The 48 Laws Of Power

ahead,

Selassiemadesurethat

Gugsa’s

rebellionwouldcometo

nothing,

andthathecoulduseittodo
away

withhislasttwoenemies.

ThisistheessenceoftheLaw:Whenthewatersare

still,

youroppo~

nentshavethetimeand
space

to

plot

actionsthat

they

willinitiate

andcom

trol.Sostirthe
waters,
forcethefishtothe

surface,

get

themtoactbefore

they

are

ready,

stealtheinitiative.Thebest

way

todothisisto

play

onun-

controllable

emotions—-pride,vanity,

love,

hate.Oncethewaterisstirred

up,

thelittlefishcannot

help

butrisetothebait.The

angrierthey

become,

thelesscontrol

they

have,

and

finallythey

are

caught

inthe

whirlpoolyou

have
made,
and

they

drown.

A

sovereign

shouldneverlaunchan

army

out

of

anger.

aleadershouldnever

starta

warout

ofurrath.

Sun-zzu,

fourth

cmlury

.li.C.

KEYSTOPOWER

Angrypeopleusually

end

uplooking

ridiculous,

for

their

response

seems

outof
proportion

towhatoccasionedit.

They

have

taken

things

tooseri-

ously,
exaggerating

thehurtorinsultthathasbeendonetothem.

They

are

sosensitive
to

slight

thatitbecomescomicalhowmuch

they

take

person~

ally.

Morecomical

stillis

theirbelief

that

theiroutbursts

signifypower:

The

truthisthe

opposite:

Fetulance

isnot

power,

itisa

sign

of

helplessness.

People
maytemporarily

becowed

byyour

tantrums,

butintheend

they

lose
respect

for

you.They

alsorealize

they

can

easily

underminea

person

withsolittleselflcontrol.

The

answer,however,

isnotto

repress

our

angry

oremotionalre

sponses.

For

repression

drainsusof

energy

and

pushes

usinto

strange

be-

havior.lnsteadwehaveto

change

our

perspective:

Wehavetorealizethat

nothing

inthesocial

realm,

andinthe

game

of

power,

is

personal.

Everyone

is

caughtup

inachain

ofevents

that

longpredates

the

pre-

sentmoment.Our
anger

oftenstemsfrom

problems

inour

childhood,

fromthe

problems

ofour

parents

whichstemfromtheirown

childhood,

on

andon.Our
anger

alsohasrootsinthe

many

interactionswith

others,

the

accumulated

disappointments

andheartachesthatwehavesuffered.Anin-

dividual
willoften
appear

as

the

instigator

ofour

anger

butitismuch

more

complicated,goes

far

beyond

whatthatindividualdid

to

us.

Ifa

person

ex-

plodes

with

anger

at

you(and

itseemsoutof

proportion

towhat

you

didto

them),

you

mustremind

yourself

thatitisnot

exclusively

directedat

you-—

donotbesovain.Thecauseismuch

larger,goesway

bad:in

time,

in-

volves dozensof
prior
hurts,
and is

actually

notworth

thebother

to

understand.Insteadof

seeing

itasa

personal

grudge,

lookattheemotional

outburstasa

disguisedpower

move,

an

attempt

tocontrolor

punishyou

cloakedintheformofhurt

feelings

and

anger.

Thisshift

of

perspective

willlet

youplay

the

game

of

power

withmore

clarity

and

energy.

Insteadof

overreasting,

and

becoming

ensnaredin

pet)»

DlT(2!lllllill

l'Rll’s'l'

Kirfyo.

an

officer

ofrhe

Second’rank,had

a

brwhercalled

the

High

Priest

R

yogaku,

an

extremely

bad-

lempered

mam.Nextto

his

monasterygrew

:2

large

nettle-treewhich

octraflonedtheruck-

rmme

peoplegave

him,

theNertletrze

High

Priest.“Tharnameis

outrageous,

”

ruin?the

highpriest,

andcut

downtheme.The

stump

still

beingleft.

peoplereferred

tohim

nowasthe

SlumpHigh

Priest.More

furious

thanever,

Ryogaku

had

the

rmmp

dugup

and

thrown

away,

butthis

left

(1

big

ditch.

People

nowcalled

himthe

Ditch

High

Priest.

ESSAYSINxnrerzrsss.

Kr,NK<'>,

lA!’AN,

i«'<'n.=R1ne,>:m

rir,.~2rmw

LAW 39 329