The 48 Laws Of Power

velop

the

theory

behindthiskindof

warfare,

andto

put

itinto

practice.

His

ideasinfluenced
Mao,
whofoundinhis
writings

an

uncanny

Western

equivalent

towei-chi.Lawrencewas

working

withArabs

fighting

fortheir

territoryagainst

theTurks.HisideawastomaketheArabsblendintothe

vast

desert,

never

providing

a

target,

never

collectingtogether

inone

place.

AstheTurksscrambledto

fight

this

vaporousarmy,theyspread

them-

selves
thin,

wasfingenergy

in

moving

from

place

to

place.

They

hadthesu-

periorfirepower

but theArabs

kept

theinifiative

byplaying

catand

mouse,
giving

theTurks

nothing

toholdon

to,

destroying

theirmorale.

“Mostwarswerewarsofcontact.
...
Ours
shouldbeawarof
detachment,”

Lawrencewrote.“Weweretocontainthe

enemyby

thesilentthreatofa

vastunknown

desert,

not

disclosing

ourselvestillweattacked.”

Thisistheultimateformof

strategy.

Thewarof

engagement

hashe-

comefartoo

dangerous

and

costly;

indirectionandelusiveness

yield

far

betterresults
ata
muchlower
cost.Themain
cost,

in

fact,

ismental-—the

thinking

ittakesto

alignyour

forcesinscattered

patiems,

andtounder-

minethemindsand

psychology

of

youropponents.

And

nothing

willinfu-

riateanddisoxientthemmorethanformlessness.Inaworldwherewarsof

detachmentarethe
order
ofthe

day,

formlessnessiscrucial.

The

first

psychologicalrequirement

offormlessnessistotrain

yourself

totake

nothingpersonally.

Nevershow

any

defensiveness.When

you

act

defensive,

you

show

youremotions,revealing

aclearform.Your

oppo-

nentswillrealize

they

havehita

nerve,

anAchilles’heel.And

they

willhit

it

again

and

again.

So

train

yourself

totake

nothingpersonally.

Never

let

anyonegetyour

back

up.

Belikea

slippery

ballthatcannotbeheld:Letno

oneknowwhat
gets

to

you,

orwhere

your

weaknesseslie.Make

your

face

aformlessmaskand

you

willinfuriateanddisorient

your

scheming

col-

leagues

and

opponents.

One

manwhousedthis

technique

wasBaron

James

Rothschild.A

German

Jew

in

Paris,

inaculture

decidedlyunfriendly

to

foreigners,

Roth-

schildnevertook

any

attackonhim

personally

orshowedhehadbeen

hurtin
anyway.

Hefurthermore

adapted

himselftothe

political

climate,

whateveritwa.s«——-the

stiffly

formalRestoration

monarchy

ofLouis

XVIII,

the

bourgeoisreign

of

Louis-Philippe,

thedemocraticrevolutionof

1848,

the

upstart

Louis-Napoleon

crowned

emperor

in

1852. Rothschildac-

cepted

themoneand

all,

andblendedin.Hecouldaffordto

appear

hypo-

criticalor

opportunistic

becausehewasvaluedforhis

money,

nothis

politics;

his

money

wasthe

currency

of

power.

Whilehe

adapted

and

thrived,

outwardly

never

showing

a

form,

alltheother

great

familiesthat

had

begun

the

centuryimmenselywealthy

weremined

in

the

period’s

complicated

shiftsandturnsoffortune.

Attaching

themselvestothe

past,

they

revealedtheirembraceofaform.

Throughouthistory,

theformless

style

of

ruling

hasbeenmost

adeptly

practicedby

the

queen

who

reigns

alone.

A

queen

isina

radically

diflerent

position

froma.

king;

becausesheisa

woman,

her

subjects

andcourtiers

are

likely

todoubther

ability

to

rule,

her

strength

ofcharacter.Ifshefavors