal. thottsunrl uflho enemy. (The mut day] whilst When Collis Huntington died, in 1900, Arabella came into a fortune. the infantry was thus She suddenly started to buy expensive paintings, by Rembrandt and Velazquez, for exa.rnple\u2014and only from Duveen. Years later Duveen sold sharply engagml in the her Gainsb0rough\u2019s Blue Boy for the highest price ever paid for a work of main battle, on the \/tcmh POInp4:y'.s' horse rode up am,\/irlemly. and npenerl [his cavalry'.s'l ranks very wide, that they might surround the right wing of Caesar. But before they engaged, Caesar's whorls l'll.\\\\\u2019h\u20ac(I out and attacked them, and did not dun their mveltus at a tlistarm\u2019. I1rN\u2018.S\u2018lrlh\u2018(' at the thighv and legs, as they usually did in rlose battle. but aimerl at tlmir frurcx. For thus 275 LAW 33","art at the time, an astounding purchase for a. family that previously had (Yzciar had in; trloczirri shown little interest in collecting. Interpretation them, in ltoper rim: joseph Duveen instantly understood Arabella Huntington and what made young gentlemen, who her tick: She wanted to feel important, at home in society. lntensely inse- cure about her lowerclass background, she needed confirmation of her hurl not known much new social smtus. Duveen waited. lnstead of rushing into trying to per- suade her to collect art, he subtly went to work on her weaknesses. He c\u2018\/flzutrlnr and wounds, but came wearing their made her feel that she deserved his attention not because she was the wife hair long. in zhzvflower nfrheir age and height of one of the wealthiest men in the world but because of her own special of thllll\u2019 beauty, would character--and this completely melted her. Duveen never condescended be more uppre\/1t\u2019r1.s'ive to Arabella; rather than lecturing to her, he instilled his ideas in her indi- afiuch blows, and not rectly. The result was one of his best and most devoted clients, and also the am: for lmzurding hmh sale of The Bhze Bay. a dangrlr II! pr:-smu cum\u2019 1: bleniish far the People\u2019s need for validation and recognition, their need to feel impor~ future, tant, is the best kind of weakness to exploit. First, it is almost universal; sec- And so itpmved, for ond, exploiting it is so very easy. All you have to do is find ways to make they were .m_\/nrfrom people feel better about their taste, their social standing, their intelligence. l.Vc'rzr\u201811-xg the xtmke of Once the fish are hooked, you can reel them in again and again, for rlw javclins, that Iizey yea.rs\u2014\u2014you are filling a positive role, giving them what they cannot get on their own. They may never suspect that you are turning them like a thumb\u00ab could not Slund the screw, and if they do they may not care, because you are making them feel better about themselves, and that is worth any price. sight oft\/rem. but Observance V turned about, and In 1862 King William of Prussia named Otto Von Bismarck premier and covered their 1224,-es to minister for foreign affairs. Bismarck was known for his boldness, his a.rnbi~ tion\u2014~and his interest in strengthening the military. Since Wflliam was sur- xc-cure rhem. ()nm in rounded by liberals in his ghvemment and cabinet, politicians who already wanted to limit his powers, it was quite dangerous for him to put Bismarck rlimrdm; pr:-xemly they in this sensitive position. His wife, Queen Augusta, had tried to dissuade ruined ubom Ia \/iy; and him, but although she usually got her way with him, this time William so most shamcfully stuck to his guns. ruilwd all. For (hm? Only a week after becoming prime minister, Bismarck made an im- who hm] hm! then: promptu speech to a few dozen ministers to convince them of the need to enlarge the army. He ended by saying, \u201cThe great questions of the time back at once will be decided, not by speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by iron and blood.\u201d His speech was immediately disseminated throughout Ger- nmfimzkeri the infamry. and falling on their many. The queen screamed at her husband that Bismarck was a barbaric rear, cu! then: (0 pieces Pompey, who militar-ist who was out to usurp control of Prussia, and that William had to fire him. The liberals in the government agreed with her. The outcry was commanded the r)Ihr=r so vehement that Williarn began to be afraid he would end up on a scaf- wing of the army, whorl fold, like Louis XVI of France, if he kept Bismarck on as prime minister. hr Saw his raw:\/ry rims Bismarck knew he had to get to the king before it was too late. He also broken llfldflfiflg. was no longer lzimself; nor knew he had blundered, and should have tempered his fiery words. Yet as he contemplated his strategy, he decided not to apologize but to do the did he now I'eI11ember exact opposite, Bismarck knew the king well. that he was Pompey the Gmzt, bur, likp one whom some god \/(ml tlepriwd of\/Iii\u2018 s'em'e.i', rt\/Iired In his mu with- out speaking \/1 word, and there ml to (\u2019,.\\\\:]7(\u2019(\u2019I the event. til! the whole army was routed. THE LIFE or l\\\\)!.lUS <\u2018A(=.SAl<. P: v -\\\\!<( H. c A.n.~1o\u2014-12!) LAW 33 279","When the two men met, William, predictably, had been worked into a tizzy by the queen. He reiterated his fear of being guillotined. But Bismarck only replied, \u201cYes, then we shall be dead! We must die sooner or later, and could there be a more respectable way of dying? I should die lighting for the cause of my king and master. Your Majesty would die sealing with your own blood your royal rights granted by God\u2019s graze. Whether upon the scafiold or upon the battlefield makes no difference to the glorious staking of body and life on behalf of rights granted by God\u2019s grace!\u201c On he went, appealing to William\u2019s sense of honor and the majesty of his position as head of the army. How could the king allow people to push him around? Wasn\u2019t the honor of Germany more important than quibbling over words? Not only did the prime minister convince the king to stand up to both his wife and his parliament, he persuaded him to build up the am1y\u2014Bis- matclwfs goal all along. Interpretation Bismarck knew the king felt bullied by those around him. He knew that William had a military background and a deep sense of honor, and that he felt ashamed at his cravenness before his wife and his government. Wdliam secretly yearned to be a great and mighty king, but he dared not express this ambition because he was afraid of ending up like Louis XVI. Where a show of courage often conceals a man\u2019s timidity, William\u2019s timidity con- cealed his need to show courage and thump his chest. Bismarck sensed the longing for glory beneath William\u2019s pacifist front, so he played to the king\u2019s insecurity about his manhood, finally pushing him into three wars and the creation of a German empire. Timidity is a. po- tent weakness to exploit. Timid souls often yearn to be their opposite\u2014\u2014to be Napoleons. Yet they lack the inner strength. You, in essence, can be- come their Napoleon, pushing them into bold actions that serve your needs while also making them dependent on you. Remember: Look to the opposites and never take appearances at face value. Image: The Thumbscrew. Your enemy has secrets that he guards, thinks thoughts he will not reveal. But they come out in ways he cannot help. It is there some where, a groove of weakness on his head, at his heart, over his belly. Once you find the groove, put your thumb in it and turn him at will. 280 LAW 33","Authority: Finzi out each man\u2019s thumbscrew. \\\"l\u2018is the art of setting their wills in action. It needs more skill than resolution. You must know where to get at anyone. Every volition has a special motive which varies according to taste. All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self- interest, must of pleasure. Skill consists in knowing these idols in order to bring them into play. Knowing any man\u2019s rnainspring of motive you have as it were the key to his will. (Baltasar Graci\u00e9n, 1601-1658) REVERSAL Playing on people\u2019s weakness has one significant danger: You may stir up an action you cannot control. In your games of power you always look several steps ahead and plan accordingly. And you exploit the fact that other people are more emotional and incapable of such foresight. But when you play on their vulnerabilities, the areas over which they have least control, you can unleash emotions that will upset your plans. Push timid people into bold action and they may go too far; answer their need for attention or recognition and they may need more than you want to give them. The helpless, childish element you are playing on can turn against you. The more emotional the weakness, the greater the potential danger. Know the limits to this game, then, and never get carried away by your control over your victims. You are after power, not the thrill of control. LAW 33 281","34 BE ROYAL IN YOUR OWN FASHION: ACT LIKE A KING TO BE TREATED LIKE ONE JUDGMENT The way you ccmy yourself will often determine how you are treated: [71, the long mm, appearing vulgar or com- mon will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and zflspires the same xmtimmt in others. By acting regzzlly and confident ofyaur powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear 52 crown.","TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW In July of 1830, a revolution broke out in Paris that forced the king, z'\\\\\/ever [are your Charles X, to abdicate. A commission of the highest authorities in the land gathered to choose a successor, and the man they picked was Louis- self-rre\u00a2\u2018[)ect. nor be too fimu\/far with yourself Philippe, the Duke of Orleans. . when you are alone. I 11 yrmr imegri\/{V ilxr,-If From the beginning it was clear that Louis~Philippe would be a differ be your own rraizdard am kind of king, and not just because he came from a different branch of the royal family, or because he had not inherited the crown but had been of rrclilude. and he more indebted to (he given it, by a commission, putting his legitimacy in question. Rather it was Arvrzrily oj'yuur awn that he disliked ceremony and the trappings of royalty; he had more judgnmit ofyaum-elf friends among the bankers than among the nobility; and his style was not to create a new kind of royal rule, as Napoleon had done, but to downplay than to all external prewpls. Desist from mlsreemly rundurr. his status, the better to mix with the businessmen and middle-class folk rather our of respect for your own virme who had called him to lead. Thus the symbols that came to be associated than for Ike .a\u2018n'i(l1rrr?5 with Louis-Philippe were neither the scepter nor the crown, but the gray cvfexlernal zzurlzoriry. hat and umbrella with which he would proudly walk the streets of Paris, as Come (0 hold yourself if he were a bourgeois out for a stroll. VVhen Louis\u2014Philippe invited James Rothschild, the most important banker in France, to his palace, he treated in awe. and you will him as an equal. And unlike any king before him, not only did he talk busi- have no need of Smear\u2019; zrrmginury tutor. ness with Monsieur Rothschild but that was literally all he talked, for he BAIII.-NS\/\\\\R GRA(~m.\\\\'. 1001 I058 loved money and had amassed a huge fortune. As the reign of the \u201cbourgeois king\u201d plodded on, people came to de spire him. The aristocracy could not endure the sight of an unkingly king, and within a few years they turned on him. Meanwhile the growing class of the poor, including the radicals who had chased out Charles X, found no satisfaction in a ruler who neither acted as a king nor governed as a man of the people. The bankers to whom Louis-Philippe was the most beholden soon realized that it was they who controlled the country, not he, and they treated him with growing contempt. One day, at the start of a train trip or- ganized for the royal family, James Rothschild actually berated him-and iri public-\u2014for being late. Once the king had made news by treating the banker as an equal; now the banker treated the king as an inferior. Eventually the workers\u2019 insurrections that had brought down Louis- Phi1ippe\u2019s predecessor began to ree.-merge, and the king put them down with force. But what was he defending so brutally? Not the institution of the monarchy, which he disdained, nor a democratic republic, which his rule prevented. What he was really defending, it seemed, was his own fortune, and the fortunes of the bankers\u2014-not a way to inspire loyalty among the citizenry. In early 1848, Frenchmen of all classes began to demonstrate for elec- toral reforms that would make the country truly democratic. By February the demonstrations had turned violent. To assuage the populace, Louis- Philippe fired his prime minister and appointed a liberal as a replacement. But this created the opposite of the desired effect: The people sensed they could push the king around. The demonstrations turned into a l'ull~fledged revolution, with gunfire and barricades in the streets. LAW 34 293","On the night of February 23, a crowd of Parisians surrounded the palace. With a suddenness that caught everyone by surprise, Louis- Philippe abdicated that very evening and fled to England. He left no sue\u00bb cessor, nor even the suggestion of one-\u2014his whole government folded up and dissolved like a traveling circus leaving town. Interpretation Louis-Philippe consciously dissolved the aura that natu.rally pertains to kings and leaders. Scoffing at the symbolism of grandeur, he believed a new world was dawning, where rulers should act and be like ordinary citi zens. He was right: A new world, without kings and queens, was certainly on its way. He was profoundly wrong, however, in predicting a change in the dynamics of power. The bourgeois king\u2019s hat and umbrella amused the French at first, but soon grew irritating. People knew that Louis-Philippe was not really like them at all\u2014that the hat and umbrella were essentially a kind of trick to en- courage them in the fantasy that the country had suddenly grown more equal. Actually, though, the divisions of wealth had never been greater. The French expected their ruler to be a bit of a showman, to have some presence. Even a radical like Robespierre, who had briefly come to power during the French Revolution fifty years earlier, had understood this, and cenainly Napoleon, who had turned the revolutionary republic into an im per-ial regime, had known it in his bones. Indeed as soon as Louis\u2014Phi1ippe fled the stage, the French revealed their true desire: They elected Napoleon\u2019s grand-nephew president. He was a virtual unknown, but they hoped he would recreate the great general\u2019s powerful aura, erasing the awkward memory of the \u201cbourgeois king.\u201d Powerful people may be tempted to affect a common-man aura, trying to create the illusion that they and their subjects or underlings are basically the same. But the people whom this false gesture is intended to impress will quickly see through it. They understand that they are not being given more power\u2014\u2014that it only appears as if they shared in the powerful person\u2019s fate. The only kind of common touch that works is the kind ailected by Franklin Roosevelt, a style that said the president shared values and goals with the common people even while he remained a patrician at heart. He never pretended to erase his distance from the crowd. Leaders who try to dissolve that distance through a false chumrniness gradually lose the ability to inspire loyalty, fear, or love. Instead they elicit contempt. Like Louis\u2014Philippe, they are too uninspiring even to be worth the guillotine-\u2014\u2014the best they can do is simply vanish in the night, as if they were never there. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW When Christopher Columbus was trying to find funding for his legendary voyages, many around him believed he came from the Italian aristocracy. This view was passed into history through a biography written after the ex- plorer\u2019s death by his son, which describes him as a descendant of a Count 284 LAW 34","Colombo of the Castle of Cuccaro in Montferrat. Colombo in turn was said Illl'I*m:I,1~,Im..- AT to be descended from the legendary Roman general Colonius, and two of ?4l(I\\\\\u2019().\\\\ his first cousins were supposedly direct descendants of an emperor of Con stantinople. An illustrious background indeed. But it was nothing more In rim mun gwwrminn than illustrious fantasy, for Columbus was actually the son of Domenico rhe \/izmi\/y lwecnrne Colombo, a humble weaver who had opened a wine shop when Christa\u00bb mm]: more ftlmom pher was a young man, and who then made his living by selling cheese. \/Ium before Ilzmugh I\/zr? distinctimr conferred Columbus himself had created the myth of his noble background, be- upnn u by Clam-rlrenm cause from early on he felt that destiny had singled him out for great [he nzusler of .\\\\\u2018ic_wn. things, and that he had a kind of royalty in his blood. Accordingly he acted (.'lt'ix1\/runes . . . had a as if he were indeed descended from noble stock. After an uneventful ca- zlnugltmg Agarzstu, reer as a merchant on 3 commercial vessel, Columbus, Originally from Genoa, settled in Lisbon. Using the fabricated story of his noble back whom he wished to ground, he married into an established Lisbon family that had excellent connections with Portuguese royalty. marry to lite\u2018 best man Through his in\u2014laws, Columbus finagled a meeting with the king of in all (fruece. 30 during Portugahjoao II, whom he petitioned to finance a westward voyage aimed 1\/2\/z 0l'_wrpi4* gxlnmy, in at discovering a shorter route to Asia. In return for announcing that any whirl: he had him. .r\u2019_,s\\\" discoveries he achieved would be made in the kings name, Columbus Ihwanted a series of rights: the title Grand Admiral of the Oceanic Sea; the mm the Chariot race, he office of Viceroy over any lands he found; and 10 percent of the future had a pm\u2018)lir; amumnczh commerce with such lands. All of these rights were to be hereditary and for men! murlc, to the e\/Ierl all time. Columbus made these demands even though he had previously been a mere merchant, he knew almost nothing about navigation, he could that any Greek who not work a quadrant, and he had never led a group of men. In short he had absolutely no qualifications for the journey he proposed. Furthermore, his mcmghr himself good petition included no details as to how he would accomplish his plans, just enough to becunze vague promises. (,\u2018lr:i.v1hcnc.v' .s'rm\u2014in-law \u201cThen Columbus finished his pitch, joao II smiled: He politely de- should presrnt Irirzzwlf clined the offer, but left the door open for the future. Here Columbus must iw\u2018.rherI-becuu.\\\\\u2018e he have noticed something he would never forget: Even as the king turned :\u2018mm(lc\u2018d, willxiri the down the sailor\u2019s demands, he treated them as legitimate. He neither ymr \/ollowirzg the laughed at Columbus nor questioned his background and credentials. In ulrtirilh day, In hr,-Imlh fact the king was impressed by the boldness of Columbus\u2019s requests, and his (1(llIg}l(t\u2019I\u2018 In Jzw clearly felt comfortable in the company of a man who acted so confidently. \/inure husbrmd The meeting must have convinced Columbus that his instincts were cor\u2018 Cl1*is!}rzvu'.v liar! had a rect: By asking for the moon, he had instantly raised his own status, for the king assumed that unless a man who set such a high price on himself were racetrack and .1 mad, which Columbus did not appear to be, he must somehow be worth it. u'r(\u2019xIIing~rir1K i\u2018p(!<'iullv A few years later Columbus moved to Spain. Using his Portuguese fllflt\/(\u2019 for Iris purpose, connections, he moved in elevated circles at the Spanish court, receiving and pmwntly the nu\\\"!- subsidies from illustrious financiers and sharing tables with dukes and am\u2018 begun to nr\/ive\u2014\u2014 every num of (Irerrk princes. To all these men be repeated his request for financing for a voyage nationalily who had to the we-st\u2014\u2014and also for the rights he had demanded from joao II. Some, mrrmtlairzg 11) be \/mmd such as the powerful duke of Medina, wanted to help, but could not, since nf rairlmr in \/1 ix country they lacked the power to grant him the titles and rights he wanted, But or in fiirmx\u00bb\/fl . . . Columbus would not back down. He soon realized that only one person Cl('i.s'1h(.'n\u00a3\u2018.$' began I?)- rzvkilig mclz [\u00ab.z_['rhc \/mnmmur .s'uimrs\/ in turn to nmnc his (mm- rry um! parvn\/:1ge;IIx(-n he kepz r\/rem in }Is'.\\\\\u2018 Iinzme for a year. In get to know man: well. entering mm a2nversa\u2014 mm with (hem S()IIl\u20acA timer singly. .s'()me\u2018Iime5 all mg:-Jlwr, and rmling each. of them for lzir LAW 34 285","manly quuliliztr \u00abml could meet his demands: Queen Isabella. In 1487 he finally managed a meeting with the queen, and although he could not convince her to finance te'm,n\u00a3'r. edumlirm and the voyage, he completely charmed her, and became a frequent guest in the palace. manners. . But my In 1492 the Spanish finally expelled the Moorish invaders who cen- . turies earlier had seized parts of the country. With the wartime burden on mm! impnmml ms! of her treasury lifted, Isabella felt she could finally respond to the demands of her explorer friend, and she decided to pay for three ships, equipment, the all was t\/m\u2018r lnalmvirmr salaries of the crews, and a modest stipend for Columbus. More important, she had a. contract drawn up that granted Columbus the titles and rights on at the dinnurmlilo. All which he had insisted. The only one she denied\u2014\u2014and only in the contract\u2019s this wmz on through- fine print\u2014was the 10 percent of all revenues from any lands discovered: out their wry in Sz't'y(:\/1. an absurd demand, since he wanted no time limit on it. (Had the clause been left in, it would eventually have made Columbus and his heirs the and all {he mm\u2018 he wealthiest family on the planet. Columbus never read the fine print.) enlerraimm\u2018 (hem fraud\u00bb Satisfied that his demands had been met, Columbus set sail that same snmr'iy_ year in search of the passage to Asia. (Before he left he was careful to hire the best navigator he could find to help him get there.) The mission failed For Um\u2019 !t\u2018G.)'t)fl or to find such a passage, yet when Columbus petitioned the queen to finance an even more ambitious voyage the following year, she agreed. By then (n.v,(:\u00a3\u2019lu\u2019I ix\u2018 was the lwo she had come to see Columbus as destined for great things. Allsmiarzs who Interpretation As an explorer Columbus was mediocre at best. He knew less about the lmpmrsed C\/\u20ac{a'rI1en(\u2018.v sea than did the average sailor on his ships, could never determine the lati- most \/'mrnmm'7l_v. and tude and longitude of his discoveries, mistook islands for vast continents, 0\/\\\"Ike Iwn Ti,mrrdw\\\".s' and treated his crew badly. But in one area he was a genius: He knew how to sell himself. How else to explain how the son of a cheese vendor, a. low- sun lIl[)pr)t'lL\u2018l(lL'.\\\\\u2018 mine level sea merchant, managed to ingratiate himself with the highest royal (0 be pre_\/errretl. . . . and aristocratic families? At last l\/H.\u2019 duy curnt\u2019 which had been \/ixwi Columbus had an amazing power to charm the nobility, and it all for the belrrrrlmrl, and came from the way he carried himself. He projected a sense of confidence that was completely out of proportion to his means. Nor was his confidence Clni.n\u2018l1e1irz,r had to the aggressive, ugly selfipromotion of an upsmrt\u2014it was a quiet and calm selflassurance. In fact it was the same confidence usually shown by the no declare his ('iznice. Ile\\\" bility themselves. The powerful in the o1d\u2014style aristocracies felt no need to prove or assert themselves; being noble, they knew they always deserved nmrkczl the day by tin\u2019 more, and asked for it. With Columbus, then, they felt an instant aflinity, sczcrzfice rafa hurztirml for he carried himself just the way they clid\u2014\u2014elevated above the crowd, oxen. and Ilzen grew: ti destined for greatness. great banquet, In whirl: Understand: It is within your power to set your own price. How you not only the .rm'Im'.s\u2018 but carry yourself reflects what you think of yourself. If you ask for little, shuf- fle your feet and lower your head, people will assume this reflects your everyone ufrmte in character. But this behavior is not you\u00bb-\u2014it is only how you have chosen to Sicyvn was invitrszl. present yourself to other people. You can just as easily present the Colum~ bus front: buoyancy, confidence, and the feeling that you were born to When dinner was over. wear a crown. the .\\\\'u[t0r5 lacgzm Ir) cornpcle with (\u2018MC\u2019) allmr in mum\u2018 and in talking in mmpmzy. In both tirtasv at'mm~ [)ll.Y\/llIIL\u2019Ill.\\\\\u2018 II was f1ip;)o<\u2018l1'i'\u00a2z\u2019e.i' who pmvetl by far 1129 zloughiicsl clmmpiurl, until at lam. as more and rrmre wine Wm drunk, he asked Ill!\u2018 fluIt\u2019\u2014[)l{1}'(\u2018I\u2018I(I play him a tune and began m dance to it. Now it may well be than ht,\u2019 rlumsorl to his own .mzis-\/\u2018action; C\u2018leirthene.s\u2018. howevvr, who was wan.\u2018\/ting the perjmnmncc. begun to have .s\u2018eriou\\\\' dmzlrfs about the wlwle larzsiners. Preseml y. after a brirfprizaw. Ilippzrr\/eidtai rm: for :1 table; the table was brought, and 2.56 LAW 34","With all great decsivm there is a noteworthy occummre to which they owe their Ilippo('{oir1<<s'. rlimhing power. In the actual act ofdeception they byare overcome belief in themselves: it is on to it, dancvtrl first this which then speaks so miraculously and campellingly to those mound them. Mwli\u2019 Lucrmmn zlaazces, marl some Attic ones, F7\u201cH\u2019(i7\u201diC}L Nietzr4\u2018Iu.>, I6\u2018-\u2019r\u20184\u2014 I 900 and endnl by mzmlilzg on his\\\" In-ad and Imu- KEYS TO POWER irzg link\u2018 with his legs in As children, we start our lives with great exuberance, expecting and de- 1\/11\u2019 air. The I.z11\u2018mu'an. manding everything from the world. This generally carries over into our first forays into society, as we begin our careers. But as we grow older the and Attic rlwzces were rebuffs and failures we experience set up boundaries that only get firmer with time. Coming to expect less from the world, we accept limitations that but! mough; bur are really self-imposed. \u2018We start to bow and scrape and apologize for even Clei.\\\\\u2018IlLm(e.\\\\\u2018, I\/tough the simplest of requests. The solution Lo such a shrinking of horizons is to he alrmrly lomlzezl I\/11> deliberately force ourselves in the opposite direction-\u2014\u2014to downplay the I\/tough! ofhlwing R failures and ignore the limitations, to make ourselves demand and expect as much as the child. To accomplish this, we must use a particular strategy San -m~1aw like Ahm. upon ourselves. Call it the Strategy of the Crown. new\/'!l1el\u00a2'&r res-rrairxecl The Strategy of the Crown is based on a simple chain of cause and ef- lzimself mm\u2019 nzzmogcd fect: If we believe we are destined for great things, our belief will radiate outward, just as a crown creates an aura around a king. This outward radi- to amid an m,uImr,s.r; ance will infect the people around us, who will think we must have reasons to feel so confident. People who wear crowns seem to feel no inner sense of but win\u00bb: he saw the limits to what they can ask for or what they can accomplish. This too radiates outward. Limits and boundaries disappear. Use the Strategy of the Hippwleidex boating Crown and you will be surprised how often it bears fruit. Take as an exa.m~ time with his legs\u2018, he ple those happy children who ask for whatever they want, and get it. Their could bear 1'! no longer. high expectations are their charm. Adults enjoy granting their wishes-\u2014\u2014just \u201cSari nf Tiyamler. \\\" he as Isabella enjoyed granting the wishes of Columbus. CI\u2018i.(\u2019d, \u201cyou have Throughout history, people of undistinguished birth-\u2014-the Theodora: of dancer! away your \u2018 Byzantium, the Columbuses, the Beethovens, the Disraelis-\u2014\u2014-have managed to work the Strategy of the Crown, believing so firmly in their own greatness \\\" that it becomes a seIf~fulfil1ing prophecy. The trick is simple: Be overcome by your selfibelief. Even while you know you are practicing a kind of de- nmxriagr. ception on yourself, act like a king. You are likely to be treated as one. 'IIHiHL\\\\\\\"!UR1i-'5. The crown may separate you from other people, but it is up to you to HY-:li()l)(>1\u2019L'S. make that separation real: You have to act differently, demonstrating your distance from those around you. One way to emphasize your difference is Fll\\\")\u2018H (T.'\\\\\\\"! may or. to always act with dignity, no matter the circumstance. Louis~Philippe gave no sense of being different from other people\u2014he was the banker king. And the moment his subjects threatened him, he caved in. Everyone sensed this and pounced. Lacking regal dignity and firmness of purpose, Louis-Philippe seemed an impostor, and the crown was easily toppled from his head. Regal bearing should not be confused with arrogance. Arrogance may seem the king\u2019s entitlement, but in fact it betrays insecurity. It is the very opposite of a royal demeanor. LAW :54","Haile Selassie, ruler of Ethiopia for forty or so years beginning in 1930, was once a young man named Lij Tafari. He came from a noble family, but there was no real chance of him coming to power, for he was far down the line of succession from the king then on the throne, Menelik II. Neverthe- less, from an early age he exhibited a self~coufidence and a royal bearing that surprised everyone around him. At the age of fourteen, Tafari went to live at the court, where he imme\u2014 diately impressed Menelik and became his favorite. Tafarfs grace under fire, his patience, and his calm selflassurance fascinated the king. The other young nobles, arrogant, blustery, and envious, would push this slight, bookish teenager around. But he never got angry-\u2014-that would have been a sign of insecurity, to which he would not stoop. There were already people around him who felt he would someday rise to the top, for he acted as if he were already there. Years later, in 1936, when the Italian Fascists had taken over Ethiopia and Tafari, now called Haile Selassie, was in exile, he addressed the League of Nations to plead his country\u2019s case. The Italians in the audience heckled him with vulgar abuse, but he maintained his dignified pose, as if com- pletely unaffected. This elevated him while making his opponents look even uglier. Dignity, in fact, is invariably the mask to assume under difficult circumstances: It is as if nothing can affect you, and you have all the time in the world to respond. This is an extremely powerful pose. A royal demeanor has other uses. Con artists have long known the value of an aristocratic front; it either disazms people and makes them less suspicious, or else it intimidates them and puts them on the defensive\u2014\u2014\u2014and as Count Victor Lustig knew, once you put a sucker on the defensive he is doomed. The con man Yellow Kid Well, too, would often assume the trap pings of a man of wealth, along with the nonchalance that goes with them. Alluding to some magical method of making money, he would stand aloof, like a king, exuding confidence as if he really were fabulously rich. The suckers would beg to be in on the con, to have a chance at the wealth that he so clearly displayed. Finally, to reinforce the inner psychological tricks involved in project- ing a royal demeanor, there are outward strategies to help you create the effect. First, the Columbus Strategy: Always make a bold demand. Set your price high and do not waver. Second, in a dignified way, go after the high- est person in the building. This immediately puts you on the same plane as the chief executive you are attacking. It is the David and Goliath Strategy: By choosing a great opponent, you create the appearance of greatness. Third, give a gift of some sort to those above you. This is the strategy of those who have a patron: By giving your patron a gift, you are essentially saying that the two of you are equal. It is the old con game of giving so that you can take. When the Renaissance writer Pietro Aretino wanted the Duke of Mantua as his nerd patron, he knew that if he was slavish and sycophantic, the duke would think him unworthy; so he approached the duke with gifts, in this case paintings by the wn\u2018ter\u2019s good friend Titian. 288 LAW 34","Accepting the gifts created a kind of equality between duke and writer: The duke was put at ease by the feeling that he was dealing with a man of his own aristocratic stamp. He funded Aretino generously. The gift strategy is subtle and brilliant because you do not beg: You ask for help in a dignified way that implies equality between two people, one of whom just happens to have more money. Remember: It is up to you to set your own price. As}: for less and that is just what you will get Ask for more, however, and you send a signal that you are worth a king\u2019s ransom. Even those who turn you down respect you for your confidence, and that respect will eventually pay off in ways you cannot imagine. Image: The Crown. Place it upon your head and you assume a different pose\u2014\u2014tranqui1 yet radiating assurance. Never show doubt, never lose your dignity beneath the crown, or it will not fit. It will seem to be destined for one more worthy. Do not wait for a coronation; the great\u00bb est emperors crown themselves. Authority: Everyone should be royal after his own fashion. Let all your actions, even though they are not those of a king, be, in their own sphere, worthy of one. BC sublime in your deeds, lofty in your thoughts; and in all your doings Show that you deserve to be a king even though you are not one in reality. (Baltasar Gracizin, l60l~lC>58) LAW 34 289","R EV E RSAL The idea behind the assumption of regal confidence is to set yourself apart from other people, but if you take this too far it will be your undoing. Never make the mistake of thinking that you elevate yourself by humiliat- ing people. Also, it is never a good idea to loom too high above the crowcl\u2014you make an easy target. And there are times when an aristocratic pose is eminently dangerous. Charles I, king of England during the 16405, faced a profound public disenchantment with the institution of monarchy. Revolts erupted through\u00bb out the country, led by Oliver Cromwell. Had Charles reacted to the times with insight, supporting reforms and making a show of sacrificing some of his power, history might have been different. Instead he reverted to an even more regal pose, seeming outraged by the assault on his power and on the divine institution of monarchy. His stiff kingliness offended people and spurred on their revolts. And eventually Charles lost his head, literally Understand: You are radiating confidence, not arrogance or disdain. Finally, it is true that you can sometimes find some power through af- fecting a kind of earthy vulgarity, which will prove amusing by its extreme- ness. But to the extent that you win this game by going beyond the limits, separating yourself from other people by appearing even more vulgar than they are, the game is dangerous: There will always be people more vulgar than you, and you will easily be replaced the following season by someone younger and worse. 290 LAW 34","LAW 35 MASTER THE ART OF TIMING \u2018JUDGMENT Never seem to be in a hurrjv\u2014\u2014h'wr1ying betrays a lack of control aver yourselfi and over time. Always seem fra- tient, as 2]\\\" you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; snijj\u2019 out the spirit cflhe limes, tke tmnak that will sang; you to power. Leam to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to smkefiercely when it has reachedfmition. 291",".-l}R'H>l{ll l I-\u2018:~~;4>\\\\ OBSERVAN CE OF THE LAW S(\u2019IN)VIlL\\\\' \u2018K strmgtlt wax Starting out in life as a nondescript French seminary-school teacher, Joseph now Itlpltlly tm~reast'rt,q, Fouch\u00e9 wandered from town to town for most of the decade of the 17805, for all the tribes lretweeh. the Ebro imr) teaching mathematics to young boys. Yet he never completely committed himself to the church, never took his vows as a pn'est\u2014he had bigger plans. the I\u2019yrt*nec.\\\\' (It\/lint\u2019 over Patiently waiting for his chance, he kept his options open. And when the to his Sllle, and troops French Revolution broke out, in 1789, Fouch\u00e9 waited no longer: He got rid of his cassock, grew his hair long, and became a revolutionary. For this was <'urm:jlncltt'rtg rluily to join him from every the spirit of the times. To miss the boat at this critical moment could have spelt disaster. Fouch\u00e9 did not miss the boat: Befriending the revolutionary quarter. \/it the sunte leader Robespierre, he quickly rose in the rebel ranks. In 1792 the town of time\u2019 he was troubled Nantes elected Fouch\u00e9 to be its representative to the National Convention by the luck ofdisciplttte (created that year to frame a new constitution for a French republic). and the ()V(\u2019VCl)I\u2019Z\/ldfllltft\u2019 When Fouch\u00e9 arrived in Paris to take his seat at the convention, a vio- aftlim\u00e9r newly arrived lent rift had broken out between the moderates and the radical Jacobins. lmrhttrium. who would Fouch\u00e9 sensed that in the long run neither side would emerge victorious. Power rarely ends up in the hands of those who start a revolution, or even slxrmt at him tn atturk of those who further it; power sticks to those who bring it to a conclusion. the erterny and had no That was the side Fouch\u00e9 wanted to be on. paticnte with his tlolttyu His sense of timing was uncanny. He started as a moderate, for moderv ates were in the majority. When the time came to decide on whether or not mg luL\u2018l'lC.\\\\', and he to execute Louis XVI, however, he saw that the people were clamoring for the king\u2019s head, so he cast the deciding vote~\u2014for the guillotine. Now he Ih(?t'(f_ltH\u2018(\u2018, tried to win had become a radical. Yet as tensions came to the boil in Paris, he foresaw them (IVCY by tlrgtumvlt. the danger of being too closely associated with any one faction, so he ac- But wlwn he saw that cepted a position in the provinces, where he could lie low for a while. A few months later he was assigned to the post of proconsul in Lyons, where they were dixcrmterttcd and pt\u2019V.\\\\\u2018i.\\\\It\u2019tl in pren- he oversaw the execution of dozens of aristocrats. At a certain moment, im; their (Iernantls however, he called a halt to the killings, sensing that the mood of the coun- regurtllen of the ny was turning\u2014and despite the blood already on his hands, the citizens of Lyons hailed him as a savior from what had become known as the Terror. (\u2018lrt\u2019tlm.\\\\\u2018l(,lt'll.\u2019\u00a3\u2019.,\\\\\u2019, he let So far Fouch\u00e9 had played his cards brilliantly, but in 1794 his old them have their way friend Robespierre recalled him to Paris to account for his actions in Lyons. and alltrvwtl them to Robespierre had been the driving force behind the Terror. He had sent heads on both the right and the left rolling, and Fouch\u00e9, whom he no engage the L-rmny; he longer trusted, seemed destined to provide the next head. Over the next few weeks, a tense struggle ensued: While Robespierre railed openly hopml that they would against Fouch\u00e9, accusing of him dangerous ambitions and calling for his ar\u00bb suffer 4! severe defeat rest, the crafty Fouch\u00e9 worked more indirectly, quietly gaining support without htetng among those who were beginning to tire of Robespierre\u2019s dictatorial con- ttotitpletcly crushvd, trol. Fouch\u00e9 was playing for time. He knew that the longer he survived, the more disaffected citizens he could rally against Robespierre. He had to and that this would have broad support before he moved against the powerful leader. He ral- lied support among both the moderates and the jacobins, playing on the malcr tlzrm better widespread fear of Robespierre-\u2014everyone was afraid of being the next to go to the guillotine. It all came to fruition on July 27: The convention di.\\\\'p0.\\\\'ed to obey his orttcrs in j't\u00a2turz*, The event turned Uut as he exporter! and St-r\u2018tu\u2014 rius ctzrrw to llllflt Vcflflll\u2019. provirlrccl a rallying point for the [llglllH\u2018.&\u2018, and led them safely brick in his ('tmtp. Hi.\\\\\u2018 rzextstcp was to revive tltcir (le;'t*cIm'l spirits, amt so at few days later ho summoned [I general a.\\\\\u2018,\\\\\u2019(',ml)l}\u2018. BC_l(Irtf it he produced two ltrtrsex, one o\/\\\"them old and (\u2018Ilfl\u2018t\u2019hl\u00a3\u2019ll, the ntlwr large and lusty tlrlll 292 LAW 3 5","turned against Robespierre, shouting down his usual lengthy speech. He possesxing a flowing was quickly arrested, and a few days later it was Robespierre\u2019s head, not mil, which was remark- Fouch\u00e9\u2019s, that fell \u2018into the basket. able for the thickness and baauqv ofits flair. Wlhen Fouch\u00e9 returned to the convention after Robespien-e\u2019s death, he By the sirlc ofthe weak played his most unexpected move: Having led the conspiracy against Robespierre, he was expected to sit with the moderates, but lo and behold, Item: slood a tall he once again changed sides, joining the radical Jacobins. For perhaps the first time in his life he aligned himself with the minority. Clearly he sensed jrrrmg man. and by the- a reaction stirring: He knew that the moderate faction that had executed ride of the povmrful horse a short man of Robespierre, and was now about to take power, would initiate a new round mmn plxyslqne. At 1: of the Terror, this time against the radicals. In siding with the jacobins, xignal rim strong man then, Fouch\u00e9 was sitting with the martyrs of the days to eome\u2014the people seized the mil afhii horse and tried with all who would be considered blameless in the troubles that were on their way. his .$'lYE\u2019fl[{[]l to pull it Taking sides with what was about to become the losing team was a risky inwards him, as if 10 gambit, of course, but Fouch\u00e9 must have calculated he could keep his head tear it of}: while the long enough to quietly stir up the populace against the moderates and weak man began I!) watch them fall from power. And indeed, although the moderates did call pull [he hairs one by for his arrest in December of 1795, and would have sent him to the guillo~ one from the tail of the line, too much time had passed. The executions had become unpopular with the people, and Fouch\u00e9 survived the swing of the pendulum one more strong lim-sr.e. time. The strong man, after tugging with ull his A new government took over, the Directoire. It was not, however, a might to no purpose and (\u2018during the specta- jacobin government, but a moderate one-\u2014\u2014\u2014more moderate than the gov\u2018 Iwas\u2018 it great deal of emment that had reimposed the Terror. Fouch\u00e9, the radical, had kept his head, but now he had to keep a low profile. He waited patiently on the amusmzwnl in the sidelines for several years, allowing time to soften any bitter feelings against him, then he approached the Directoire and convinced them he protresmfirlully gave up had a new passion: intelligencegathering. He became a paid spy for the government, excelled at the job, and in 1799 was rewarded by being made tlw attempt, while the minister of police. Now he was not just empowered but required to extend his spying to every corner of Fra.nce\u2014-~a responsibility that would greatly weak man quirkly and reinforce his natural ability to sniff out where the wind was blowing. One of the first social trends he detected, in fact, came in the person of with very little trouble Napoleon, a brash young general whose destiny he right away saw was en- .3\u2018!l\u2018l[Ip\u00a2\u2019\u00a2l his hr_vrse\u2019s tail twined with the future of France. When Napoleon unleashed a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat, (romp\/elely bare. There on November 9, 1799, Fouch\u00e9 pretended to be asleep. Indeed he slept the whole day. For this indirect assistance-\u00abit might have been thought his job, .S'm\u2018t(>rizl.r rate to his after all, to prevent a military coup-\u2014Napoleou kept him on as minister of police in the new regime. feet and said, \u201cNow you can 381\u2019. nay\u2018 friemis\u2019 Over the next few years, Napoleon came to rely on Fcmch\u00e9 more and and allies. (I111! perse- more. He even gave this former revolutionary a title, duke of Otranto, and rewarded him with great wealth. By 1808, however, Fouch\u00e9, always at- verance is more effrc\u00bb tuned to the times, sensed that Napoleon was on the downswing. His futile rive I\/mu hrulc strength, war with Spain, a country that posed no threat to France, was a sign that he and that (here are many was losing a sense of proportion. Never one to be caught on a sinking ship, difficulllex thul (armor Fouch\u00e9 conspired with Talleyrand to bring about Napoleon\u2019s downfall. Al\u2014 be overcome if you try 10 do mmrything at once. but which will yield lfyuu master them little by little. The truth is that a steady continu0u.\\\\' effort is irresistible, for this is the way in. which Time captures and sarbdrms the grremesz powers on eanh. Now Time, you yhaultl remmwer, is a good friend and ally I0 tli().s'z,' who use their liztelliglance In C\/10().$'(\u20ac the right moment. but a marl dangerous enemy LAW 35 293","to thosze wlm rush int!) though the conspiracy failed\u2014Talleyrand was fired; Fouch\u00e9 stayed, but action at the wrong was kept on a tight leash\u2014it publicized a growing discontent with the em- peror, who seemed to be losing control. By 1814 Napoleon\u2019s power had \\\" crumbled and allied forces finally conquered him. (me. The next government was a restoration of the monarchy, in the form of King Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI. Fouch\u00e9, his nose always sniff- LIFE or SERTORIUS. ing the air for the next social shift, knew Louis would not last long\u2014he had PLLTARCH. none of Napoleon's flair. Fouch\u00e9 once again played his waiting game, lying c A1). 46-120 low, staying away from the spotlight. Sure enough, in February of 1815, Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba, where he had been imprisoned. Mr. S\/iih had two sons: Louis XVIII panicked: His policies had alienated the citizenry, who were clamoring for Nap0leon\u2019s return. So Louis turned to the one man who om: loved lreumi1zg.\u2018tIiv could maybe have saved his hide, Fouch\u00e9, the former radical who had sent othrr war. Thefirst his brother, Louis XVI, to the guillotine, but was now one of the most pop- ular and widely admired politicians in France. Fouch\u00e9, however, would not cxpourided his mom! side with a loser: He refused Louis\u2019s request for help by pretending that his teachings at the help was unnecessaiy\u2014by swearing that Napoleon would never return to power (although he knew otherwise). A short time later, of course, rttlnziring court of Ch \u2019i Napoleon and his new citizen army were closing in on Paris. and was made a tutor. Seeing his reign about to collapse, feeling that Fouch\u00e9 had betrayed while the second talked him, and certain that he did not want this powerful and able man on strategy at the helli('o.\\\\*e Napoleon\u2019s team, King Louis ordered the Ini.n.ister\u2019s arrest and execution. On March 16, 1815, policemen surrounded Fouch\u00e9\u2019s coach on a Paris court of Ch \\\":4 and was boulevard. Was this finally his end? Perhaps, but not immediately: Fouch\u00e9 made it gerwriii. '1'\/te told the police that an exvmember of government could not be arrested on the street. They fell for the story and allowed him to retum home. Later impecuniour Mr. Mcng, that day, though, they came to his house and once again declared him lwrtring nfthari\u00e9 under arrest. Fouch\u00e9 nodded\u2014but would the officers be so kind as allow a successes, sent his own gentleman to wash and to change his clothes before leaving his house for two .S\u2018!)lL\\\\\u2018 out to follow the last time? They gave their permission, Fouch\u00e9 left the room, and the thc example of tin\u2019 minutes went by. Fouch\u00e9 did not return. Finally the policemen went into Shih bays. Thejirst the next room\u2014where they saw a ladder against an open window, leading down to the garden below. expmmdcd his mom] tmching.s' at the mm\u2018! That day and the next the police combed Paris for Fouch\u00e9, but by then afCh\u2019a'rz, but the King Napoleon\u2019s cannons were audible in the distance and the king and all the king\u2019s men had to flee the city. As soon as Napoleon entered Paris, Fouch\u00e9 of C\/fin will.\u2019 \u201cAt came out of hiding. He had cheated the executioner once again. Napoleon present flu: states are greeted his former minister of police and gladly restored him to his old quarrr,-ling violently post. During the 100 days that Napoleon remained in power, until Water- loo, it was essentially Fouch\u00e9 who governed France. Alter Napoleon fell, and everyv prince is busy arming his troops Louis XVIII returned to the throne, and like a cat with nine lives, Fouch\u00e9 to the teeth. If I stayed on to serve in yet another goVemment\u2014by then his power and in- followed this prigir fluence had grown so great that not even the king dared challenge him. pratings WK\u2019 .\\\\\u2018lH)Lil(l Interpretation soon be annihilated.\\\" In a period of unprecedented turmoil, Joseph Fouch\u00e9 thrived through his mastery of the art of timing. He teaches us a number of key lessons. So he had the fellow castrated. Meanwhile. the .im'0nrl bmtlurr tiispliiyezl his military genius at the court of Wci. But thn King of Wei said: \u201cllrlirze is :1 weak riatra. l\/\u2018I ftfliell on farce imzeati of dzplormtcy, we rlzould soon be wiped out. If,\\\" on ilw mlicr hand, I let this fire-eater go, hr will offer his .\\\\'ervice:; to another start: and than 294 LAW 35","First, it is critical to recognize the spirit of the times. Fouch\u00e9 always we shall be in trouble. \u201d looked two steps ahead, found the wave that would carry him to power, and rode it. You must always work with the times, anticipate twists and So he\u2019 had the fellows turns, and never miss the boat. Sometimes the spirit of the times is obscure: feet on! off B0111 farm\u2018- Recognize it not by what is loudest and most obvious in it, but by what lies lies did exa(\u2018tl_y lhc hidden and dormant. Look forward to die Napoleons of the future rather same thing, but one than holding on to the ruins of the past. timer! it right, the other Second, recognizing the prevailing winds does not necessarily mean wrong. Thus ,\\\\'uC(:(2.r.s' running with them. Any potent social movement creates a powerful reac- tion, and it is wise to anticipate what that reaction will be, as Fouch\u00e9 did depends on . . . rhythm. after the execution of Robespierre. Rather than ride the cresting wave of the moment, wait for the tide\u2019s ebb to carry you back to power. Upon occa~ Lit}-1 T71 ll.0'l\u2018l\u2014'.l) lN sion bet on the reaction that is brewing, and place yourself in the vanguard rm; cu . L. LOOKING GLASS. of it. DENNIS Bi.o0owoR'rH, 1967 Finally, Fouch\u00e9 had remarkable patience. Without patience as your sword and shield, your timing will fail and you will inevitably find yourself The sullan \/of Persia] aloser. When the times were against Fouch\u00e9, he did not struggle, get emo- tional, or strike out rashly. He kept his cool and maintained a low profile, had sentenced two men patiently building support among the citizenry, the bulwark in his next rise to power. Whenever he found himself in the weaker position, he played for to death. One of \/hem, time, which he knew would always be his ally if he was patient. Recognize knowing how much the the moment, then, to hide in the grass or slither under a rock, as well as the Sltltflll loved his rm]- moment to bare your fangs and attack. lizm, offered to teach Space we can recover, time never. the home to fly within a year in return for his N:1;tmle07: Bomzpanle, 1 769-1821 life. The sulmn,fancy\u2014 mg \/zirn.s*el\/\u2018as the ridcr KEYS TO POWER of the 0f1lyfl_YlI1g horse in Ihe world, agreed, Time is an artificial concept that we ourselves have created to make the The other prisoner limitlessness of eternity and the universe more bearable, more human. looked at his friend in Since we have constructed the concept of time, we are also able to mold it disbelief \u201cYou know horses don \u2018rfly. What to some degree, to play tricks with it. The time of a child is long and slow, with vast expanses; the time of an adult whizzes by frighteningly fast. made you come up Time, then, depends on perception, which, we know, can be willfully al- with 4: crazy idea likc tered. This is the first thing to understand in mastering the art of timing. If the inner turmoil caused by our emotions tends to make time move faster, that? You\u2018re only post\u2014 porting Ihc inevitable.\\\" it follows that once we control our emotional responses to events, time will \u201cNot So,\\\" Xllill the \/first prisoner]. \\\"I have acm- move much more slowly. This altered way of dealing with things tends to ally given myselffaur lengthen our perception of future time, opens up possibilities that fear and chances forfreedom. anger close off, and allows us the patience that is the principal requirement First, the sultan might in the art of timing. die rlurmg the year. Second, I might die. There are three kinds of time for us to deal with; each presents prob- Third, the horse might lems that can be solved with skill and practice. First there is long time: the rlie.AnrlfourIh . , . I drawn\u00bbout, years\u2014long kind of time that must be managed with patience might teach the horse and gentle guidance. Our handling of long time should be mostly defen- Io,\/ly!\\\" sive\u2014this is the art of not reacting impulsively, of waiting for opportunity. [HE CRAFI\u2018 or-\u2018 POWER. R. G. H. Sim, 1979 LAW 35 295","Till\u2018, l'Ri?l\\\"l' KM) Next there is fimed time: the short\u2014term time that we can manipulate as an offensive weapon, upsetting the timing of our opponents. Finally there is HIE (Ll \u00a7\u00a7\u20ac.'l~i(),\\\\ end lime, when a plan must be executed with speed and force. We have A ftlvlwrmmz in the waited, found the moment, and must not hesitate. month of May .r(tmcl angltng on the bank of Long Time. The famous seventeenth-century Ming painter Chou Yung (Int Tltames with rm relates a story that altered his behavior forever. Late one winter afternoon arr!\/lcitzlfly. He threw he set out to visit a town that lay across the river from his own town. He was bringing some important books and papers with him and had commis- his bail with so Inuch sioned a young boy to help him carry them. As the ferry neared the other side of the river, Chou Yung asked the boatman if they would have time to an, that 4: young rmm get to the town before its gates closed, since it was a mile away and night wax rurftmg ruwrzm\u2019 it, was approaching. The boatman glanced at the boy, and at the bundle of loosely tied papers and books-\u201cYes,\u201d he replied, \u201cif you do not walk too when she was fast.\u201d prevetztzrl by hm\u2018 As they started out, however, the sun was setting. Afraid of being tmvrhrr. \u201cNavcr. \\\"mid locked out of the town at night, prey to local bandits, Chou and the boy walked faster and faster, finally breaking into a run. Suddenly the string rile, \u201cmy chtld, be too around the papers broke and the documents scattered on the ground. It precipitate, when: there took them many minutes to put the packet together again, and by the time they had reached the city gates, it was too late. ix ll po.r.\\\\'t'bili(_v of danger. Take due Itme When you force the pace out of fear and impatience, you create a nest to consider, ltefore you of problems that require fixing, and you end up taking much longer than if you had taken your time. Hurriers may occasionally get there quicker, but risk an action aim: ntny papers fly everywhere, new dangers arise, and they find themselves in con- stant crisis mode, fixing the problems that they themselves have created. tie\/\\\"am! How know Sometimes not acting in the face of danger is your best move\u00bb-you wait, you deliberately slow down. As time passes it will eventually present op you whether yon portunities you had not imagined. tlppmtlailcz\u2019 hr imlr.-ed a Waiting involves controlling not only your own emotions but those of fly. or Ihte snare ofan your colleagues, who, mistaking acfion for power, may try to push you into unetny? Let someone making rash moves. In your rivals, on the other hand, you can encourage else make the expert? this same mistake: If you let them rush headlong into trouble while you mm: before you. Ifit stand back and wait, you will soon find ripe moments to intervene and pick up the pieces. This wise policy was the principal strategy of the great early- be u\/i\u2019)=, he will very seventeenthcentury emperor Tokugawa Ieyasu ofjapan. When his prede~ p!\u2018()b(\u00a3[71}' elude the fin: cessor, the headstrong Hideyoshi, whom he served as 3. general, staged a rash invasion of Korea, leyasu did not involve himself. He knew the inva- tzlmck: and the Secottd sion would be a disaster and would lead to Hideyoshfs downfall, Better to stand patiently on the sidelines, even fin many years, and then be in position may be made, iftmt to seize power when the time is rightmexactly what Ieyasu did, with great with sitccesx. at least anistry. with .st1fe1y.\\\" You do not deliberately slow time down to live longer, or to take more Shit had no stmmtr spo- pleasure in the moment, but the better to play the game of power. First, when your mind is uncluttered by constant emergencies you will see fur\u00bb lmn,1hmz a gttdgeon ther into the future. Second, you will be able to resist the baits that people suizecl the pretended fly. and becmne mt exanxplc to the giddy tlaughrer oflhe impor- tance of her mother\\\": counsel. r\/xnuas. ROBERT Donsmv. 1'\/tl3\u2014l 764","dangle in front of you, and will keep yourself from becoming another im~ patient sucker. Third, you will have more room to be flexible. Opportuni- ties will inevitably arise that you had not expected and would have missed had you forced the pace. Fourth, you will not move from one deal to the next without completing the first one. To build your power\u2019s foundation can take years; make sure that foundation is secure. Do not be a flash in the pan\u2014-\u00absuccess that is built up slowly and surely is the only kind that lasts. Finally, slowing time down will give you a perspective on the times you live in, letting you take a certain distance and putting you in a less emotionally charged position to see the shapes of things to come. Hurriers will often mistake surface phenomena for a real trend, seeing only what they want to see. How much better to see what is really happening, even if it is unpleasant or makes your task harder. Forced Time. The trick in forcing time is to upset the timing of others-\u2014\u2014t0 make them hurry, to make them wait, to make them abandon their own pace, to distort their perception of time. By upsetting the timing of your op~ ponent while you stay patient, you open up time for yourself, which is half the game. In 1473 the great Turkish sultan Mehmed the Conqueror invited nego- tiations with Hungary to end the elf-andam war the two countries had waged for years. When the Hungarian emissary arrived in Turkey to start the talks, Turkish officials humbly apologized\u2014\u2014Mehmed had just left Istan- bul, the capital, to battle his longtime foe, Uzun Hasan. But he urgently wanted peace with Hungary, and had asked that the emissary join him at the front. When the emissary anived at the site of the fighting, Mehmed had al- ready left it, moving eastward in pursuit of his swift foe. This happened several times. Wherever the emissary stopped, the Thrks lavished gifts and banquets on him, in pleasurable but timeconsuming ceremonies. Finally Mehrned defeated Uzun and met with the emissary. Yet his terms for peace with Hungary were excessively harsh. After a few days, the negotiations ended, and the usual stalemate remained in place. But this was fine with Mehmecl. In fact he had planned it that way all along: Plotting his cam- paign against Uzun, he had seen that diverting his armies to the east would leave his western flank vulnerable. To prevent Hungary from taking advan\u00bb tage of his weakness and his preoccupation elsewhere, he flrst dangled the lure of peace before his enemy, then made them wait\u00bb-all on his own terms. Making people wait is a powerful way of forcing time, as long as they do not figure out what you are up to. You control the clock, they linger in limbowand rapidly come unglued, opening up opportunities for you to strike. The opposite effect is equally powerful: You make your opponents hurry. Start off your dealings with them slowly, then suddenly apply pres- sure, making them feel that everything is happening at once. People who lack the time to think will make mistakes-\u2014so set their deadlines for them.","This was the technique Machiavelli admired in Cesare Borgia, who, during negotiations, would suddenly press vehemently for a decision, upsetting his opponent\u2019s timing and patience. For who would dare make Cesare wait? Joseph Duveen, the famous art dealer, knew that if he gave an indeci- sive buyer like John D. Rockefeller a deadline\u00bb-the painting had to leave the country, another tycoon was interested in it\u2014the client would buy just in time. Freud noticed that patients who had spent years in psychoanalysis without improvement would miraculously recover just in time if he fixed a definite date for the end of the therapy. Jacques Lacan, the famous French psychoanalyst, used a variation on this tactic\u2014he would sometimes end the customary hour session of therapy after only ten minutes, without warning. After this happened several times, the patient would realize that he had better make maximum use of the time, rather than wasting much of the hour with a lot of talk that meant nothing. The deadline, then, is a pow- erful tool. Close off the vistas of indecision and force people to make up their damn minds or get to the point\u2014never let them make you play on their excruciating terms. Never give them time. Magicians and showmen are experts in forcing time. Houdini could often wriggle free of handcuffs in minutes, but he would draw the escape out to an hour, making the audience sweat, as time came to an apparent standstill. Magicians have always known that the best way to alter our pet- ception of time is often to slow down the pace. Creating suspense brings time to a terrifying pause: The slower the magician\u2019s hands move, the eas- ier it is to create the illusion of speed, making people think the rabbit has appeared instantaneously. The great nineteenthcentury magician _]ean\u2014Eu\u2014 gene Robert~Houdin took explicit notice of this effect: \u201cThe more slowly a story is told,\u201d he said, \u201cthe shorter it seems.\u201d Going slower also makes wha). you are doing more interesting\u00bb-the audience yields to your pace, becomes entranced. It is a state in which time whizzes delightfully by. You must practice such illusions, which share in the hypnotisfs power to alter perceptions of time. End Time. You can play the game with the utmost artistry\u2014--waiting pa- tiently for the right moment to act, putting your competitors off their form by messing with their timing~\u2014-but it won\u2019t mean a thing unless you know how to finish. Do not be one of those people who look like paragons of pa\u00ab tieuce but are actually just afraid to bring things to a close: Patience is worthless unless combined with a willingness to fall ruthlessly on your op- ponent at the right moment. You can wait as long as necessary for the con clusion to come, but when it comes it must come quickly. Use speed to paralyze your opponent, cover up any mistakes you might make, and im- press people with your aura of authority and finality. With the patience of a snake charmer, you draw the snake out with calm and steady rhythms. Once the snake is out, though, would you dangle your foot above its deadly head? There is never a good reason to allow the 298 LAW 3.1","slightest hitch in your endgame. Your mastery of timing can really only be judged by how you work with end time\u2014\u2014-how you quickly change the pace and bring things to a swift and definitive conclusion. Image: The Hawk. Patiently and silently it circles the sky, high above, allxseeing with its powerful eyes. Those below have no awareness that they are being tracked. Suddenly, when the moment arrives, the hawk swoops down with a speed that cannot be de fancied against; before its prey knows what has happened, the bird\u2018s viselike talons have carried it up into the sky. Authority: There is a tide in the affairs of men, \/ Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; I\u2019 Omitted, all the voyage of their life \/ Is bound in shallows and in miseries. (julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, 1564-1616) REVERSAL There is no power to be gained in letting go of the reins and adapting to whatever time brings. To some degree you must guide time or you will be its merciless Victim. There is accordingly no reversal to this law. LAW\u2019 51 5 .900","36 DISDAIN THINGS YOU CANNOT HAVE: IGNORING THEM IS THE BEST REVENGE _]UDGMEN'I\u2018 By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The meme altentirm you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try tofiic it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show mntemptfai it. The less interest you reveal, the more supenbryou seem. 300","TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW HI; I\u2018().\u2018\\\\ :\\\\.\\\\I) \u2018lllli tIR.r\\\\l\u2019l'..\u2018s' The Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa started out as the chief of a gang of \/l starving fox . . . bandits, but after revolution broke out in Mexico in 1910, he became a. saw :1 cluster kind of folk hero\u2014robbing trains and giving the money to the poor, lead ing daring raids, and charming the ladies with romantic escapades. His ex- Of lurriour-looking ploits fascinated Americans\u2014he seemed a man from another era, part grapes ofpurplish. Robin Hood, part Don Juan. After a few years of bitter fighting, however, General Carranza emerged as the victor in the Revolution; the defeated luster Villa and his troops went back home, to the northern state of Chihuahua. His army dwindled and he turned to banditry again, damaging his popu- Dangling ubuve him an larity. Finally, perhaps out of desperation, he began to rail against the a lrelliscvfrume. United States, the gringos, whom he blamed for his troubles. He would have dearly liked lhem for hir In March of 1916, Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico. Ram\u00bb lunch, paging through the town, he and his gang killed seventeen American sol- But when he tried and diers and civilians. President Woodrow Wilson, like many Americans, had admired Villa; now, however, the bandit needed to be punished. Wilson\u2019s failed to reach the advisers urged him to send troops into Mexico to capture Villa. For a power as large as the United States, they argued, not to strike back at an bunch: army that had invaded its territory would send the worst kind of signal. \u201cAh well, it\u2019s more than Furthermore, they continued, many Americans saw Wilson as a pacifist, a principle the public doubted as a response to violence; he needed to prove likely the_v\u2019re not his mettle and manliness by ordering the use of force. Sweet- The pressure on Wflson was strong, and before the month was out, (load only for grew: with the approval of the Carranza government, he sent an army of ten fools 1:) eat.\u2019 \\\" thousand soldiers to capture Pancho Villa. The venture was called the Warn\u2019! he wise to my Punitive Expedition, and its leader was the dashing General john Persh- they were unripe ing, who had defeated guerrillas in the Philippines and Native Americans in the American Southwest. Certainly Pershing could find and overpower Rather than whine Pancho Villa. and gripe? The Punitive Expedition became a sensational story, and carloads of FAELES. US. reporters followed Pershing into action. The campaign, they wrote, JEAN DE LA F<)N'IAlNI\u20ac. would be a test of American power. The soldiers carried the latest in 16214695 weaponry, communicated by radio, and were supported by reconnais- Once when G. K. Fliesterronlr ecrmorrzic sance from the air. views were abu.\\\\'t'd in In the first few months, the troops split up into small units to comb the prim by George wilds of northern Mexico. The Americans offered a $50,000 rewmd for in- Bernard Shaw, his friends waited in vain fonnation leading to Villa\u2019s capture. But the Mexican people, who had for him to reply. been disillusioned with Villa when he had returned to banditry, now idol- ized him for facing this mighty American army. They began to give Persh- Htrtoriurz Hiluire ing false leads: Villa had been seen in this village, or in that mountain hideaway, airplanes would be dispatched, troops would scurry after them, Belloc re-pmached him. and no one would ever see him. The wily bandit seemed to be always one \\\"My dear Bellov, \\\" step ahead of the American military. Chesterton said, \u201cI have answerer! him. By the summer of that year, the expedition had swelled to 123,000 To a man uf'\u00a7'huw's men. They suffered through the stultifying heat, the mosquitoes, the wild wit, silence is [he one terrain. Trudging over a countryside in which they were already resented, unbearable reparlee. \\\" ri-re LlT'l\u2018I.E, l$R()W.\\\\' BUOK ()1? AN!-,(\u2018I)()1 Cl.ll\u2018\u201dl\u20180N FAIHMAN, E17,, 1985 LAW 35 30]","'|H|. \\\\~\u00abi \\\\.\\\\|) they infuriated both the local people and the Mexican government. At one point Pancho Villa hid in a mountain cave to recover from a. gunshot IHI: (.\\\\|il)l.\\\\\u00ab\u2018I.li wound he received in a skirmish with the Mexican army; looking down from his aerie, he could watch Pershing lead the exhausted American by\/In um\u2018 lldll ()II1\u2018(' troops back and forth across the mountains, never getting any closer to their goal. some accident lost his tail, which was (1 griev- All the way into winter, Villa played his cat-and\u2014mouse game. Ameri- cans came to see the affair as a kind of slapstick fa,rce\u2014in fact they began to ous ajflielion to him; admire Villa again, respecting his resourcefulness in eluding a superior force. In January of 1917, Wilson finally ordered Pershing\u2019s withdrawal. As and he was every where the troops made their way back to American territory, rebel forces pursued them, forcing the U.S. Army to use airplanes to protect its rear flanks. The seeking :1\/terit, being Punitive Expedition was being punished itself\u2014it had turned into a retreat fool enough \/0 think he of the most humiliating sort. could get it set on Interpretation Woodrow Wilson organized the Punitive Expedition as a show of force: He again. He passed through a meadow, and would teach Pancho Villa a lesson and in the process Show the world that afterwards go! into a no one, large or small, could attack the mighty United States and get away garden. The gardener with it. The expedition would be over in a few weeks, and Villa would be forgotten, .Y\u20ac(\u2019lllg him, and not That was not how it played out. The longer the expedition took, the able to endure the more it focused attention on the Americans\u2019 incompetence and on Villa\u2019s cleverness. Soon what was forgotten was not Villa but the raid that had misehiefhe was doing in trampling down his started it all. As a minor annoyance became an international embarrass- plums, fell into a ment, and the enraged Americans dispatched more troops, the imbalance between the size of the pursuer and the size of the pursued\u2014who still man- violent rage, ran to the aged to stay free\u2014ma.de the affair a joke. And in the end this white ele- phant of an army had to lumber out of Mexico, humiliated. The Punitive u.i'.s\u2018, imd never sumding Expedition did the opposite of what it set out to do: It left Villa not only on the (\u2018en*m0riy of a free but more popular than ever. pillory. out off both his What could Wilson have done differently? He could have pressured the Carranza government to catch Villa for him. Alternatively, since many ears, and heal him out Mexicans had tired of Villa before the Punitive Expedition began, he could have worked quietly with them and won their support for a much smaller ofthe ground. Thus the raid to capture the bandit. He could have organized a trap on the Ameri- can side of die border, anticipating the next raid. Or he could have ignored ass. who henmanxid the the matter altogether for the time being, waiting for the Mexicans them- loss of his tail. was in selves to do away with Villa of their own accord. far greater ujflierion when he raw himself Remember: You choose to let things bother you. You can just as easily choose not to notice the irritating offender, to consider the matter trivial without ears. and unworthy of your interest That is the powerful move. What you do not react to cannot drag you down in a futile engagement. Your pride is not FABLENZ involved. The best lesson you can teach an irritating gnat is to consign it to oblivion by ignoring it. If it is impossible to ignore (Pancho Villa had in fact PILPAY. killed American citizens), then conspire in secret to do away with it, but INu1A, FOURTH (\u2018ENTURY llll\u2018. l'R<>l)|(.\\\\r' U\\\\' Once, when the Toku- daijr HllIll.Y1(\u2019l' of the right was chief of the iI7t[M.\u2019rl{1l])()li(,\u2018\u00e9', he was holding a meeting of his staff at the middle gale when an ax belonging to an official nameilAkikane got loose and wandered into the ministry build- ing. [I climbed up on -302 LAW 36","never inadvertently draw attention to the bothersome insect that will go the dais wlzexre the C\/tie] away or die on its own. If you waste time and energy in such entangle was Seated and hay ments, it is your own fault. Learn to play the card of disdain and turn your tltere, chewing its cud. back on what cannot harm you in the long run. Ewrrylzne Wm\u2018 sure that jusi thinkwit cast your government $130 million to try to get me. I took them this was some grave over rough, hilly country. Szrmetmwrforfifty miles at a stretch they had no water: portem, and urged that They had nothing but the sun and mosquitoes. . . And nothing was gainerl. the ox be sent to a yin- Ikmcfw Villa, 1878-1923 yrmg (liviner. Ilowe yer, OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW the prime minister. the father ofrlxe minister of In the year 1527, King Henry VIII of England decided he had to find a the right, said, \u201cAn ox way to get rid of his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine had failed to pro- duce a son, a male heir who would ensure the continuance of his dynasty, has no dr\u2018_scrimr'uariorz. and Henry thought he knew why: He had read in the Bible the passage, \u201cAnd if a man shall take his brother\u2019s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath It hm leg.r\u2014-(here is uncovered his brother\u2018s nakedness; they shall be childless.\u201d Before marry ing Henry, Catherine had married his older brother Arthur, but Arthur nowhere it won '1 go. it had died five months later. Henry had waited an appropriate time, then does not make senor In had married his brother\u2019s widow. deprive rm unrlsrpuirl a ma! afthe wretched Catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, and by marrying her Henry had kept alive a valuable alliance. Now, (1.: he needs in order I!) however, Catherine had to assure him that her brief marriage with Arthur attend court. \\\" He had never been consummated. Otherwise Henry would view their rela- tionship as incestuous and their marriage as null and void. Catherine in- returned the we to its sisted that she had remained a virgin through her marriage to Arthur, and Pope Clement VII supported her by giving his blessing to the union, which owner and changed the matting on which it had he could not have done had he considered it incestuous. Yet after years of Iain. N0 untoward marriage to Henry, Catherine had failed to produce a son, and in the early 1520s she had entered menopause. To the king this could only mean one event of any kind thing: She had lied about her virginity, their union was incesmous, and occurrarl afterward. God had punished them. '1\u2018hey.my that ifyou see a prodigy and do not There was another reason why Henry wanted to get rid of Catherine: near it as such, its char- He had fallen in love with a younger woman, Anne Boleyn. Not only was he in love with her, but if he married her he could still hope to sire a legiti- acter as a prodigy is mate son. The marriage to Catherine had to be annulled. For this, how- iiertroyed. ever, Henry had to apply to the Vatican. But Pope Clement would never ESSAYS IN nn.i~m\u00ab:ssx annul the marriage, Kenko. By the summer of 1527, rumors spread throughout Europe that Henry JAPAN, was about to attempt the impossible-\u2014to annul his marriage against Clement\u2019s wishes. Catherine would never abdicate, let alone voluntarily mum:-zrwm camunv enter a nunnery, as Henry had urged her. But Henry had his own strategy: He stopped sleeping in the same bed with Catherine, since he considered her his sister~in-law, not his lawful wife. He insisted on calling her Princess LAW 36 303","Am] in this View it is Dowager of Wales, her title as A.rthur\u2019s widow. Finally, in 1531, he ban- advimhle to let everyone ished her from court and shipped her off to a distant castle. The pope or\u00bb dared him to return her to court, on pain of excommunication, the most ofyaur (lL\u2018(.,'ulItIl1(1IlL\u2018t\u20184 severe penalty a Catholic could suffer. Henry not only ignored this threat, he insisted that his marriage to Catherine had been dissolved, and in 1533 whether man or he married Anne Boleyn. wornan\u2014frrel now and Clement refused to recognize the marriage, but Henry did not care. He no longer recognized the pope\u2018s authority, and proceeded to break than that you could with the Roman Catholic Church, establishing the Church of England in its stead, with the king as the head of the new church. And so, not surpris- very well (lisprznse Wlill ingly, the newly formed Church of England proclaimed Anne Boleyn Eng- land\u2019s rightful queen. zlmir company. This will consolidate The pope tried every threat in the book, but nothing worked. Henry simply ignored him. Clement fumed\u2014no one had ever treated him so con- friena'ship. Nuy. with temptuously. Henry had humiliated him and he had no power of recourse. most people there will Even excommunication (which he constantly threatened but never camed out) would no longer matter. be no harm in occa- Catherine too felt the devastating sting of Henry\u2019s disdain. She tried to sionally mixing at grain fight back, but in appealing to Henry her words fell on deaf ears, and soon ofdisdaln with your they fell on no one\u2019s. Isolated from the court, ignored by the king, mad with anger and frustration, Catherine slowly deteriorated, and finally died rmatmem of tliomg that in January of 1536, from a cancerous tumor of the heart. will make them value Interpretation Vllhen you pay attention to a person, the two of you become partners of your friendship all the sorts, each moving in step to the actions and reactions of the other. In the process you lose your initiative. It is a dynamic of all interactions: By ac- mom. Chi non stima knowledging other people, even if only to fight with them, you open your- vieu stimato, as a self to their influence. Had Henry locked horns with Catherine, he would have found himself mired in endless arguments that would have weakened subtle Italian proverb his resolve and eventually worn him down. (Catherine was a strong, stub- has it\u2014 10 (lismgard is bom woman.) Had he set out to convince Clement to change his verdict on \/0 win regard. But if we the marriages validity, or tried to compromise and negotiate with him, he really xhmk very highly would have gotten bogged down in Clement\u2019s favorite tactic: playing for ofa person, we should time, promising flexibility, but actually getting what popes always got- contract I! from him their way. like A: Crime. This is not Henry would have none of this. He played a devastating power game\u2014\u2014tota.l disdain. By ignoring people you cancel them out. This unset a very gratifying thing tles and infuriates them\u2014but since they have no dealings with you, there is to do, but it is right. nothing they can do. Why. u (lug Will not This is the offensive aspect of the law. Playing the card of contempt is bear being treated (00 immensely powerful, for it lets you determine the conditions of the conflict. kindly, [(51 alrmre ll nmn! The war is waged on your terms. This is the ultimate power pose: You are the king, and you ignore what offends you. Watch how this tactic infuriates ARTHUR people-\u2014half of what they do is to get your attention, and when you with- S(\u2018HL)|\u2019l\u20ac\u2018~lllAlVI4R. hold it from them, they flounder in fmstralzion. 17884860 'l||l\u2018 \\\\1(l\u2019\\\\K|l\\\\\u2019 .v\\\\?\\\\l) \u2018rm-3 vr.\\\\.< A monkey was ctm\u2018_V- ing two handfuls ul peas. Our\u2019 little pea dropped out. He tried to pick it up, and spill twenty. He tried to pick up the twmty. and spilt them ull. Then he Iurt his !<\u2019Nl]7\u00a3't\u2018, smtmred rim peas in all directions. and ran Away. mores. Ll.-\u2018U To1,s'roY. l8Z8\u2014l9l0 304 LAW 36","MAN: Kick him.\u2014Iae\u2019l\u20acforrg\u00a3ve you. Flatter him-~51: may or may not As\u2018 some rrzake g()S.\\\\\u2018.'{I see through you. But igrzore him and he 'll hate you. out of ever_va\u2018hing, so Idries Shah, Caravan ol\\\"Dreams. I968 others make much ado KEYS TO POWER about everything. They Desire often creates paradoxical effects: The more you want something, am\u2018 always mlking big, [and] lake tcvcryrhing the more you chase after it, the more it eludes you. The more interest you .verir)u.x'i'y, making (1 quarrel and a mystery show, the more you repel the object of your desire. This is because your in\u00ab ofil. You should mke terest is too su~ong\u2014--it makes people awkward, even fearful. Uncontrol- wry few grievances tn lable desire makes you seem weak, unworthy, pathetic. \/mart\u2018 for to do so is to gr\u2018 W yourself gmzmat You need to turn your back on what you want. show your contempt less worry. I! is a mp5):- and disdain. This is the kind of powerful response that will drive your tar- gets crazy. They will respond with a desire of their own, which is simply to Iurvy way ufbelzaving have an effect on you\u2014perhaps to possess you, perhaps to hurt you. If they want to possess you, you have successfully completed the first step of se- to rake to hear! care-; duction. If they want to hurt you, you have unsettled them and made them play by your rules (see Laws 8 and 39 on baiting people into action). which you ought \u00a30 Contempt is the prerogative of the king. Where his eyes turn, what he throw over your shoal\u2019 decides to see, is what has reality; what he ignores and turns his back on is der. Man V 1}: ings which as good as dead. That was the weapon of King Louis XlV\u2014-if he did not scented imporiam [at like you, he acted as if you were not there, maintaining his superiority by cutting off the dynamic of interaction. This is the power you have when the rimrtj turn out in he you play the card of contempt, periodically showing people that you can ofno rwrvuur what: they are lg\/lured; and do without them. 01\/1!-r.\\\\', whirh seem If choosing to ignore enhances your power, it follows that the opposite trifling, appear formi- approach-\u2014commitment and engagement--ofien weakens you. By paying undue attention to a puny enemy, you look puny, and the longer it takes dable when you \/my you to crush such an enemy, the larger the enemy seems. When Athens set rmenIx'r.m to tliem, out to conquer the island of Sicily, in 415 B.C., 3, giant power was attacking a tiny one. Yet by entangling Athens in a long\u2014drawn\u2014out conflict, Syracuse, \u2018I'll\/rig\u00bb: can wlxily be Sicily\u2019s most important city-state, was able to grow in stature and confi\u00bb dence. Finally defeating Athens, it made itself famous for centuries to settled at flu.\u2019 olcfset, hm come. In recent times, President john F. Kennedy made a similar mistake not A!) later on. In in his attitude to Fidel Castro of Cuba: His failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs, in 1961, made Castro an international hero. many miss, the rctnect\u2018_r itself is Ihe cause of she A second danger: If you succeed in crushing the irritant, or even if you disease.\u2018 to 11'! rlzingx E3.\u2019 merely wound it, you create sympathy for the weaker side. Critics of is not the least saIi.r_{ac\u2014 Franklin D. Roosevelt complained bitterly about the money his adminis- wry (lflifek rules: tration spent on government projects, but their attacks had no resonance with the public, who saw the president as working to end the Great De~ BALMSAR GnA<\u2018iA~, pression. His opponents thought they had an example that would show just l 601 \u2014 1658 how wasteful he had become: his dog, Fala, which he lavished with favors and attention. Critics railed at his insensifivitywspendmg taxpayers\u2018 money on a dog while so many Americans were still in poverty. But Roo- sevelt had a response: How dare his critics attack a defenseless little dog? LAW 36 305","'|'lllC \u2019\\\\1l\\\\'\\\\ \\\\\\\\ll His speech in defense of Fala was one of the most popular he ever gave. In this case, the weak party involved was the president\u2019s dog and the attack H11\u2018 :~'|lr\\\\l)()\\\\\\\\ backfired-in the long run, it only made the president more sympathetic, since many people will naturally side with the \u201cunderdog,\u201d just as the There wax u cerium American public came to sympathize with the wily but outnumbered Pan- original man who cho Villa. desire!) to catch his It is tempting to want to fix our mistakes, but the harder we try, the worse we often make them. It is sometimes more politic to leave them own shadow. He makes alone. In 1971, when the New Ybrk limes published the Pentagon Papers, a group of government documents about the history of US. involvement in a s'(\u00a2>p or two toward it, Indochina, Henry Kissinger erupted into a volcanic rage. Furious about the but it mover away from Nixon administi-ation\u2019s vulnerability to this kind of damaging leak, he made recommendations that eventually led to the formation of a group him. He quickenr his called the Plumbers to plug the leaks. This was the unit that later broke into Democratic Party offices in the Watergate Hotel, setting off the chain of pare; it does the mine. events that led to Nixon\u2019s downfall. In reality the publication of the Penta- A: (as: he takes to gon Papers was not a serious threat to the administration, but Kissingefs reaction made it a big deal. In trying to fix one problem, he created an- mrming; but the\u2019 other: a paranoia for security that in the end was much more destructive to quicker he goes, Iltr the government. Had he ignored the Pentagon Papers, the scandal they quicker mm the had created would eventually have blown over. .vhaa'ow aim, umarly rrfusing to give itself\u2018 Instead of inadvertently focusing attention on a problem, making it up, just as if it hail beer: seem worse by publicizing how much concern and anxiety it is causing you, it is ofien far wiser to play the contemptuous aristocrat, not deigning a treasure. But see.\u2019 our to acknowledge the problem\u2019s existence. There are several ways to execute eccemriu friend this strategy. smidenly turns mumi. and walks away from First there is the sour-grapes approach. If there is something you want but that you realize you cannot have, the worst thing you can do is draw at- it. And presently lie tention to your disappointment by complaining about it. An infinitely looks behind him; now more powerful tactic is to act as if it never really interested you in the first place. When the writer George Sand\u2019s supporters nominated her to be the me shadow f\u2018IN\u2019l..S\u2018 first female member of the Acad\u00e9mie Frangaise, in 1861, Sand quickly saw ufier him. that the academy would never admit her. Instead of whining, though, she I.arlie.rfair. I have claimed she had no interest in belonging to this group of worn\u2014out, over- often ()h.verved . . . that rated, outAof\u2014touch windbags. Her disdain was the perfect response: Had Forzunz: treaty us in 1! she shown her anger at her exclusion, she would have revealed how much Similar way. One mun it meant to her. Instead she branded the academy a club of old mem-and why should she be angry or disappointed at not having to spend her time tries with I!\u201d his might with them? Crying \u201csour grapes\u201d is sometimes seen as a reflection of the to seize (he gotltlz.-23$ weak; it is actually the tactic of the powerful. and only l().\\\\\u20196.5 his lime Second, when you are attacked by an inferior, deflect people\u2019s atten- tion by making it clear that the attack has not even registered. Look away, and his tmublu. or answer sweetly, showing how little the attack concerns you. Similarly, when you yourself have committed a blunder, the best response is often to Annrhm .veen2.s'. In all make less of your mistake by treating it lightly uppmruncc, to be The Japanese emperor Go-Saiin, a great disciple of the tea ceremony, winning (ml of her siglii; hug. no: she l1:\u2019r.u\u2019lf mini: (1 piezzmre in pm:vm'ng him. r\/\\\\m.Ls. lwm Kkimrr. 17684844 306 LAW 3!\\\")","owned a priceless antique tea howl that all the coui-tiers envied. One day a guest, Dainagon Tsunehiro. asked if he could carry the tea bowl into the light, to examine it more closely. The bowl rarely left the table, but the em- peror was in good spirits and he consented. As Dainagori carried the bowl to the railing of the verandah, however, and held it up to the light, it slipped from his hands and fell on a rock in the garden below, smashing into tiny fragments. The emperor of course was furious. \u201cIt was indeed most clumsy of me to let it drop in this way,\u201d said Dainagon, with a deep how, \u201cbut really there is not much harm done. This ldo tea~bowl is a very old one and it is impossible to say how much longer it would have lasted, but anyhow it is not a thing of any public use, so I think it rather fortunate that it has broken thus.\u201d This surprising response had an immediate effect: The emperor calmed down. Dainagon neither sniveled nor overapologized, but signaled his own worth and power by treating his mistake with a touch of disdain. The emperor had to respond with a similar aristocratic indifference; his anger had made him seem low and petty\u2014\u2014an image Dainagon was able to manipulate. Among equals this tactic might bacldire: Your indifference could make you seem callous. But with a master, if you act quickly and without great fuss, it can work to great effect: You bypass his angry response, save him the time and energy he would waste by brooding over it, and allow him the opportunity to display his own lack of pettiness publicly. If we make excuses and denials when we are caught in a mistake or a deception, we stir the waters and make the situation worse. It is ofien wiser to play things the opposite way. The Renaissance writer Pietro Aretino often boasted of his aristocratic lineage, which was, of course, a fiction, since he was actually the son of a shoemaker. When an enemy of his finally revealed the embarrassing truth, word quiddy spread, and soon all of Venice (where he lived at the time) was aghast at Aretino\u2019s lies. Had he tried to defend himself, he would have only dragged himself down. His re- sponse was masterful: He announced that he was indeed the son of a shoe- maker, but this only proved his greatness, since he had risen from the lowest stratum of society to its very pinnacle. From then on he never men- tioned his previous lie, trumpeting instead his new position on the matter of his ancestry. Remember: The powerful responses to niggling, petty annoyances and irritations are contempt and disdain. Never show that something has af- fected you, or that you are offended\u2014\u2014that only shows you have acknowl- edged a problem. Contempt is a dish that is best served cold and without affectarion. LAW 36 307","Image: The Tiny Wound. It is small but painful and irritating. You try all sorts of medicaments, you Corn- plain, you scratch and pick at the scab. Doctors only make it worse, transforming the tiny wound into a grave matter. If only you had left the wound alone, letting time heal it and freeing yourself of worry. Authority: Know how to play the card of contempt. It is the most politic kind of revenge. For there are many of whom we should have known nothing if their distinguished opponents had taken no notice of them. There is no revenge like oblivion, for it is the entombment of the unwor- thy in the dust of their own nothingness. (Baltasar Graci\u00e9n, 1601-1658) REVERSAL You must play the card of contempt with care and delicacy. Most small troubles will vanish on their own if you leave them be; but some will grow and fester unless you attend to them. Ignore a person of inferior stature and the next time you look he has become a serious rival, and your contempt has made him vengeful as well. The geat princes of Renaissance Italy chose to ignore Cesare Borgia at the outset of his career as a young general in the army of his father, Pope Alexander VI. By the time they paid a1ten~ tion it was too lat.e\u2014\u2014the cub was now a lion, gobbling up chunks of Italy. Often, then, while you show contempt publicly you will also need to keep an eye on the problem privately, monitoring its status and making sure it goes away. Do not let it become a cancerous cell. Develop the skill of sensing problems when they are still small and taking care of them before they become intractable. Leam to distinguish between the potentially disastrous and the mildly irritating, the nuisance that will quietly go away on its own. In either case, though, never com\u2014 pletely take your eye oil\\\" it. As long as it is alive it can smolder and spark into life. 3308 LAW 36","LAW 37 CREATE COMPELLING SPECTACLES JUDGMENT Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestums create the aura ofpower-\u2014-\u2014everycme responds to them. Stage spectcr clesfar those zmnmd you, then, full of arrasting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Daz- zled by appearancas, no one will mvlice tuba! you are really drying. \u2018 309",".\\\\\\\\'l\u2018U\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\.|) f l.!Il)l\u2019\\\\l'k\\\\ OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I She relied above all In the early 1780s. word spread through Berlin of the strange and spectacu- lar medical practice of a Dr. Weisleder. He performed his miracles in an upon her physical pms\u00bb enormous converted beer hall, outside which Berliners began to notice enre and the spell and ever longer lines of people\u2014-the blind, the lame, anyone with an illness in curable by normal medicine. When it leaked out that the doctor worked by eurhmurnern which [I exposing the patient to the rays of the moon, he soon became dubbed The wait! cream. . . . She Moon Doctor of Berlin. came sailing up the Sometime in 1783, it was reported that Dr. Weisleder had cured a well\u00bb rn-\u2018rr Cydrms in $1 barge to\u2014do woman of a terrible ailment. He suddenly became a celebrity. Previ~ wirh a pimp 0f,L,'m'(1. its ously only the poorest Berliners had been seen waiting outside the beer hall in their rags; now magnificent carriages were parked outside, and gen- purple sails billowing tlemen in frock coats, and ladies with enormous coiffures, lined the street in the wind. while her as sunset drew near. Even folk with the mildest of ailments came, out of rowers curesrcd the sheer curiosity, As they waited in line, the poorer clients would explain to water with arm\u2018 of the gentlemen and ladies that the doctor only practiced when the moon rilt-er whirrlt dippnl in was in its increscent phase. Many would add that they themselves had al lime to the music of tho ready been exposed to the healing powers he called forth from the rays of flaw, in-cmiapmzied by the moon. Even those who felt cured kept coming back, drawn by this pipes and liner. powerful experience. CIL\u20190}1alI(I herself Inside the beer hall, a strange and stirring spectacle greeted the visitor: rcr liner! beneath it Packed into the entrance hall was a crowd of all classes and ethnic bar.k~ rrannpy ofcioth of gold. tlrerxuzd in Iht\u2019 grounds, a veritable Tower of Babel. Through tall windows on the northern character of Aphmrlilf. side of the hall, silvery moonlight poured in at odd angles. The doctor and us\u2018 we see her In par!!!- his wife, who, it seemed, was also able to effect the cure, practiced on the ings, while on eiiher second floor, which was reached by at stairway, at the end of the hall. As the siaie In rr)m;rIe!c the line edged closer to the stairs, the sick would hear shouts and cries from piCIurr' stool! boys\u2018 above, and word would spread of, perhaps, a blind gentleman suddenly rusmnzcd ax Cupid; able to see. who cu0I('a' her\u2019 wirh Once upstairs, the line would fork in two directions, toward a north- lherr farm Ireslem! of :1 ern room for the doctor, a southern one for his wife, who worked only on crew the barge was the ladies. Finally, after hours of anticipation and waiting in line, the gen- tlemen patients would be led before the amazing doctor himself, an cl\u2018 lined wilh 11:4\u2019 m()sr derly man with a few stalks of wild gray hair and an air of nervous energy. He would take the patient (let us say a young boy, brought in by his fa- brzauliful ofhcr wailv ther), uncover the afflicted body part, and lift the boy up to the window, which faced the light of the moon. He would rub the site of the injury or mg-women mtirml as illness, mumble something unintelligible, look knowingly at the moon, Nereids mm\u2019 Graces, and then, after collecting his fee, send the boy and his father on their way. Meanwhile, in the sout.h~faciug room, his wife would be doing the same came at the ruzms.-:5, with the 1adies~\u2014\u2014which was odd, really, since the moon cannot appear in otizcrx or the lm-kie of two places at once; it cannot have been visible, in other words, from both windows. Apparently the mere thought, idea, and symbol of the moon the mils, and all (he were enough, for the ladies did not complain, and would later remark while an irztir'sr:rrIhab[y confidently that the wife of the Moon Doctor had the same healing powers rid! perfume, e.r1mle:1 as he. from mnurnerublr cehserx, was we\/led from the verve! to (he rivrtrbtmks (Irma: mzilmndzm zIc\u2018cmnpa- rvieri this royal pmgre.r.r. some of them following the zjuecm on both sides\u2018 ofthe river from in wry mouth, while others hurried down from the city of 'l\u2018ur.su.r to gaze at the siglx\/. Gratlzmllv the crowds rlri\/led LH1-\u2018(U2 from the nzarkaiplucc. 370 LAW 3 7","Interpretation where Antony uwaitvri Dr Weislecler may have known nothing about medicine, but he under- stood human nature. He recognized that people do not always want words, the queen emhroned on or rational explanations, or demonstrations of the powers of science; they want an immediate appeal to their emotions. Give them that and they will his tribunal, mm\\\"! at last do the rest\u2014such as imagine they can be healed by the light reflected from he was left sitting quite a rock a quarter million miles away. Dr. Weisleder had no need of pills, or of lengthy lectures on the moon\u2019s power, or of any silly gadgetry to amplify alonn. And the word its rays. He understood that the simpler the spectacle the better\u2014just the moonlight pouring in from the side, the stairway leading to the heavens, spread on every side and the rays of the moon, whether directly visible or not. Any added ef- [hat Aphrodite had fects might have made it seem that the moon was not strong enough on its own. And the moon was strong enough\u2014\u2014it was a magnet for fantasies, as it come to navel with has been throughout history. Simply by associating himself with the image of the moon, the doctor gained power. Dionysus for the happiness ofAxia. Remember: Your search for power depends on shortcuts. You must al- \/imony than smr a ways circumvent people\u2019s suspicions, their perverse desire to resist your message inviting will. Images are an extremely effective shortcut: Bypassing the head, the C'Ieo[1utra to dine with seat of doubt and resistance, they aim straight for the heart. Overwhelming him. But she thought it the eyes, they create powerful associations, bringing people together and more appmprime thal stirring their emotions. With the white light of the moon in their eyes, your he should come to her, targets are blinded to the deceptions you practice. and so. as he wished to OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II show his courtesy and In 1536 the future king Henri II of France took his first mistress, Diane de goodwill, he accepted Poitiers. Diane was t.hirty\u2014seven at the time, and was the widow of the and went. He found the grand seneschal of Normandy. Henri, meanwhile, was a sprightly lad of prcpariuirmx made to seventeen, who was just beginning to sow his wild oats. At first their union receive him rnagnificent seemed merely platonic, with Henri showing an intensely spiritual devo- Ileyolxd words, but tion to Diane. But it soon became clear that he loved her in every way, pre- what a.s'toni.s'hezl him ferring her bed to that of his young wife, Catherine de\u2019 M\u00e9dicis. most of all was the In 1547 King Francis died and Henri ascended to the throne. This new extraordinary number of Iiglits. So many of situation posed perils for Diane de Poitiers. She had just turned forty-eight, them it is said, were let and despite her notorious cold baths and rumored youth potions, she was down from the roof beginning to show her age; now that Henri was king, perhaps he would re- and \u00a2Il.x\u2018[)luyell on all turn to the queen's bed, and do as other kings had done\u2014choose mis- sides at ante. and they tresses from the bevy of beauties who made the French court the envy of were arranged and Europe. He was, after all, only twenty-eight, and cut a dashing figure. But grouped m .Yll('l\u2019l inge- Diane did not give up so easily. She would continue to enthrall her lover, nious patterns in rela- as she had enthralled him for the past eleven years. tion to emrh olhr-.r, .s'mm- in squares and some in Diane\u2019s secret weapons were symbols and images, to which she had al- ways paid great attention. Early on in her relationship with Henri, she had circles, thm they (.\u2018f\u20ac(lll\u2019ll created a motif by intertwining her initials with his, to symbolize their as brilliant a spectacle union. The idea worked like a charm: Henri put this insignia everywhere- on his royal robes, on monuments, on churches, on the facade of the as can ever haw been zle\\\\\u00ab'is'ed to delight the eye. LIFE OF ANTONY. l\u2019LlI'i\u2018AR(\u2018H. c. A.D. 4ti\u2014l20 In the Middle Ages \/he .\\\\\u2019ymlwli.\\\\\u2018t umrudv was much more in evidmce. . . . Syrnbolisrn appears as (1 sort o_\/Crlwrt out of thought. lmtezul of looking for the relaliml LAW 37 311","between two things by Louvre, then the royal palace in Paris. Dia.ne\u2019s favorite colors were black following the hidden and white, which she wore exclusively, and wherever it was possible the in- demurs of their causal signia appeared in these colors. Everyone recognized the symbol and its cormexions, thought meaning. Soon after Henri took the throne, however, Diane went still fur\u00bb ther: She decided to identify herself with the Roman goddess Diana, her makes a leap and namesake. Diana was the goddess of the hunt, the traditional royal pastime and the particular passion of Henri. Equally important, in Renaissance an discovers their relation she symbolized chastity and purity. For a woman like Diane to identify her- self with this goddess would instantly call up those images in the court, giv- nothnhecnnnenon ing her an air of respectability. Symbolizing her \u201cchaste\u201d relationship with Henri, it would also set her apart from the adulterous liaisons of royal mis- of cause and effects, but in a connexion of tresses past. signification. . . . To efiect this association, Diane began by completely transforming her Symbolist thought castle at Anet. She razed the building\u2019s structure and in its place erected a permits an infinity of magnificent Doric-columned edifice modeled after a Roman temple. It was ~ made in white Normandy stone flecked with black silex, reproducing relations between Diane\u2019s trademark colors of black and white. The insignia of her and Henn\\\"s initials appeared on the columns, the doors, the windows, the can things. Each thing may pet. Meanwhile, symbols of Diana\u2014crescent moons, stags, and hounds- denote a number of adomed the gates and facade. Inside, enormous tapestries depicting distinct ideas by its episodes in the life of the goddess lay on the floors and hung on the walls. In the garden stood the famous Goujon sculpture Diane Chasseresxe, which is different special quali- ties. and a quality may now in the Louvre, and which had an uncanny resemblance to Diane de have several symbolic meanings. The highest Poitiers. Paintings and other depictions of Diana appeared in every comer conceptions have of the castle. symbols by the thou- sand. Nothing is too Anet overwhelmed Henri, who soon was trumpeting the image of Diane de Poitiers as a Roman goddess. In 1548, when the couple appeared humble to represent together in Lyons for a royal celebration, the townspeople welcomed them with a tableau vimznt depicting a scene with Diana the huntress. France\u2019s and glory the sublime. greatest poet of the period, Pierre de Ronsard, began to write verses in The walnut signifies honor of Diana\u2014indeed a kind of cult of Diana sprang up, all inspired by the king\u2019s mistress. It seemed to Henri that Diane had given herself a kind Christ: the sweet kernel of divine aura, and as if he were destined to worship her for the rest of his life. And until his death, in 1559, he did remain faithful to her\u2014making her is His divine nature, the a duchess, giving her untold wealth, and displaying an almost religious do votion to his first and only mistress. green and pulpv outer peel is His humanity, Interpretation Diane de Poitiers, a woman from a modest bourgeois background, man- the wooden shell aged to captivate Henri for over twenty years. By the time he died she was well into her sixties, yet his passion for her only increased with the years. between is the cross. She knew the king well. He was not an intellectual but a lover of the out- doors\u2014\u2014he particularly loved jousting tournaments, with their bright pen- Thus all things raise nants, brilliantly caparisoned horses, and beautifully dressed women. his thoughts to the Henri\u2019s love of visual splendor seemed childlike to Diane, and she played eternal. . . . Every on this weakness of his at every opportunity. precious stone, besides its natural splendour sparkles with the bril- liance ofits symbolic values. The assimilation ofmrer and virginity is much more than a poetic comparison, for it reveals their common essence. As each nation arises in the mind the logic of.t_vmbolism creates an harmony ofitieas. ll-IF. wmsmo or TH}: MIDDLE AGES. .ImmN HUIZINGA, I928 312 LAW 37","Most astute of all was Diane\u2019s appropriation of the goddess Diana. Then: was a man Here she took the game beyond physical imagery into the realm of the psy- chic symbol. It was quite a feat to transform a king\u2019s mistress into an em- named Saknmoroyn blem of power and purity, but she managed it. Vfithout the resonance of Hechigwan who [wed the goddess, Diane was merely anraging courtesan. With the imagery and in upper Kyoto. . . . symbolism of Diana on her shoulders, she seemed a mythic force, destined When [Emperor] Hideyor\/zi gave his for greatness. great Chmno-yu [ma ceremony] meeting at You too can play with images like these, weaving visual clues into an Kimno in the temh encompassing gestalt, as Diane did with her colors and her insignia. Estab- lish a trademark like these to set yourself apart. Then take the game fur month of 1588. Her:hig- ther: Find an image or symbol from l'.l1e past that will neatly fit your wrm rel up a grant red situation, and put it on your shoulders like a cape. It will make you seem larger than life. mnhrelln nine feet Because of the light it shines on the other stars which make up a kind of across mounted on a court around it, became ofthejust and equal distribution of its rays to all alike, because of the good it brings to all places, [zmducing life, joy stick seven feet high, and action, bemuse of its wnstamy from which it never varies, I chose The circunrference of the mm as the most magnificent image to represent a great leader. the handle lu- Louis XIV the Sun King, 16384715 .-rurrourzdedfor allow two feet by a reed fence KEYS TO POWER in such a way that the Using words to plead your case is business: Words are dangerous in- rays of the rim were struments, and often go astray. The words people use to persuade us virtu- reflected from it and difjizsed the colour of ally invite us to reflect on them with words of our own; we mull them over, the umbrella all and often end up believing the opposite of what they say. (That is part of around. '1\u2018}ri.r device our perverse nature.) It also happens that words offend us, stirring up asso- pleased Hide}-oshi so much that he remitted\u2018 Hechigwuniv laxex as a reward. can-no-yo: run .3\/\\\\ PA NESF TEA \u00a2\u2018l\u00e9Rl?M(\\\\NY. A. L. Sm\u00bb;-.n. 1962 ciations unintended by the speaker. The visual, on the other hand, short-circuits the labyrinth of words. It strikes with an emotional power and immediacy that leave no gaps for re- flecfion and doubt. Like music, it leaps right over rational, reasonable droughts. Imagine the Moon Doctor trying to make a case for his medical practice, trying to convince the unconverted by telling them about the healing powers of the moon, and about his own special connection to a dis- tant object in the sky. Fortunately for him, he was able to create a com- pelling spectacle that made words unnecessary. The moment his patients entered the beer hall, the image of the moon spoke eloquently enough. Understand: Words put you on the defensive. If you have to explain yourself your power is already in question. The image, on the other hand, imposes itself as a given. It discourages questions, creates forceful associa- tions, resists unintended interpretations, communicates instantly, and forges bonds that transcend social dilferences. Words stir up arguments and divisions; images bring people together. They are the quintessential in- struments of power. The symbol has the same force, whether it is visual (the statue of LAW 3 7 313","Diana) or a verbal description of something visual (the words \u201cthe Sun King\u201d). The symbolic object stands for something else, something abstract (such as the image \u201cDiana\u201d standing for chastity). The abstract concept- purity, patriotism, courage, lovc~\u2014~is full of emotional and powerful associa- tions. The symbol is a shortcut of expression, containing dozens of meanings in one simple phrase or object. The symbol of the Sun King, as explained by Louis XIV, can be read on many layers, but the beauty of it is that its associations required no explanation, spoke immediately to his sub- jects, distinguished him from all other kings, and conjured up a kind of majesty that went far beyond the words themselves. The symbol contains untold power. The first step in using symbols and images is to understand the pri- macy of sight among the senses. Before the Renaissance, it has been an gued, sight and the other senses--taste, touch, and so on-\u2014-operated on a relatively equal plane. Since then, however, the visual has come to domi- nate the others, and is the sense we most depend on and trust. As Graci\u00e9n said, \u201cThe truth is generally seen, rarely heard.\u201d When the Renaissance painter Fra Filippo Lippi was a captured slave among the Moors, he won his freedom by sketching a drawing of his master on a white wall with a piece of charcoal; when the owner saw the drawing, he instantly under- stood the power of a man who could make such images, and let Fra Lippi go. That one image was far more powerful than any argument the artist could have made with words. Never neglect the way you arrange things visually. Factors like color, for example, have enormous symbolic resonance. When the con artist Yel- low Kid Weil created a newsletter touting the phony stocks he was ped- dling, he called it the \u201cRed Letter Newsletter\u201d and had it printed, at considerable expense, in red ink. The color created a sense of urgency, power, and good fortune. Weil recognized details like these as keys to de- ception\u2014as do modern advertisers and mass-marketers. If you use \u201cgold\u201d in the title of anything you are trying to sell, for example, print it in gold. . Since the eye predominates, people will respond more to the color than to the word. The wsual contains great emotional power. The Roman emperor Con- stantine worshipped the sun as a god for most of his life; one day, though, he looked up at the sun, and saw a cross superimposed on it. The vision of the cross over the sun proved to him the ascendancy of the new religion, and he converted not just himself but the whole Roman Empire to Chris- tianity soon thereafter. All the preaching and proselytizing in the world could not have been as powerful. Find and associate yourself with the im- ages and symbols that will communicate in this immediate way today, and you will have untold power. Most effective of all is anew con1bination\u2014a fusion of images and sym- bols that have not been seen together before, but that through their associ- ation clearly demonstrate your new idea, message, religion. The creation of new images and symbols out of old ones in this way has a poetic effect- viewers\u2019 associations run rampant. giving them a sense of participation. 314 LAW 37","Visual images often appear in a sequence, and the order in which they appear creates a symbol. The first to appear, for instance, symbolizes power; the image at the center seems to have central importance\u2018 Near the end of World War II, orders came down from General Eisen- hower thax American troops were to lead the way into Paris after its liber~ ation from the Nazis. The French general Charles de Gaulle, however, realized that this sequence would imply that the Americans now com- manded the fate of France. Through much manipulation, de Gaulle made certain that he and the French Second Armored Division would appear at the head of the liberating force. The strategy worked: After he had success fully pulled off this stunt, the Allies started treating him as the new leader of an independent France. De Gaulle knew that a leader has to locate him\u2019 self literally at the head of his troops. This visual association is crucial to the emotional response that he needs to elicit. Things change in the game of symbols: It is probably no longer possiv ble to pose as a \u201csun king,\u201d or to wrap the mantle of Diana around you. Yet you can associate yourself with such symbols more indirectly. And, of course, you can make your own mythology out of figures from more re- cent history, people who are comfortably dead but still powerfully associaw five in the public eye. The idea is to give yourself an aura, a stature that your normal banal appearance simply will not create. By herself Diane de Poitiers had no such radiant powers; she was as human and ordinary as most of us. But the symbol elevated her above the human lot, and made her seem divine. Using symbols also has a courtierlike effect, since they are often gen- tler than brutish words. The psychotherapist Dr. Milton H. Erickson al- ways tried to find symbols and images that would communicate to the patient in ways that words could not. When dealing with a severely trou~ bled patient, he would not question him directly but would talk about something irrelevant, such as driving through the desert in Arizona, where he practiced in the 19505. In describing this he would eventually come to an appropriate symbol for what he suspected was the man\u2019s problem. If he felt the palient was isolated, say, Dr. Erickson would talk of a single iron- wood tree, and how its isolation left it battered by the winds. Making an emotional connection with the tree as a symbol, the patient would open up more readily to the doctor\u2019: probing. Use the power of symbols as a way to rally, animate, and unite your troops or team. During the rebellion against the French crown in 1648, those loyal to the king disparaged the rebels by comparing them to the slingshots (in French, fiandesl that little boys use to frighten big boys. Cardi~ nal de Retz decided to turn this disparaging term into the rebels\u2019 symbol: The uprising was now known as the Fronde, and the rebels as fivndeurs. They began to wear sashes in their hats that symbolized the slingshot, and the word became their rallying cry. Without it the rebellion might well have petered out Always find a symbol to represent your cause\u2014the more emotional associations, the better. The best way to use images and symbols is to organize them into a LAW 37 .315","grand spectacle that awes people and distracts them from unpleasant reali- ties. This is easy to do: People love what is grand, spectacular, and larger than life. Appeal to their emotions and they will flock to your spectacle in hordes. The visual is the easiest route to their heans. Image: The Cross and the Sun. Crucifixion and total radiance. With one imposed over the other, a new reality takes shape\u2014 a new power is in the ascendant. The sym- bol-no explanation necessary. Authority: The people are always impressed by the superficial appearamze of things. . . . The [prince] should, at fitting times of the year, keep the people occupied and distracted with festivities and spectacles. (Niccolo Maclliavelli, 1469-\u00bbl527) REVERSAL No power is made available by ignoring images and symbols. There is no possible reversal to this law. 316 LAW 37","38 TT{INH\u00a7\u00a2AS\u2019Y()[IIJI{E BIJ17I3EI{AOJE LIFCE OTHERS JUDGMENT Ifyou make a show ofgoing against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is for safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your orig2'nal\u2014 ity only w\u00e9th tolerant fiiends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness. 317'","|HI\\\\|\\\\ \\\\\\\\II\u2018l| Illl Ivl \\\\X TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW \\\\\\\\|)\u00ab'I*l-Hi \\\\H\u2018HI Around the year 478 B.C., the city of Sparta sent an expedition to Persia led by the young Spartan nobleman Pausanias. The city\u2014states of Greece had |I|I.\\\\l\\\\\\\\\\\\ recently fought off a mighty invasion from Persia, and now Pausanias, along with allied ships from Athens, had orders to punish the invaders and \/I in. ctzsy\u2018 (0 nm mm win back the islands and coastal towns that the Persians had occupied. drzluzcr by try:\/lg 10 Both the Athenians and the Spartans had great respect for Pausanias-\u2014he rwinz against the had proven himself as a fearless warrior, with a flair for the dramatic. szream. Onty a Smrrarav With amazing speed, Pausanias and his troops took Cyprus, then coufri attempt m do moved on to the mainland of Asia Minor known as the Hellespont and captured Byzantium {modem-day Istanbul). Now master of part of the Per- that. Diwzgreemwil is\u2018 sian empire, Pausanias began to show signs of behavior that went beyond rztgaldeti as o\/'f<>:z.~u'x'<> his normal flarnboyance. He appeared in public wearing pomades in his hair and flowing Persian robes, and accompanied by a bodyguard of Egyp- herzmw ii is a 1 1Imlr\u2018m- tians. He held lavish banquets in which he sat in the Persian manner and Manon 1\/fihe view of demanded to be entertained. He stopped seeing his old friends, entered U1\/l(3r.Y;H1(\u2018 riumhmxx\u2018 of into communication with the Persian King Xerxes, and all in all affected the style and manner of a Persian dictator. 111:\u00bb rlisgmnrlwl grow, on urcoimt ei\/her of Clearly power and success had gone to Pausanias\u2019s head. His army- Athenians and Spartans alike\u2014at first thought this a passing fancy: He had mum\u2018 mm\/er I\/mt hm\u2018 always been a bit exaggerated in his gestures. But when he ilaunted his dis- dain for the Greeks\u2019 simple way of life, and insulted the common Greek been the alum\u2018! of soldier, they began to feel he had gone too far. Although there was no con\u2019 ufsunm(\u2018\u00e9,'I1.\\\\\u2018lIre or crete evidence for this, rumors spread that he had gone over to the other person who {tux prai.\\\\'ei1 side, and that he dreamed of becoming a kind of Greek Xerxes. To quell it: 'l\u2019m1li iv for NH\u2019 few, the possibility of mutiny, the Spartans relieved Pausanias of his command error I)\u2018 as nsmll as '3' and called him home. vulgar. Nor ix\u2018 IP14: n e Pausanias, however, continued to dress in the Persian style, even in man (0 he re<'ogni:\u00bb',4*d Sparta. After a few months be independently hired a trireme and returned by lfhilf he rays in the to the Hellespont, telling his compatriots he was going to continue the Fight against the Persians. Actually, however, he had different plans\u2014\u2014\u2014to make marketplace. for hf himself ruler of all Greece, with the aid of Xerxes himself. The Spartans vpcakr rhrre mil with declared him a public enemy and sent a ship to Capture him. Pausanias sur- rendered, certainlthat he could clear himself of the charges of treason. It his own voice. but will did come out during the trial that during his reign as commander he had offended his fellow Greeks time and again, erecting monuments, for in- that (7fur1iver.\\\\'rII \/\u2018ally, stance, in his own name, rather than in those of the cities whose troops had h(m'ewrr mm:Iz \/li.\\\\\u2019 fought alongside him, as was the custom. Yet Pausanias proved right: De~ imnnrt tlirzughlx may spite the evidence of his numerous contacts with the enemy, the Spartans refused to imprison a man of such noble birth, and let him go. gcunsay 11.\u2018 The wise Now thinking himself untouchable, Pausanias hired a messenger to man avuiilx beirig cantradtcletl ax sedu- take a letter to Xerxes, but the messenger instead took the letter to the laurly (IA he amid: Spartan authorities. These men wanted to find out more, so they had the cmrlmdicfi\/lg; Ilw messenger arrange to meet Pausanias in a temple where they could hide and listen behind a partition. l\/Vhat Pausanias said shocked them\u00bb-they pm\u2018)[ir\u00a3ty of l7\u00a3!Il.\\\\I4l r\u2019 it had never heard such contempt for their ways spoken so brazenly by one wirlxhe-Iii ]\u2018l\u2018()IIl that of their 0wn\u2014-\u2014and they made arrangements for his immediate arrest. which re'ut\u00a71e'_y provokes Ir. Timzrgh: is flrca: ii Lamml and rshnuld not be crierctrd; retire into (her .ram'tuary 0f_\\\\=r)ur .5\u2018 nce und I\/you 5()melimes allow your- rulf to break it, do so under the ne;:i.s' of u llI.S'L\u2018Vt\u2019L\u2019I few. BALTAX\/xR (\u2018rR.-xi\u2018!\/x.~. l(>(ll W058 318 LAW 38","On his way home from the temple, Pausanias got word of what had Bone vixil, qui bone _ happened. He ran to another temple to hide, but the authorities followed him there and placed sentries all around. Pausanias refused to surrender. latuit~\u201clIe lives well Unwilling to forcibly remove him from the sacred temple, the authorities kept him trapped inside, until he eventually died of starvation. who (\u20180fl(,\u2018(,\u2019lZl.\\\\\u2018 himself Interpretation well.\\\" At first glance it might seem that Pausanias simply fell in love with another culture, a phenomenon as old as time. Never comfortable with the asceti- Ovm, cism of the Spartans, he found himself enthralled by the Persian love of c. 43 B.(7.\u2014\/\\\\.D. 18 luxury and sensual pleasure. He put on Persian robes and perfumes with a sense of deliverance from Greek discipline and simplicity. Wise men \/should be] like (\u2018offers with double This is how it appears when people adopt a culture in which they were not raised. Often, however, there is also something else at play: People bottoms: Which when who flaunt their infatuation with a different culture are expressing a dis dain and contempt for their own. They are using the outward appearance ozhem look into, being opened. they see not all of the exotic to separate themselves from the common folk who unques- that they hold. tioningly follow the local customs and laws, and to express their sense of SIR \\\\V\/\\\\l,TFR l{Al.F.!(\u2018vH. superiority. Otherwise they would act with more dignity, showing respect 1554-161 8 for those who do not share their desires. Indeed their need to show their \\\\K |l|Cl\\\\ 'l'| ll; \\\\\\\\ NI lil(~2 difference so dramatically often makes them disliked by the people whose \\\\X|~\u2018,l{l\u201c,(1|M,\\\\(y|ul) beliefs they challenge, indirectly and subtly, perhaps, but\u2019 offensively ()Il(\u2018.I.\u2019 upon a yirrw nonetheless. Klzidn the teacher of As Thucydides wrote of Pausanias, \u201cBy his contempt for the laws and Moms, culled upon his imitation of foreign ways he had made himself very widely suspected of being unwilling to abide by normal standards.\u201d Cultures have norms that Immklml with it warm- reflect centuries of shared beliefs and ideals. Do not expect to scoff at such ing. At a certain dtllt\u2019, things with impunity. You will be punished somehow, even if just through he said. all the water in isolation\u2014a position of real powerlessness. the world which had Many of us, like Pausanias, feel the siren call of the exotic, the foreign\u2018 Measure and moderate this desire. Flaunting your pleasure in alien ways of no! been specially thinking and acting will reveal a different motive\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014to demonstrate your su- huunlerl, would lllSLl[r- periority over your fellows. pear. It would then be OBSERVANCE OF THE LAVV l\u2018(f7t\u00e9,\u2019W\u20ac(l. with difjfarrzrtr During the late sixteenth century, a violent reaction against the Protestant Reformation erupted in Italy. The Counter-Reformation, as it was called, water. wlzlcli would included its own version of the Inquisition to root out all deviations from the Catholic Church. Among its victims was the scientist Galileo, but an drive men marl. important thinker who suffered even greater persecution was the Domini- can monk and philosopher Tommaso Campanella. Only one man \/iivtz-nod to the meaning of this A follower of the materialist doctrine of the Roman philosopher Epi- cums, Campanella did not believe in miracles, or in heaven and hell. The advice. He collected Church had promoted such superstitions, he wrote, to control the common folk by keeping them in fear. Such ideas verged on atheism, and Cam- water and went to ll panella. expressed them incautiously. In 1593 the Inquisition threw him secure plum where he .\\\\\u2018t0red it, and waiwd for the wiuer 11) change its i'ht2raL'm'. On the Il[)]7(IlH{(\u2018.tl (I\/715\u2019 the streanm .Str>p]7P(l running, the wells\u2018 want dry. and the man who had llA\u2018(\u20acH(>.\u2019(l, seeing this LAW 33 319","happening. went to fair into prison for his heretical beliefs. Six years later, as a form of partial re retreat and rlmvak hrs lease, he was confined to a monastery in Naples. preserved water. Southern Italy was controlled by Spain at the time, and in Naples When he saw, from his Campanella became involved in a plot to fight and throw out these in\u00bb s\u2018ecuri!y, the wan-rfnlls vaders. His hope was to establish an independent republic based on his own ideas of utopia. The leaders of the Italian Inquisition, working with again bagimzing to their Spanish counterparts, had him imprisoned again. This time they also flow, this man tortured him, to discover the true nature of his impious beliefs: He was sub- jected to the infamous la zzeglia, a torture in which he was suspended by his (lra.\\\\'m>nded armmg (he arms in a squatting position a few inches above a seat studded with spikes. The posture was impossible to sustain, and in time the victim would end up other sores nfmen. HP sitting on the spikes, which would tear his flesh at the slightest contact. found that (hey were During these years, however, Campanella learned something about thinking and mlking in power. Facing the prospect of execution for heresy, he changed his s|:a.t~ an mzrirely different egy: He would not renounce his beliefs, yet he knew he had to disguise way from before; ye! their outward appearance. they had no menzwy of who! had Imppened. To save his life, Campanella feigned madness. He let his inquisifors nor of having been imagine thax his beliefs stemmed from an inconuollable unsoundness of mind. For a while the tortures continued, to see if his insanity was faked, warned. When he tried but in 1603 his sentence was commuted to life in prison. The first four years of this he spent chained to a wall in an underground dungeon. De\u00bb to talk to them, he real\u00bb spite such conditions, he continued to write--although no longer would he ized that they thought be so foolish as to express his ideas directly. that he was mad. and One book of Ca.mpa.uella\u2019s, 771:: Hispanic Monardzy, promoted the idea they showed hostility or that Spain had a divine. mission to expand its powers around the world, compassion, no: tmdan and offered the Spanish king practical, Machiavelli-type advice for achiev- ing this. Despite his own interest in Machiavelli, the book in general pre standing. sented ideas completely the opposite to his own. The Hispanirr Monarchy was A! first he drank nmw in fact a ploy, an attempt to show his conversion to orthodoxy in the bold- est manner possible. It worked: In 1626, six years after its publication, the oflhe new water, but pope finally let Campanella out of prison. went back to his Shortly afier gaining his freedom, Campanella wrote Atheism Con\u00bb guered, a book attacking \u2018free-thinkers, Machiavellians, Calvinists, and concealment, I1) draw heretics of all stripes. The book is written in the form of debates in which heretics express their beliefs and are countered by arguments for the supe on his supplies, every riority of Catholicism. Campanella had obviously reformed-his book day. Finally, however. made that clear. Or did it? he took the ditrisimr to The arguments in the mouths of the heretics had never before been drink the new water expressed with such verve and freshness. Pretending to present their side bc(\u2018au.ra he could not only to knock it down, Campanella actually summarized the case against Caxholicism with striking passion. \u201cThen he argued the other side, suppos- bear the lormlirresr of edly his side, on the other hand, he resorted to stale clich\u00e9s and convoluted living. In-Imwng and rationales. Brief and eloquent, the heretics\u2019 arguments seemed bold and thinking in re different sincere. The lengthy arguments for Catholicism seemed tiresome and 1m\u00bb way from everyone convincing. else. He drank the new Catholics who read the book found it disturbing and ambiguous, but water, and became like the res!. \u2018T1101; he forgo! all aboul his own rmre of special water. and his fellows began to look upon him at a mailman who had miruc'ulr)u.vly been reslored Z0 sanity. 'lA1.ES OF \u2018nu: ma Rvisnss, IDRIES SHAH. I 967 320 LAW 38","they could not claim it was heretical, or that Campanella should be re- Ncver combat any turned to prison. His defense of Catholicism, after all, used arguments they had used themselves. Yet in the years to come, Atizeism Conquered became a man '5 opml'tm,'_)\\\"nr bible for atheists, Machiavellians and liberfines who used the arguments though you readied the Campanella had put in their mouths to defend their dangerous ideas. Com- age ofil\/Iethuselaix, you bining an outward display of conformity with an expression of his true he\u00bb liefs in a way that his sympathizers would understand, Campanella showed would rzevw have dorm that he had learned his lesson. setting him right upon all the absurd things Interpretation that he believes. In the face of awesome persecution, Campanella devised three strate- II is also well to avoid gic moves that saved his hide, freed him from prison, and allowed him to continue to express his beliefs. First he feigned ma.dness\u2014\u00abthe medieval correcting people 3' equivalent of disavowing responsibility for one\u2019s actions, like blaming one\u2019s parents today. Next he wrote a book that expressed the exact oppo- rnismket in com-ersw site of his own beliefs. Finally, and most brilliantly of all, he disguised his ideas while insinuating them at the same time. It is an old but powerful lion, hmvn vet gum) trick: You pretend to disagree with dangerous ideas, but in the course of your intentirms may he; your disagreement you give those ideas expression and exposure. You for ti\u2018 is easy to offend seem to conform to the prevailing orthodoxy, but those who know will un- people, and diffictilz, if derstand the irony involved. You are protected. not irriposxilvle to rruzml It is inevitable in society that certain values and customs lose contact Ihem. with their original motives and become oppressive. And there will always be those who rebel against such oppression. harboring ideas far ahead of Ifyau feel irritated by their time. As Campanella was forced to realize, however, there is no point the absurd remarks of my people whose in making a display of your dangerous ideas if they only bring you sullen ing and persecution. Martyrdom serves no purpose~\u2014\u2014better to live on in an can vemmon you oppressive world, even to thrive in it Meanwhile find a way to express your ideas subtly for those who understand you. Laying your pearls before happen [0 overhear. swine will only bring you trouble. you should irnagine that you are \/ixrenittg m For a longtime I have not said what I believed, nor do I ever believe Ihfl dialogue of two fools in a comedy. what I say, and if indeed sometimes I do happen to tell the truth, I hide it among so many lies that it is hard tofind. Probatum est. Ni(.'col1}Mazhzauelli, in a letter to [\\\"mnc\u00a2=,,vco Gmaciardini, May 17, 1521 The mum who comes into the world with the noiion that he is really going to inslmcz it in marten\u2018 of the highesz irrzptlrltzmrr, may Ihtmlt his stuns iflw \u00a3'S(\u2019t2peS with a whole skin. ARTHUR SCHOPENHAICER, l788\u2014- 1860 KEYS TO POWER We all tell lies and hide our true feelings, for complete free expression is a social impossibility. From an early age we learn to conceal our thoughts, telling the prickly and insecure what we know they want to hear, watching carefully lest we otfend them. For most of us this is natural\u2014there are ideas and values that most people accept, and it is pointless to argue. We believe what we want to, then, but on the outside we wear a mask. There are people, however, who see such restraints as an intolerable infringement on their freedom, and who have a need to prove the superi- LAW 38 321","HM\\\", fil\u2019|'|Zl{\\\\ .\\\\\\\\D ority of their values and beliefs. In the end, though, their arguments con- Tll|vL'l\u2018|i;\\\\ .l.I.|:N vince only a few and offend a great deal more. The reason arguments do not work is that most people hold their ideas and values without thinking \u201cLook aromitl _w2z1,\\\" about them. There is a strong emotional content in their beliefs: They re- said the cirizcn. \\\"This is ally do not want to have to rework their habits of thinking, and when you challenge them, whether directly through your arguments or indirectly the largest maria\u2019! in through your behavior, they are hostile. the world. \\\" Wise and clever people learn early on that they can display conven- \\\"Oh xurely I101, \\\" said tional behavior and mouth conventional ideas without having to believe in them. The power these people gain from blending in is that of being left I\/ta traveller. alone to have the thoughts they want to have, and to express them to the people they want to express them to, without suliering isolation or as \u201cWell. perhaps not tracism. Once they have established themselves in a position of power, the largesl, \\\" mid the they can try to convince a wider circle of the correctness of their ideas- perhaps working indirectly, using Campanella\u2019s strategies of irony and in- cilizzm, \\\"but much the\u2018 best. \\\" sinuation. \\\"You are certainlv In the late fourteenth century, the Spanish began a. massive persecu- wrong tfzerc,\\\"s(1id the tion of the Jews, murdering thousands and driving others out of the coun\u00bb try. Those who remained in Spain were forced to convert. Yet over the next traveller. \u201cI can Isl! three hundred years, the Spanish noticed a phenomenon that disturbed you. . . them: Many of the converts lived their outward lives as Catholics, yet somehow managed to retain their Jewish beliefs, practicing the religion in They buried the private. Many of these so-called Marranos (originally a derogatory term, being the Spanish for \u201cpig\u201d) attained high levels of government office, mar- xmznger in the dusk. ried into the nobility, and gave every appearance of Christian piety, only MEL:-;x, to be discovered late in life as practicing Jews. (The Spanish Inquisition was specifically commissioned to ferret them out.) Over the years they R<)HIiIl'l\u2018 Lot. is mastered the art of dissimulation, displaying cmcifixes liberally, giving STEV1-LNSKJN. 18504894 generous gifts to churches, even occasionally making anti-Semitic IfMachfav<-,llihz1dlm(l rema.rks\u2014~and all the while maintaining their inner freedom and beliefs. a prim\u2018? for (llSc\u2018lplP, In society, the Man-anos knew, outward appearances are what matter. tlaefirsr lining he would This remains true today. The strategy is simple: As Campanella did in writ- have recomrrzendezf ing Atheism Conquered, make a show of blending in, even going so far as to him to do would have be the most zealous advocate of the prevailing orthodoxy. If you stick to conventional appearances in public few will believe you think differently been to wrize a [wok aguirm MucI1i1weIli.a\u2018m. in private. VULFAIRE. Do not be so foolish as to imagine that in our own time the old ortho\u2014 1694 l778 doxies are gone. Jonas Salk, for instance, thought science had gotten past politics and protocol. And so, in his search for a polio vaccine, he broke all the rules--going public with a discovery before showing it to the scientific community, taking credit for the vaccine without acknowledging the scien- tists who had paved the way, making himself a star. The public may have loved him but scientists shunned him. His disrespect for his community\u2019s orthodoxies left him isolated, and he wasted years trying to heal the breach, and struggling for funding and cooperation. Bertolt Brecht underwent a modern form of Inquisition\u2014tl1e House 3.12 LAW 38","Un\u2014American Activities Committee-and approached it with considerable canniness. Having worked off and on in the American film industry during World War II, in 1947 Brecht was summoned to appear before the commit- tee to answer quesfions on his suspected Communist sympathies. Other writers called before the committee made a point of attacking its members, and of acting as belligerently as possible in order to gain sympathy for themselves. Brecht, on the other hand, who had actually worked stead\u00bb lastly for the Communist cause, played the opposite game: He answered questions with ambiguous generalities that defied easy interpretation. Call it the Carnpanella strategy. Brecht even were a suit\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014a rare event for him\u2014- and made a point of smoking a cigar during the proceedings, knowing that akey committee member had a passion for cigars. In the end he charmed the committee members, who let him go scobfree. Brecht then moved to East Germany, where he encountered a differ- ent kind of Inquisition. Here the Communists were in power, and they crit\u00bb icized his plays as decadent and pessimistic. He did not argue with them, but made small changes in the performance scripts to shut them up. Mean\u00ab while he managed to preserve the published texts as written. His outward conformity in both cases gave him the freedom to work unhindered, with out having to change his thinking. In the end, he made his way safely through dangerous times in different countries through the use of little dances of orthodoxy, and proved he was more powerful than the forces of repression. Not only do people of power avoid the offenses of Pausanias and Salk, they also learn to play the clever fox and feign the common touch. This has been the ploy of con artists and politicians throughout the centuries. Lead- ers like Julius Caesar and Franklin D. Roosevelt have overcome their nab ural aristocratic stance to cultivate a familiarity with the common man. They have expressed this familiarity in little gestures, often symbolic, to show the people that their leaders share popular values, despite their differ- ent status. The logical extension of this practice is the invaluable ability to be all things to all people. When you go into society, leave behind your own ideas and values, and put on the mask that is most appropriate for the group in which you find yourself. Bismarck played this game successfully for yearsmthere were people who vaguely understood what he was up to, but not clearly enough that it mattered. People will swallow the bait be- cause it flatters them to believe that you share their ideas. They will not take you as a hypocrite if you are careful~\u2014\u2014for how can they accuse you of hypocrisy if you do not let them know exactly what you stand for? Nor will they see you as lacking in values. Of course you have values~\u2014\u2014the values you share with them, while in their company. Authority: Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you. Uesus Christ, Matthew 7:6) LAW 38 323","Image: The Black 'The herd shuns the Sheep black sheep, uncertain whether or not it belongs with them. So it stragles be- hind, or wanders away from the herd, where it is cornered by wolves and promptly de- voured. Stay with the herd\u2014 there is safety in numbers, Keep your differences in your thoughts and not in your fleece. REVE RSAL The only time it is worth standing out is when you already stand out- when you have achieved an unshakable position of power, and can display your difference from others as a sign of the distance between you. As pres\u2014 ident of the United States, Lyndon Johnson would sometimes hold meet- ings while he sat on the toilet. Since no one else either could or would claim such a \u201cprivilege,\u201d Johnson was showing people that he did not have to observe the protocols and nicefies of others. The Roman emperor Caligula played the same game: He would wear a woman\u2019s negligee, or a bathrobe, to receive important visitors. He even went so far as to have his horse elected consul. But it backfired, for the people hated Caligula, and his gestures eventually brought his overthrow. The truth is that even those who attain the heights of power would be better off at least affecting the common touch, for at some point they may need popular support. Finally, there is always a place for the gadfly, the person who success- fully defies custom and mocks what has grown lifeless in a culture. Oscar Wilde, for example, achieved considerable social power on this founda- tion: He made it clear that he disdained the usual ways of doing things, and when he gave public readings his audiences not only expected him to in- sult them but welcomed it We notice, however, that his eccentric role eventually destroyed him. Even had he come to a better end, remember that he possessed an unusual genius: Without his gift to amuse and delight, his barbs would simply have offended people. .\\\"1'.\u2018.\u2019-? LAW 38","LAW 39 STIR UP WATERS TO CATCH FISH jUDGMENT Anger and ematizm are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm. and objective. But zfyou can make your enemies angry while staying calm yomselfi you gain a decided advanlagv. Put your enemies ojf~bal~ ance: Find the ciaink in their vanity through wlzich you can rattlz them and you hold the strings. 1325","|\u2018I,\\\\|\\\\l l{\\\\ h|I|t,|.Vl| \\\\I: TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW (}l<l\\\\|).\u2018\\\".|I1\u2018(t\\\\\\\\\\\\. II\u2018..\\\\ In January of 1809, an agitated and anxious Napoleon hurried back to Paris from his Spanish wars. His spies and confidants had confirmed a The K}\/(7!(t Sltttsltttitti rumor that his foreign minister Talleyrand had conspired against him with Fouch\u00e9, the minister of police. Immediately on arriving in the capital the Itttkttra Suwu-no-kami shocked emperor summoned his ministers to the palace. Following them into the meeting right after their arrival, he began pacing up and down, Sltigetmtrw was very and started rambling vaguely about plotters working against him, specula- fond t)fChtt-no-yu tors bringing down the stock market, legislators delaying his policies\u2014a.nd his own ministers undermining him. (the tctt (\u2019\u00a3\u2019l\u2018('ht()rIy), am! used to grind his own As Napoleon talked, Talleyrand leaned on the mantelpiece, looking It'll Wl1llL\u2018.\\\\'llll7tg in the completely indifferent. Facing Talleyrand directly, Napoleon announced, \u201cFor these ministers, treason has begun when they permit themselves to court as judge. And the doubt.\u201d At the word \u201ctreason\u201d the ruler expected his minister to be afraid. But Talleyrand only smiled, calm and bored. reason was this He The sight of a subordinate apparently serene in the face of charges that once asked a friend ql could get him hanged pushed Napoleon to the edge. There were ministers, he said, who wanted him dead, and he took a step closer to Talleyrand\u2014 his who WAD\u2018 his who stared back at him unfazed. Finally Napoleon exploded. \u201cYou are a coward,\u201d he screamed in Talleyrand\u2019s face, \u201ca man of no faith. Nothing is companion in Cha-no- sacred to you. You would sell your own father. I have showered you with ytt, 4) tea rnerchttnt named Eiki, to tell him riches and yet there is nothing you would not do to hurt me.\u201d The other ministers looked at each other in disbelief\u2014they had never seen this fear- fnmkly what was the less general, the conqueror of most of Europe, so unhinged. public opirtion about him. \\\"Well, \\\" stud Eikt. \u201cYou deserve to be broken like glass,\u201d Napoleon continued, stamping. \u201cthey say that you get \u201cI have the power to do it, but I have too much contempt for you to bother. irritated with those who Why didn\u2019t I have you hanged from the gates of the Tuileries? But there is still time for that.\u201d Yelling, almost out of breath, his face red, his eyes don \u2018I give their bulging, he went on, \u201cYou, by the way, are nothing but shit in a silk stock- irvitlimcie very cllcarly ing. . . . What about your wife? You never told me that San Carlos was your and scold them, and to wife\u2019s lover?\u201d \u201cIndeed, sire, it did not occur to me that this information had people we afraid to bring lawsuits before any bearing on Your Majesty\u2019s glory or my own,\u201d said Talleyrand calmly, you rmtl iftlwy do, the completely unflustered. After a few more insults, Napoleon walked away. Talleyrand slowly crossed the room, moving with his characteristic limp. truth does not come As an attendant helped him with his cloak, he turned to his fellow ministers (all afraid they would never see him again), and said, \u201cWhat a pity, gentle \\\" men, that so great a man should have such bad manners.\u201d out. Despite his anger, Napoleon Hid not arrest his foreign minister. He \u201cAh, lam glad you merely relieved him of his duties d banished him from the court, believ- have told the that, \\\" ing that for this man humiliation would be punishment enough. He did not realize that word had quickly spread of his tirade\u2014of how the emperor had replied Shigemtme, \u201cfor completely lost control of himself, and how Talleyrand had essentially hu- now that I L'onxidvr it, I miliated him by maintaining his composure and dignity. A page had been turned: For the first time people had seen the great emperor lose his cool have fallen into the under fire. A feeling spread that he was on the way down. As Talleyrand habit ()f.\\\\\u2018[I(\u2019{1l(lVlg later said, \u201cThis is the beginning of the end.\u201d sharply to people in this way, and no (l()ttl2Y httmltlefolk and those who are not rettrly in speech getflttrried and are ttmtble to put their cttsc in the best light. I will see to it that rltix does not occur in the future. \u201d So after this he had a tea mill plmwl before him in court and in from 0\/ it the paper- irtiverml shvji were drawn to, and Shtge- mime mt behind them tttttl gmuntl the tea and thus kept his mint] calm while he heart! the t:ttse.\\\\: And he multl 326 LAW 3 9","Interpretation easily see whether Iris This was indeed the beginning of the end. Waterloo was still six years t\u2018()I1l}lU.$'I1f(\u2019 was ruffled ahead, but Napoleon was on a slow descent to defeat, ciystallizing in 1812 or not by looking ax the with his disastrous invasion of Russia. Talleyrand was the first to see the signs of his decline, especially in the irrational war with Spain. Sometime in tea. wizich would not 1808, the minister decided that for the future peace of Europe, Napoleon had to go. And so he conspired with Fouch\u00e9. fall evenly ground to the proper carlsislency It is possible that the conspiracy was never anything more than a iflrc go! excited. And ploy~\u2014a device to push Napoleon over the edge. For it is hard to believe so \/\u2018usllm was (lone that two of the most practical men in history would only go halfway in their impartially and ptmplfl plotting. They may have been only stirring the waters, trying to goad wml away from his Napoleon into a misstep. And indeed, what they got was the tarrtmrn that court .raIi.sfz\u2018ed. laid out his loss of control for all to see. In fact, Napoleorfs soon\u2014famous blowup that afternoon had a profoundly negative effect on his public CHA-N0-YU: we w-Auwsr\u00bb. \\\"rm image. L'l\u00a7RlZM()NY This is the problem with the angry response. At first it may strike fear A. L. SADLER. and terror, but only in some, and as the days pass and the storm clears, l962 other responses erne:ge\u2014embar1:assment and uneasiness about the shouter\u2019s capacity for going out of control, and resentment of what has 1}\u2019\/m.s'.\\\\\u2018lblv, no animat- been said. Losing your temper, you always make unfair and exaggerated l\u2018tyslmu1rt he felt for accusations. A few such tirades and people are counting the days until you rznymw. . , . To speak angrily to ll person, to are gone. show your hatred by what you my or by the In the face of a conspiracy against him, a conspiracy between his two way you look, Lr an most important ministers, Napoleon certainly had a right to feel angry and !lIlIlL\u2018C(\u2018S.i\u2018aIy proceed- anxious. But by responding so angrily, and so publicly, he only demon- i):g-dangerorrs. fool\u00bb \u00a3312, rtrlicrllous, and strated his frustration. To show your frustration is to show that you have vulgar. lost your power to shape events; it is the helpless action of the child who re- A rrger or hatred xhoul'rr' sorts to a hysterical fit to get his way. The powerful never reveal this kind of Izever be show; other\u00bb wise than in what you weakness. do; and feelings will be There were a number of things Napoleon could have done in this situ~ all the more effective in alien. He could have thought about the fact that two eminently sensible action, in so far as you men had had reason to turn against him, and could have listened and avoid the exhibition of learned from them. He could have tried to win them back to him. He could them in any other way. It is only the cold- even have gotten rid of them, making their imprisonment or dead; an omi- blvorlell arlinmlx whose nous display of his power. No tirades, no childish fits, no embarrassing bile is pui.s'mIr)u.r. afler-elfects\u2014just a quiet and definitive severing of ties. Am\u2018n1;n S\\\\\u201cIlf)l\u2019F,NliAlJFR, Remember: Tantrums neither intimidate nor inspire loyalty. They 1 78244 860 only create doubts and uneasiness about your power. Exposing your weak\u2019 ness, these stormy eruptions often herald a. fall. OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW By the late 1920s, Haile Selassie had nearly achieved his goal of assuming total control over Ethiopia, a country he felt needed strong and unified leadership. As regent to the empress Zauditu (stepdaughter of the late queen) and heir to the throne, Selassie had spent several years weakening the power of Ethiopia\u2019s various warlords. Now only one real obstacle stood LAW 39 327"]