The 48 Laws Of Power

(Utkarsh JhaWsTmab) #1
TH}(.‘UU.<l;AND

Till’.IIOHSF

A
game
who
was

plucking
grass
upon

u

common
thought

her.\'el_faffronter!by


a

horsewho
fed


near
her;

mm’.in
hi.\'.s'ingll(‘L‘(Wll.\',

thusaddressedhim:“I

am
certainly

amore

nobleand
perfect

animalthan
yozrfor

tin’whole
range

and

extent
afyourfarcrtlties

is
confined
toone

element.
Icanwalk

upon

the
groom!

as

well(:5
you,’
Ihave,

basidtas,wings,


with

whichIcanraise

myself
intheair;and

whenI
please.
Ican

sport

on
pomls

and

lakes,
and
n7f*'.'Sh

myst,-ifin

1119 ‘ml


waters:
1
enfmirlle

dlffermzrpowersUfa

bird,
(1
fish,
am!a

qumiruped.

"


The
horse,
$tl(5!‘!§Izg

sonrrwhat
distltzinjizliy.

replied:
“I:ismic:
you

inhabit
three
eiemems.

but
you

makeno
very

disrirzguisiieri/ignre

in

any
one
ofthem.

You

fly,
imlerd;
but
your

flight

isso
heavy

and

clmnsy,
thatVonluau-‘e

no
right
to
putyourself

nnalevelwiththe[ark

ortheswallow.Youcan

swimonthe
surfaceof

the
watch»,
but
you

Ltmnoiliveinthemas

fishes
r1o:you
cannot

findyourfood

inrho!

riemenl,nor
gfirlr

.\'nzoor?:1
y
(aitmg

the

bottom
of

rite
waves.

Amiwhen
you
walk,
or

rather
wtlcltlle,upon

the
ground,
with
your

liroad
fret

and
your

long

neckxlretchred
out,

TRANSGRESSION
OFTHELAW

InChinainthe

early

sixth
century
B.C.,
the

kingdom

ofWu

began

awas

withthe

neighboring

norlhem
provinces

oftheMiddle

Kingdom.

Wuwas

a.
growing
power,

butitlackedthe
great

history

andcivilizationoftheMid

dle

Kingdom,

forcenturiesthecenterofChineseculture.

Bydefeating

the

Middle

Kingdom,

the
king

ofWuwould

instantly

raisehisstatus.

The
war

began

with
great

fanfare
andseveral
victories,
but
it
soon

bogged

down.A
victory

ononefromwouldleavetheWuarmiesvulnera~

bleonanother.The

king’

schiefministerand

adviser,

Wu

Tzu-hsiu,

warned

himthatthebarbarousstateof
Yueh,

tothe

south,

was

beginning

tonotice

the

kingdom

of
V\’u’s

problems

andhad

designs

toinvade.
The

kingonly

laughed

at
suchw0rries~onemore

bigvictory

andthe
great

Middle
King—

domwouldbehis.

Inthe
year

490,
WuT212-hsiusenthisson
away

to

safety

inthe

king-

domof
Ch’i.
In

doing

sohesentthe
king

a

signal

thathe

disapproved

of

the
war,

andthathe
believed
the

king’s

selfishambitionwas

leading

Wuto

min.The

king,sensingbetrayal,

lashedoutathis
minister,

accusing

himof

alackof

loyalty

and,

inafitof
anger,

orderedhimtokillhimself.WuTzu-

hsiu

obeyed

his

king,

butbeforehe

plunged

theknifeintohis
chest,

he

cried,
“Tearout
myeyes,

oh
King,

andfixthemonthe
gate

of
Wu,

sothatI

may

seethe

triumphantentry

ofYueh.”

AsWuTzwlrsiuhad

predicted,

withinafew
years

aYueh
armypassed

beneaththe

gate

ofWu.Asthebarbarianssurroundedthe

palace,

the

king

rememberedhisminister’slastWords-——~andfeltthedeadman’sdisembod-


ied

eyeswatching

his

disgrace.

Unabletohearhis

shame,

the

king

killed

himself,

“covering

hisfacesothathewould
nothave
to
meet
the
reproaclr

ful
gaze

ofhisministerinthenextworld.”

Interpretation

The
story

ofWuisa

paradigm

ofallthe

empires

thathavecometomin

by

overreachlng.

Drunkwithsuccess
andsick
with
ambition,
such

empires

ex‘

pand

to

grotesqueproportions

andmeetaminthatistotal.Thisiswhat

happened

toancient
Athens,
whichlustedforthe

faraway

islandof

Sicily

andended

uplosing

its
empire.

The
Romansstretchedthe
boundariesof

their

empire

to
encompass

vast
territories;
in

doing

so

they

increasedtheir

vulnerability,

andthechancesofinvasionfrom
yet

anotherbarbariantribe.

Theiruseless
expansion

ledtheir

empire

intooblivion.

Forthe

Chinese,

thefateofthe

kingdom

ofWuservesasanelemental

lessononwhat

happens

when

youdissipateyour

forcesonseveral
fronts,

losingsight

ofdistant

dangers

forthesakeof

presentgain.

“If
you

arenotin

danger,”says

Sun-tzu,

“donot
fight.”

It
isalmosta

physical

law:Whatis

bloated

beyond

its
proportions

inevitably

collapses.

Themindmustnot

wanderfrom

goal

to

goal,

orbedistracted

by

successfromitssenseof
pur-

pose

and

proportion.

Whatis

concentrated,coherent,

andconnectedtoits

past

has
power.

Whatis

dissipated,

divided,
anddistendedrotsand
fallsto

the

ground.

The

bigger

it
bloats,

the
harderitfalls.
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