48 Laws of Power: Intro
So, I read a lot, and I often come across books that are so profound, that I feel like I should share the books with you. With that being said, what I am going to do is break down books, chapter by chapter, so that people who don’t have time to read the books can get a clear understanding of what the books entail, starting with the highly popular 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. There will be a short summary for those who are have time restraints, while those with a little more time are encouraged to read the long-form explanation or more context.
Summary:
The feeling of having no power over people or events is generally unbearable to us - when we feel helpless, we feel miserable. NO ONE WANTS LESS POWER, EVERYONE WANTS MORE! In the world today, however, it is dangerous to seem too power hungry, to be overt with your power moves. We have to seem fair and decent, so we need to be subtle - congenial yet cunning, democratic yet devious. - Robert Greene
Long-form Explanation:
Everything we do in our lives today must seem civilized, decent, democratic, and fair, but if we play by those rules too strictly, we are crushed by those around us who are not so foolish. It never pays to be too nice. Learning the game of power requires a certain way of looking at the world, a shifting of perspective. It takes effort and years of practice, as much of the game being played does not come naturally. Once you master the basic qualifications, one will be able to apply the laws of power more easily.
The most important of the basic skills is the ability to master one's emotions. An emotional response is the single greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more than any temporary satisfaction you may gain by expressing your feelings. Emotions cloud reason, and if you cannot see the situation clearly, you cannot prepare for and respond to it with any degree of control.
Anger is the most destructive of emotional responses, for it clouds your vision the most. If you are trying to destroy an enemy who has hurt you, far better to keep them off guard by feigning friendliness than showing your anger.
Love and affection are also potentially destructive, in that they blind one to the often self serving interests of those whom you least suspect of playing a power game. You cannot repress anger nor love, or avoid feeling them. But one should be careful about how they suppress them, and most important, they should never influence your plans and strategies in any way.
Related to mastering one's emotions is the ability to distance oneself from the present moment and think objectively and the past and future. One must be able to look in both directions at once to properly judge where the danger is coming from.
For the future, the motto is "no days unalert." Nothing should catch you by surprise, because you are constantly imagining problems before they arise. Instead of spending time dreaming of your plan's happy ending, you must work on calculating every possible permutation and pitfall that might emerge in it. The further one thinks ahead, the more steps ahead one is, the more powerful one becomes.
The other "face" should be looking constantly at the past - though not to remember past hurts or bear grudges, as that would only curb your power. Half of the game is learning how to forget those events in the past that eat away at you and cloud one's reason. The REAL purpose of the backward glancing eye is to educate yourself constantly - you look at the past to learn from those who came before you. Then, having looked at the past, you look closer at hand, to your own actions and those of your friends. This is the most vital school you can learn from, because it comes from personal experience.
You begin by examining the mistakes you have made in the past, the ones that have most grievously held you back. You analyze them in terms of the 48 Laws of Power, and you extract from them a lesson and an oath: "I shall never repeat such a mistake; I shall never fall into such a trap again." If you can evaluate and observe yourself in this way, you can learn to break the patterns of the past - an immensely valuable skill.
Power requires the ability to play with appearances. To this end, you must learn to wear many masks and keep a bag full of deceptive tricks. Deception and masquerade should not be seen as ugly or immoral. All human interaction requires some deception on many levels, and in some ways what separates humans from animals is our ability to lie and deceive. Deception is a developed art of civilization and the most potent weapon in the game of power.
One cannot succeed at deception unless one takes a somewhat distanced approach to oneself - unless one can be many different people, wearing the mask that that the day and the moment require. With such a flexible approach to all appearances, including your own, you lose a lot of the inward heaviness that holds people down. Make your face as malleable as an actor's, work to conceal intentions from others, and practice luring others into traps. Playing with appearances and mastering the arts of deception are among the aesthetic pleasures of life. They are also key components in the acquisition of power.
If deception is the most potent weapon in one's arsenal, then patience in all things is one's most crucial shield. Patience will protect one from making moronic blunders. Like mastering one's emotions, patience is a skill - it does not come naturally, but nothing about power is natural, actually power is more godlike (But not our God) than anything in our world. Patience is the supreme virtue of the gods, as they have nothing but time. Everything good will happen in time, but impatience on the other hand, only make one look weak. It is a principal impediment to power.
Power is essentially amoral, and one of the most important skills to acquire is the ability to see circumstances rather than good or evil. Power is a game, and in games one does not judge by intentions, but by the effects of their actions. One should measure their strategy and their power by what they can feel and see. Train your eye to follow the results of the moves, the outward circumstances, and do not be distracted by anything else.
Half of one's mastery of power comes from what one does not do, and what one does not allow one to be dragged into. For this skill, one must learn to judge things by what they could cost them. Perhaps you will attain that which you desire, but at what cost? Apply this standard to everything, including whether to collaborate with people or come to their aid. Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others - that is too high a price to pay.
Power is a social game. To learn and master it, one most develop the ability to study and understand people. Being able to see through smoke and mirrors, and understand people's true intentions. Do you best to not trust everyone completely, and study everyone, even your loved ones.
You must learn to take the indirect route to power. Learn to disguise your cunning. By training yourself to be indirect, you can thrive in the modern world, appearing to be decent, while actually operating as the master manipulator.
All information in this article comes directly from 48 Laws of Power, written by Robert Greene