The 48 Laws Of Power

Tnbecamethe

fmmdpr

ofa

new

religion

one

mustbe

psychologi-

callyinfallible

inone‘.s

kriowledge(Ifu

cerium

averagetypeofsuuls

whohavenot

yet

recognized

that

KIM)‘

belongtogether.

FRKEDRXCII

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will

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Till’,Tl-'.\l[’|,F

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the

Srolnsli

quark

Jumas

Graham

.

..

was

winning

a

largefollow-

ing

and

grztm

richmin

Ixmdnn.

.

..

[Graham]

maimtzimedashow

a

f

greatsL'icnti/it

lL’(’]l-

niqzw.

In1772. 4 .he

hadvisitedI"hiIuclel-

phiu.

wherehemm

Benjamin

Franklinand

beamzr

inn»rc.vmlin

thelam-r‘v

E'.V]7i’V'1rI!¢’Hls

withPl£(‘Yrit‘iIV.7’lw.vi>

upperzr

tolmvrr

Inspirierl

the

apparatus

inthr

“Templeof

Ilealrh,

"

220 LAW 27

studiestoa

happy

conclusion

by

the

discovery

ofthe

phil0sopher’s

stone,

and

by

thismeansweshallallhaveasmuch

gold

aswedesire.”

Givenhis

growing

wealth,

Barri

began

to

change

his

style

of

living.

Renting

themost

splendid

apartment

inthe

city

intowhichhehad

tem-

porarily

settled,

hewouldfurnishitwithfabulousfurnitureand

accessories,

whichhehad

begun

tocollect.Hewoulddrive

through

the

city

inacoach

studded

with

jewels,

withsix

magnificent

blackhorsesatitshead.Henever

stayed

too

long

inone

place,

andwhenhe

disappeared,saying

hehad

moresoulsto

gather

intohis

flock,

his

reputationonlygrew

inhisabsence.

Hebecame

famous,

although

infacthehadneverdonea

single

concrete

thing.

Fromallover

Europe,

the

blind,

the

crippled,

andthe

desperate

came

tovisit

Borri,

forwordhad

spread

thathehad

healingpowers.

Heaskedno

feeforhis

services,

which

only

madehimseemmore

marvelous,

andin-

deedsomeclaimedthatinthisorthat

city

hehad

performed

a

miracle

cure.

Byonlyhinting

athis

accomplishments,

he

encouragedpeople’s

imaginations

toblowthem

up

tofantastic

proportions.

His

wealth,

forex~

ample,actually

camefromthevastsumshewas

collecting

fromhisin-

creasingly

select

group

ofrich

disciples;

yet

itwas

presumed

thathehadin

fact

perfected

the

philosopher’s

stone.TheChurchcontinuedto

pursue

him,

denouncing

him for

heresy

and

witchcraft,

andBorzi’s

response

to

these

charges

wasa

dignified

silence;

this

only

enhancedhis

reputation

and

madehisfollowersmore

passionate.Only

the

great

are

persecuted,

after

all;

how

many

understood

Jesus

Christinhisowntime?Born’didnothave

to

say

aword—-hisfollowersnowcalledthe

Pope

theAntichrist.

AndsoBorri’s

powergrew

and

grew,

untilone

day

heleftthe

city

of

Amsterdam

(where

hehadsettledfora

while),absconding

with

huge

sums

of

borrowed

money

anddiamondsthathadbeenentrustedtohim.

(He

claimedtobeabletoremovetheflawsfromdiamonds

through

the

power

ofhis

gifted

mind.)

Nowhewasontherun.The

Inquisitioneventually

caughtup

with

him,

and

forthe

last

Mentyyears

of

hislife

hewas

impris-

onedinRome.But

so

great

wasthebelief

inhis

occult

powers

thattohis

dying

day

hewasvisited

bywealthy

believers,

including

Queen

Christina

ofSweden.

Supplying

himudth

money

and

materials,

thesevisitorsal-

lowedhimtocontinuehissearchfortheelusive

philosopher’s

stone.

Interpretation

Beforeheformedhis

cult,

Borriseemstohavestumbledonacriticaldis-

covery.Tiring

ofhislifeof

debauchery,

hehaddecidedto

give

it

up

andto

devotehimselftothe

occult,

a

genuine

interestofhis.Hemusthaveno

titted,however,

thatwhenhealludedtoa

mysticalexperience

(rather

than

physical

exhaustion)

as

thesourceofhis

conversion,

people

ofallclasses

wantedtohearmore.

Realizing

the

power

hecould

gainbyascxibing

the

change

to

something

externaland

mysterious,

hewentfurtherwithhis

manufacturedvisions.The

grander

the

vision,

andthemoresacrificeshe

asked

for,

themore

appealing

andbelievablehis

story

seemed

to

become.

Remember:

People

arenotinterestedinthetruthabout

change.They