The 48 Laws Of Power

costhis

regimedearly.

Remember:Youare

your

ownfather.Donotlet

yourselfspendyearscreatingyourselfonly

tolet

yourguard

downand

allowthe

ghost

ofthe

past—father,

habit,

history—to

sneakbackin.

Finally,

asnotedinthe

story

ofLouis

XV,

plenitude

and

prosperity

tendtomakeus

lazy

andinactive:Whenour

power

issecurewehaveno

needtoact.Thisisaserious

danger,especially

forthosewhoachievesuc-

cessand
power

atan

earlyage.

The

playwright

Tennessee

Williams,

forin-

stance,

foundhimself

skyrocketed

from

obscurity

tofame

by

thesuccessof

TheGlass

Menagerie.

“ThesortoflifewhichIhad had

previous

tothis

popuv

lar
success,”
helater
wrote,
“wasonethat

required

endurance,

alifeof

clawing

and

scratching,

butitwasa

good

lifebecauseitwasthesortoflife

for
whichthehuman
organism

iscreated.Iwasnotawareofhowmuch

vital
energy

had

gone

intothis

struggle

until

the

struggle

wasremoved.

This
was

security

atlast.Isatdownandlookedaboutmeandwas

suddenly

verydepressed.”

Williamshadanervous

breakdown,

which

may

in

fact

havebeen
necessary

forhim:Pushedtothe

psychological

edge,

hecould

start
writing

withtheold

vitalityagain,

andhe

produced

AStreetcarNamed

Desire.

FyodorDostoyevsky, similarly,

wheneverhewroteasuccessful

novel,
wouldfeelthatthefinancial
security

hehad

gained

madetheactof

creation

unnecessary.

Hewouldtakehisentire

savings

tothecasinoand

wouldnotleaveuntilhehad

gambled

away

hislast

penny.

Oncereduced

to

poverty

hecouldwrite

again.

Itisnot

necessary

to

go

tosuch

extremes,

but

you

mustbe

prepared

to

returnto

square

one

psychologically

ratherthan

growing

fatand

lazy

with

prosperity.

PabloPicassocoulddealwith

success,

but

onlybyconstantly

changing

the

style

ofhis

painting,

often

breaking

completely

withwhat

hadmadehimsuccessfulbefore.Howoftenour

earlytriumphs

turnus

intoakindofcaricatureofourselves. Powerful

peoplerecognize

these

traps;

likeAlexanderthe

Great,

theystruggleconstantly

tore—createthem-

selves.Thefathermust.notbeallowedto

return;

hemustbeslainat

every

step

ofthe

way.

Image:

TheFather.Hecastsa

giant

shadowoverhis

children,

keeping

them in thrall

long

afterheis

gonebytying

them

to the

past, squashing

their

youthful spirit,

and

forcing

themdownthesametired

path

hefollowedhimself.Histricks

are

many.

At

every

cross-

roads

you

must

slay

thefather

and

step

outofhis shadow.

LAW 41 355