The 48 Laws Of Power

club,
unified

by

abondofcommon

goals.

Then,

to

strengthen

this

bond,

manufacturethenotionofadevious
enemy

outtoruin

you.

Thereisa

forceofnonbelieversthatwilldo

anything

to

stopyou.Any

outsiderwho

triestorevealthecharlatannatureof
your

belief

system

cannowbede-

scribedasamemberofthisdevious
force.

If

you

have no

enemies,

inventone. Givenastrawman toreact

against,your

followerswill

tighten

andcohere.

They

have

your

causeto

believeinandinfidelsto

destroy.

OBSERVANCESOF’l‘l.-iELAW

ObservanceI

In
the
year
1653,

a

twenty»seven-ye-arclcl

MilanmannamedFrancesco

Giuseppe

Borriclaimedto

havehada

vision.Hewentaroundtown

telling

one andallthatthe

archangel

Michaelhad

appeared

to

him

and

an-

nouncedthathehadbeenchosentobethe

mpitanogenerale

ofthe

Army

oftheNew

Pope,

an

army

thatwouldseizeandrevitalizetheworld.

The

archangel

hadfurtherrevealedthatBorn‘nowhadthe

power

tosee

people’s
souls,

andthat

hewouldsoondiscoverthe

phi1osopher’s

stone-a

longsought--after

substance that could

change

base metals into

gold.

Friendsand

acquaintances

whoheardBorri

explain

the

vision,

andwho

witnessedthe

change

that hadcomeover

him,

were

impressed,

forBorn‘

had

previously

devotedhimselftoalifeof

wine,women,

and

gambling.

Nowhe

gave

allthat

up,plunging

himselfintothe

study

of

alchemy

and

talkingonly

of

mysticism

andtheoccult.

Thetransformationwassosuddenand

miraculous,

andBorri’swords

weresofilledwith

enthusiasm,

thathe

began

tocreatea

following.

Unfor-

tunately

theItalian

Inquisitionbegan

tonoticehimas

well—theyprose-

cuted

anyone

whodelvedintothe

occult—so

heleft

Italy

and

began

to

wander

Europe,

from

Ausuiato

Holland,

telling

oneand

allthat“tothose

whofollowmeall

joy

shallbe

granted.”

WhereverBorri

stayed

heat—

tractedfollowers.Hismethodwas

simple:

He

spoke

ofhis

vision,

which

had

grown

moreand

more

elaborate,

andofferedto

“look

into”thesoulof

anyone

whobelieved

him

(andthey

were

many).Seemingly

ina

trance,

he

wouldstareatthisnewfollowerforseveral

minutes,

thenclaimtohave

seenthe

person’s

soul,degree

of

enlightenment,

and

potential

for

spiritual

greatness.

Ifwhathesawshowed

promise,

hewouldaddthe

person

tohis

growing

order

of

disciples,

anhonor

indeed.

Theculthadsix

degrees,

intowhichthe

disciples

were

assigned

ac-

cording

towhatBorrihad

glimpsed

intheirsouls.Withworkandtotalde

votiontothecult

they

could

graduate

toa

higherdegree.

Borri-—-whom

they

called“His

Excellency,”

and“UniversalDoctor”--demandedfrom

themthestrictestvowsof

poverty.

Allthe

goods

and

moneystheypos-

sessedhadtobeturnedovertohim.But

they

didnotmind

handing

over

their
property,

forBorrihadtold

them,

“Ishallsoon

bringmy

chemical

aftremendousimpor«

Il1l"!("t’."H63Gtxdl”

scnzurrmda

Plymouth

Rockhen.Andthe

or/zenmolt

up

the

cry

"He'sGod?"So

they

followed

himwherever

hewentandwlmrihe

began

to

bump

into

thingsIlwybegan

to

bump

into

zliings,

(on.

Finally

hecameto(1

mrzcrely

highway

and

hestarted

up

the

middle

ufii

andallthe

othercrcamres

followed

him.

Presently

ahawk.whowas

acting

asoutridrzr,observeda

(ruck

mming

toward

them

arfifty

miles‘an

hum;

andhe

rcprzrlctl

to{hit

secretary

bird

andthe

secretary

bird

reported

totheowl.

“Tlu?re’.r

danger

tlliearl.

"

saidthere:re-

mry

bird.“Towit?

"

saidthenwl.Thescore-

mry

birdtoldhim.

“Areri'1

youu[rtu't‘l."'

Ilaasked.“Who?

"

will

/heowl

calmly,for

he

couldnot.w«-(hetruck.

"[Ie'sGod!" rindall

the

¢:re11ture.s‘

again,

and

they

werestill

cry-in‘i,~

"HeirGod!"whenthe

mack

hi:them

andrun

them

down.Some

of

theanimals‘were

merelymjurwl,

[ml

most

ofthem,imiludmg

the

owl.

werekilled.

Moral:Youcan

fun!

too

manyof

the

people

too

much

alike

lime.

‘rm:‘I1mkur.R

<

ARNWAL,

JAMESTi-iuzsr-Lu

,

l894~l96$

LAW 27

219