The 48 Laws Of Power

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216 LAW 27

THESCIENCEOF

Cl-IARLATANISM,

ORHOWTOCREATEACULTlNFIVEEASYSTEPS

In

searching,

as

you

must,

forthemethodsthatwill

gainyou

themost

power

for

theleast

effort,

you

will

find

the

creationofacultlike

following

oneofthemostelfective.

Having

a

largefollowingopensup

allsortsof

possibilities

for

deception;

not

only

will

your

followers

worship

you,

they

willdefend

you

from

your

enemiesandwill

voluntarily

takeontheworkof

enticing

othersto

joinyourfledgling

cult.Thiskindof

power

willlift

you

to

anotherrealm:Youwillno

longer

haveto

struggle

oruse

subterfuge

toen-

force

your

will.Youare

adored

and

cando

no

wrong.

You

might

thinkita

gargantuan

tasktocreatesucha

following,

butin

factitis

fairly

simple.

As

humans,

wehavea

desperate

needtobelievein

something,

anything.

Thismakesus

eminentlygullible:

We

simply

cannot

endure

longperiods

of

doubt,

orofthe

emptiness

thatcomesfromalackof

something

tobelievein.

Dangle

in

front

ofus

somenew

cause,elixir,

get-

rich-quick

scheme,

or

thelatest

technological

trendor

art

movementand

we

leap

fromthewaterasonetotakethebait.Lookat

history:

Thechroni-

clesofthenewtrendsandcultsthathavemadeamass

following

forthem-

selvescouldfilla

library.

Afterafew

centuries,

afew

decades,

afew

years,

afew

months,

theygenerally

look

ridiculous,

butatthetime

they

seemso

attractive,

so

transcendental,

sodivine.

Always

inarushtobelievein

something,

wewillmanufacturesaints

andfaithsoutof

nothing.

Donotletthis

gullibilitygo

towaste:Make

your»

selfthe

object

of

worship.

Make

people

formacult

around

you.

The

greatEuropean

Charlatansofthe

sixteenthand

seventeenthten»

turiesmasteredtheartof

cultmaking.They

lived,

aswedo

now,

inatime

oftransformation:

Organizedreligion

wasonthe

wane,

scienceontherise.

People

were

desperate

to

mlly

aroundanewcauseorfaith.TheCharlatans

had

begun

bypeddling

health

elixirsandalchernic

shortcutstowealth.

Moving quickly

fromtown to

town,

theyoriginally

focused on small

groups—until,by

accident,

they

stumbledon

a

truthofhumannature:

The

larger

the

grouptheygathered

around

themselves,

theeasieritwasto

deceive.

Thecharlatanwouldstationhimselfona

high

wooden

platform

(hence

theterm

“mountebank”)

andcrowdswouldswarmaroundhim.Ina

group

setting,people

weremore

emotional,

lessabletoreason.Hadthecharlatan

spoken

tothem

individually,

theymight

havefoundhim

ridiculous,

butlost

inacrowd

they

got

caughtup

inacommunalmoodof

rapt

attention.Itbe

came

impossible

for

them

tofindthedistanceto

be

skeptical,Any

deficien-

cies

in

thecharlatan’sideaswerehidden

by

the

zeal

ofthe

mass.Passion

and

enthusiasm

sweptthrough

the

crowd

likea

contagion,

and

they

reacted

violently

to

anyone

whodaredto

spread

aseedofdoubt.Both

consciously

studying

this

dynamic

over decades of

experiment

and

spontaneously

adapting

tothesesituationsas

theyhappened,

thecharlatans

perfected

the

scienceof

attracting

and

holding

a

crowd,

molding

thecrowdintofollowers

andthefollowersinto

a

cult.