The 48 Laws Of Power

Atthe

age

of

forty—one,

Lola

gave

away

herclothesand

finery

and

turnedtoGod.Shetoured
America,

lecturing

on

religioustopics,

dressed

inwhiteand
wearing

ahalolikewhite

headgear.

Shedied

two

years

later,

in

1861. 
      

Interpretation

LolaMontezattractedmenwithher
wiles,

buther

power

overthemwent

beyond

thesexual.Itwas

through

theforceofhercharacter

thatshe

kept

herloversenthralled.Menwere
suckedintothemaelstromshechurned
up

aroundher.

They

felt

confused,

upset,

but

the

strength

oftheemotionsshe

stirredalsomadethemfeelmorealive.

Asisoftenthecasewith

infection,

the

problems

would

only

ariseover

time.Lola’sinherent

instability

would

begin

to

get

underher

lovers’

skin.

They

wouldfindthemselvesdrawnintoher

problems,

but

theiremotional

attachmenttoher
would
makethemwantto

help

her.Thiswasthecrucial

point

oftheclisease--forLolaMontezcouldnotbe

helped.

Her

problems

weretoo

deep.

Oncetheloveridentifiedwith

them,

hewaslost.Hewould

findhimselfembroiledin

quarrels.

Theinfectionwould

spread

tohisfam-

ily

and

friends,

or,

inthecaseof

Ludwig,

toan

entirenation.The

only

so

lutionwould
be
tocuther
off,
orsulleraneventual

collapse.

The

infecting-charactertype

isnotrestrictedto

women;

ithas

nothing

todowith

gender.

Itstemsfromaninward

instability

thatradiates

outward,

drawing

disaster

upon

itself.Thereisalmostadesireto

destroy

andunset

tle.Youcould

spend

alifetime

studying

the

pathology

of

infecting

charac-

ters,

butdon’twaste

yourtime—just

learnthelesson.When

yoususpect

you

areinthe

presence

ofan

infector,

don’t

argue,

don’t

try

to

help,

don’t

pass

the

person

onto

your

friends,

or

you

will

become

enmeshed.Fleethe

ix1fector’s

presence

orsufferthe

consequences.

YamiCassiushasaleanand

hungry

look.He

thinkstoomuch.

...

I

donotknow

themanI

shouldavoidsosoonasthat

spare

Cassius,.

.r

Suchmenasheheneveratheartiseasewhile:

they

beholda

greater

than

themselves,

and

therefore

are

theyvery

dangmusv

Julius

Caesar.

William

.5’/mlms/Morn,

I564-I616

KEYSTOPOWER

Thosemisfortunates

among

uswhohavebeen

brought

down

by

circum-

stances

beyond

theircontroldeserveallthe

help

and

sympathy

wecan

give

them.

Butthereareothers

who

arenot

borntomisfortuneor

unhappi~

ness,

butwhodraw

it

upon

themselves

by

theirdestructiveactionsandun-

settling

effectonothers.Itwouldbea

great

thing

ifwecouldraisethem

up,

change

their

patterns,

butmoreoftenthannotitistheir

patterns

thatend

upgetting

insideand

changing

us.Thereasonis

siinple-humans

areex-

tremelysusceptible

tothe

moods,emotions,

andeventhe

ways

of

thinking

ofthosewithwhom

theyspend

theirtime.

The

incurably

unhappy

andunstablehavea

particularlystrong

infect»

Regardnofr:<;(i.xl1

man

as

('n!tun»'ri,

ilzusrghyou

may

raiamn

glfin/I

manaswi.s'e;rJm1

(,‘.S'lt‘{,’IIlno

ignorant

abA'Iuint'ra/myanrelirr.

Donotrmzsorrwith

fools.on/mcially

those

whom/zsidorlII(,II11~

rclw-swixu.Andbenot

s'e1_f-xaIi.sfi('(t

with

your

own

igrmmrzce.

L6!

vnurllI7é‘rt‘l)IlV.VL’In‘

only

withmen

ofguod

nt/11t!e:f0r

itIn

by

such

tI.\'.\‘0(‘IIl[l()Vlthatnwn

themselves‘atmmto

goon’rzymzc.

Du

you

notobservehow

wsarne-oilit

rm'rrg£e(l

wirlrru.a'c.ror

r‘E0lc‘f.\'

and

how.

whenithas

been

for

.t‘()I)I£'littlein

associarimrwithmsm‘

or

rztslrrrs,

itCfflllif?to

{Ifsesame-oi}(am!is

calledail

r;gfrm‘z'.r

oroil

of

w'r1i'e1.v?

AMIRRURFORHum

r-:8,

KAIl(A'Hshm

lSK/‘\NDAR.

r~.r.i-vrwrn(‘l,N'lum

LAW 10 79