48 Laws of Power
posted by 6 Tektite Serpent | April 27, 2011
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IcerocketTune in, Drop out!
I have heard (and felt) that sentiment on Evolver often. I agree that if we are going to change the system, one powerful way is to convince people to drop
out of it, like a boycott. But what is the system? What are we doing wrong?
I found the answer in a book called "the 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene. (published 2000 by Penguin) The 48 laws is a look across many cultures and
times at how each law has been used, broken and the consequences, how to use the law properly in your assent to power, and how the opposite use of the law is beneficial instead. It is a crypto-conservative's indulgent ego fest. It reads like Donald Rumsfeld's diary, or the print out of Dick Cheney's brain. However, it does have a point. The author has given ample argument as to why the 48 laws exist, and that you shouldn't ignore them. But this amoral book could be a useful piece of thought jujitsu for Evolvers. Know the enemy, know his tactics, use them against him, point out what the powerful are doing and call them on it. If this is the basic "play book" of those in power, anyone could
use it find ways to dismantle that power or at least avoid the snares when you "tune in and drop out".
Additionally can we come up with 48 laws of higher consciousness, for a better world? Are there any benefits these laws provide to the individual & community? Some are common sense. Can we find examples when these are being used against us? When is it right to use them?
So in this long post I will list Greene's 48 laws. In life everyone has power, how are you going to use it?
Law 1: Never outshine the master
Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies
Law 3: Conceal Your intentions
Law 4: Always say less than necessary
Law 5: So much depends on reputation, guard it with your life
Law 6: Court attention at all costs
Law 7: Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit
Law 8: Make other people come to you, use bait if necessary
Law 9: Win through your actions, never through argument
Law 10: Infection: avoid the unhappy and the unlucky
Law 11: Learn to keep people dependent on you
Law 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim (ED: Gift Economy vs. Trojan Horse)
Law 13: When asking for help always appeal to people's self interest, never to their mercy or gratitude
Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy
Law 15: Crush your enemies totally
Law 16: Use absence to increase respect & honor
Law 17: Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability
Law 18: Do not build fortresses to protect yourself - Isolation is dangerous
Law 19: Know who you are dealing with - do not offend the wrong person
Law 20: Do not commit to anyone
Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker - seem dumber than your mark
Law 22: Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power
Law 23: Concentrate your forces
Law 24: Play the perfect courtier
Law 25: Re-create yourself
Law 26: Keep your hands clean
Law 27: Play on people's need to believe to create a cult like following
Law 28: Enter action with boldness
Law 29: Plan all the way to the end
Law 30: Make your accomplishments seem effortless
Law 31: Control the options: get others to play the cards you deal
Law 32: Play to people's fantasies
Law 33: Discover each man's thumb-screew
Law 34: Be royal in your own fashion: Act like a king to be treated like one
Law 35: Master the art of timing
Law 36: Disdain things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best revenge
Law 37: Create compelling spectacles
Law 38: Think as you like but behave like others
Law 39: Stir up waters to catch fish (ED:Frustrate and irritate enemies in order to provoke them to reveal something)
Law 40: Despise the free lunch
Law 41: Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes
Law 42: Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
Law 43: Work on the hearts and minds of others (ED:hmm, where have we heard this before...)
Law 44: Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect
Law 45: Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once
Law 46: Never appear too perfect
Law 47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for: in victory, learn when to stop
Law 48: Assume formlessness
Not only does this book follow the exploits of kings, but also con-men, charlatans , CEOs and quacks. We are on the fringes, exploring new territory, keep your head. We want change in the way our civilization is going, we want to change the system, we want a higher consciousness - not this decades Hari Krishnah (with all due respect).
Evolver has so far been different, we don't anoint leaders, we question and critique, we are looking for a better way to change our civilization to come into balance with environment, mind, spirit & community.
Comments
48 Laws of Power
— Apr 28, 2011
Yikes ! How disconcerting ! A map of Dick Cheney's brain showing where the heart and souls have been surgically removed !
Reads like Machiavelli for the fifth and sixth reichs or every amoral MBA infesting the corporate structures.
Since it's written like the negative, nasty half of paired opposites. It seems like a simple restatement of the polar positive would work.
I'm not sure I'm up for the torture of refuting all this garbage.
It's all a view from the imposed scarcity mind set.
All variants on "Do onto others, then split."
How to change ? Do it. Stop using money.
Stop feeding banks and bankers.
Pay it all back and the system crashes
Stop paying anything and the system crashes.
Already 45% of Americans are involuntarily opted out of the fake economy
If another 15 - 25% opt out of the money grab by the rich the system crashes.
The system only appears complex
it's very simple, the system cannot
support or tolerate large numbers
of aware human beings.
So why support it ?
" A rising tide - drowns those without boats " - Cee Are
"The object under your feet is always the dance floor " - Cee Are
Very interesting. We have
— Apr 29, 2011
Very interesting. We have along way to go. I am working here creating a company designed to overcome this mentality. The company is being set up as a representative of earth. THis is the way of doing away with 'leaders'. We are running a farm with a dairy and cheese factory. It is very interesting the way people want to be controlled when they arrive. Then it is even more interesting seeing the unraveling of their beliefs as they are given the freedom to be in control.
I think we all need to be led at times but it should be up too the universe to put the right people in the right place at the right time.
An addition to this post after talking with someone here made me realise how I am aware of these 'laws' being temptations to me. It's as if I realise the opportunity to create power for myself over others and it disgusts me. Every time I rise above this I become more aware of my power so I am not sure what power this Greene bloke is on about. Must be something materialistic or corrupt. Bring on the future
And so it was revealed to
— Apr 30, 2011
And so it was revealed to me, that god is not a male person at all, verily she is not even a grownup. The goddess of goddesses is a little girl, so small indeed, she does not grow a single hair between her holy and virginal legs...
Someone posted this stuff also in a cyber group for Satanists (Satanic International Network), they like it, because it fits in their philosophy.
Thanks for these great comments!
— May 02, 2011
I am a complete history nerd, so it's an interesting read in that way. But that's not why I posted about it. There is a negative path we can choose to follow, because it's how groups operate. The book is written like an open letter to the ambitious individual who wants power. We all have power, and we give it away all the time - with what we buy, what we listen to, how we work with each other, what we choose to talk about (or who to talk about).
@John - That's why I wanted to post it, so as each of us on our path can be self aware of what we are doing, so we can look inward an ask "am I taking advantage of this situation for my own power, or am I doing what I should be doing in the best interest of the organization, employees and our values?" The book talks about kings and princes, but I think these laws apply to anyone in an organization.
I liken this book to "The Singularity is Near", it has an appeal to the basic need for power and control over life. But if you step back from the ideas and ask yourself what is this really about, how would this affect the poor, the powerless, the unconnected, you see how vicious it is. The ideas of 'Singularity are fairly antithetical to what we do here on Evolver, the kinds of change we want to see in the world. Knowing your opposite helps define what you are for.
6 Tektite Serpent
----------------------------
"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly" - Thomas Paine
"We never reflect how pleasant it is to ask for nothing" - Seneca
Sun Tzu
— May 09, 2011
Sun Tzu get's a lot of name checking in this book too, along with Napoleon. But Tzu was also against war in the first place too. The Art of War stresses time and again use diplomacy and subterfuge first, then again, and only when all else fails use the military to convince your enemies to return to the bargaining table.
6 Tektite Serpent
----------------------------
"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly" - Thomas Paine
"We never reflect how pleasant it is to ask for nothing" - Seneca
