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Master Passions: Quotes & Notes

Greene, Robert. The 48 Laws of Power. New York: Penguin, 1998.

Moldoveanu, Mihnea C., and Nitin Nohria. Master Passions: Emotion, Narrative, and theDevelopment of Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002.

Pressfield, Steven. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel About the Battle of Thermopylae.

New York: Bantam, 1998.

Roley Chiu, 963018079

Joyce Wei, 973009000

Dana Deschene, 200118212

Kisuk Kim, 200019823Julie Medilek, 200084701

CMNS 428 - Power

Roman Onufrijchuk.

May 8, 2006

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Roley Chiu, Joyce Wei, Julie Medilek, Dana Deschene, Kisuk Kim,May 8, 2006

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1 Prelude: Shadows of the Master Passions

p. 2 Part of the message of the book you are reading is that from the anxietythat is our most direct reaction to the unknown rise passions that guide

not only our actions but also our thoughts

p. 3 Master passions cut across people: they generate and are generated by

social phenomena such as corporate restructurings and takeovers,

political revolutions, divorces and ensuing custody battles

p. 5 The arguments used to support master narratives and the actions that

we use the narratives to justify become levers by which they take over

our own and others mind.

It is only natural to cover up their actions with all kinds of justifications...

(Greene, 1998, p. xxi)

Our emotional fear of the unknown is what causes master passions in people.

Envy and jealousy affect all walks of life but the rational of these emotions are

justified through narratives. This rational is also seen in the 48 Laws of Powerwhere Greene explains that people in general create all kinds of justifications to

cover up their actions where the game of power is inescapable (Greene, 2000, p.

xxi).

p. 7 Reason is beholden by passions, but the act of beholding in not apparent

for our conscious awareness to behold. We cannotfor that reasonexplain how passions ensnare us, as we currently have no language by

which to describe something that in intellect had had so little time towitness. We can, however, show itby the use of thought experiments

and the elucidation of mechanisms by which ways of being (includingways of knowing and ways of seeing) are created from certain powerful

emotions.

- Emotions cloud reason (Greene, 2000, p. xix).

- Gates of Fire: The Spartans refused to parley even though the odds ofwinning the battle were slim. (Pressfield, 1998).

- Before Tommie could commence his speech, Leonidas cut him off. The

answer is no, Fuck the offer and yourself, sir, along with it! (Pressfield,1998, p. 402).

- Passion consumes our consciousness so much that reasoning has no effect.

This is apparent in all 3 books. Greene stated that emotional responses to

a situation is the greatest barrier to power because it clouds reasoning and

prevents control (Greene, 2000, p. xix) This example is also seen in the

Gates of Fire when the Spartans refused to parley with the Persians even if

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the odds of defeating them were slim (Pressfield, 1998, p. 402).

pp. 11-

12

your will to freedom as a will to freedom froma freedom from others,

from yourself, from society, all of which will become entities that must be

destroyed

Like ambition, envy can remain lucid or go mad, but it whispers in the

amphitheater of consciousness have and undeniably bitter character all its own

- the same ugly emotions still stir within us, as they have forever (Greene,

2000, p. xviii).

Master passions are such strong forces that these emotions can take over our

minds. This ability to cloud our reasoning and understanding is constantly a battle

within ourselves.

p. 13 Tomorrow is a beacon for the ambitious, just as yesterday is a beacon

for the envious, for tomorrow is what is ultimately to be attained;conquest, alas, comes to us in time and through time.

p. 13 Yesterday is the fixation of the envious because what could have been

but is notis always at the center of his attention.

p. 14 Ambitions desire can also interact with the jealous guarding of an image

or identity. Living up to an ideal (perhaps an ideal of righteousness or

virtuewe want others to buy into the value of the ideal type that wehave harnessed ourselves to.

p. 15 to understand social phenomena from within.

p. 15 ....emotion is a sort of sense that detects a truth lying beyond the five

senses. It is a sense that senses the predicament of the I, and it can, we

trust, be awakened by exhortation and renewed experimentation with the

self.

The master passions are part of the conscious being. It is an internalstruggle between the conscious mind and emotions. Emotions such as ambition,

jealously and envy feed off each other into believing their thoughts are moral or

righteous. Rene Descartes believed that the emotion is like a sense thatacknowledges the self in the world.

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2 An Orwellian Abduction: The Rationalization of the

Passions

p. 18 Impulse to condemn others behavior, to find it unacceptable. The

active repression of passion by the exercise of reasonby theapplication of the rules of logic, for instance.

p. 18 The impulse to condemn thus was counteracted by the impulse to

rationalize the actual as the rational and the rational as the real andthus to achieve a cosmic rationalism that claims to understand the aim

and logic of human passions by referring to the collective destiny that

individuals actions driven by passions weave in order to create.

p. 19 The therapy is based on the impulse to interpret behavior as if it

sprang from an internal and coherent reasoning faculty and finds a

powerful echo in the methods of neoclassical economists, who find amaximization-based on explanation for every observed human action.

p. 20 A good lie is plausible in the same way in which a good camouflage is

congruent with its environment.

p. 20 It is not predictability that a pattern of explanations of socialphenomena based on reasons and interests has produced but rather the

illusion of predictability in the guise of explanatory coverage. We infer

predictive power from explanatory power and close our eyes to thedifference.

p. 21 The study suggests that concepts that enhance the illusion ofpredictability and control will win out in the history of ideas over

concepts that do not enhance it or rather that undermine its hold on

peoples mind.

In Greenes book the concept of obtaining power over others is the

predictability that the user has control over the victims. However, it does not

expect that maybe the victim may also be playing the game. This could alsorelate to Rooster a Messenian that turned down the offer to be in the mothax

class. The Peers and others were outraged that he turned it down and believed

that his family should be killed (Pressfield, 1998, 195-196).

p. 22 terror that we feel in the face of the unknown.

p. 22 Then negotiators true utility function often has nothing to do withmaximization of gains but rather with the imposition of his or her will on

the will of the other and with the salvaging of self-esteem.

Law 38: Think as you like but behave like others. (Greene, 2000, p. 317)

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Gates of Fire: Alexandros left his cousin Diomache with the woman of Athensbelieving she would have a better life, a life he could not provide her (Pressfield,

1998, p. 109-110). Throughout the book Alexandros intrapersonal dilemma still

lingers on the whereabouts of Diomache and if he made the right choice to part

ways

p. 24 morality follows desire just as rationality follows behaviour: people

judge fairness of a process not by objective or transcendental standardsbut rather by the outcomes of that process for themselves.

p. 24 The gift of language...is a mythological oneof representing the self inwords that together spin a narrative or story that establishes that

purpose.

p. 25 We avoid or explain away refuting evidence and seek, instead,

evidence that supports them or is at least logically independent for

them.

p. 25 Manipulating another involves taking advantage of her personal

mythology and rationalizing proclivity to present an action in a familiar

light, of her cognitive miserliness to foreclose on relevant alternativepossibilities, and of her self-serving sense of morality to make her feel

that her action sets her apart from others in the moral plane.

Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy (Greene, 2000, p.101)

Our passions dictate our reasons for actions and narratives help us

understand the purpose of those actions. It is also a way to manipulate others inthinking the same way. In Law 14 of the 48 Laws of Power. Greene explained

that foreknowing the victims weakness and intentions provides an upper hand in

gaining the advantage. This law also clarifies how the seducer uses the victims

own information for their rationality of their reality (Greene, 2000, p. 104-105).

p. 27 passions are cognitive reconstruction of ongoing physical

phenomenon.

p. 27 mental causation of physical events is, according to this view is an

illusion.

p. 28 One must deceive oneself about ones own true projects so that themeans to attaining these projects do not lose their power to provide the

desired outcome.

p. 29 the life of the mind comes to mirror its passions.

p. 29 ...biological phenomenon arising from evolutionary process cause

consciousness of events in the same way that the physical properties of

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a table cause its material quality of hardness to the touch.

p. 30 we try to provide a means for connecting reason to the passions

through the facility of understanding rather than through the faculty of

analysis alone.

p. 30 we cannot understand the passion merely from knowledge of their

physical, behavioral, and biological correlates.

p. 31 tragedy of the modern mind: seduced by its own creations, it has

attempted to etch them into the world before it becomes too apparentthat their rendition of the world is frayed at the edges.

p. 31 But human passions are social phenomenon because they often reveal

themselves in language, through language and quite often as language,

in the performative act of speaking a certain tone or in the shadow of a

certain intention.

Passions are brought upon the fear of the unknown. It is also another way

of validating the experience of losing power. We use the notions of anxiety,

envy, and jealousy as a reason to understand these passions because there areno tangible explanations (ibid).

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3 Anxiety: The Primeval Broth

p. 35 the inquisitive capacities of your mind are limited only by your will to

believe in the relationships in which you have a stake.

p. 36 trust comes from the deeply intuitive nature of the objects that

surround you

Law 32: Play with peoples fantasies (Greene, 2000)

The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal totruth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes from

disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can

manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert.

Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the

masses (Greene, 2000, p. 263)

Our ability to believe and trust comes from a persons sense of well being. Itis also self-realization of what they believe is true. This is the concept of gaining

power over others. One creates illusions or false reality in creating trust in the

victim (Moldeveau and Nohria, p. 35-36). Greene talks about Law 32: playingwith the fantasies of people and gives the example of Bragadino, an alchemist

who was believed to multiply gold by using a secret substance. He used the

fantasy that people wanted to believe to his advantage (Greene, 2000, p. 264-

265).

p. 38 Language can heal. Saying that something is the case has a therapeutic

soothing quality.

p. 39 All it takes for the nameless to appear is for your trust to disappear. All

it takes for your trust to disintegrate is your realization that trust is

blind.

p. 39 A persons sense of identity depends upon a continuity in his

surroundings, habits, appearance, relations with others etc.

p. 41 having access to many possible worlds means that the one true

world that gives us security can turn out to be treacherous and false

and this gives us both the freedom to see how.

p. 41 Our knowledge is comforted through the use of language and

narratives. We have blind faith in believing in what people say but once

the trust is gone it makes you realize that trust is an illusion and trust is

what you make of it.

p. 42 to commit to an action, you must trust in your ability to bring about

its intended consequences rather than simply believe that you may bring

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them about.

Anxiety can emerge from the discontinuities that come from reflecting on

the mundane acts associated with practical experience.

p. 43 These are all possible worlds that emanate from daily activities.

Recognizing what you are at any moment given to choose amongst these

possible worlds is perhaps the defining moment of anxietythe moment

at which the possibility of being free reveals itself.

p. 43 Culture defends us from the realization of our own freedom because it

creates environment of ontological security.

I should have never have left you, I said, and meant it with all my heart.

Everything that has happened is my fault for not being at your side to defend

you (Pressfield, 1998, p. 333)

Our ability to make choices in life is what brings us anxiety. We know that

different choices bring different outcomes and if the choices that you make areincorrect consequences occur. It also makes us understand that culture providesour realitys security (Moldeveau and Nohria, 2002, p. 42-43).

In the Gate of Fire, when Alexandros left his cousin with the Athenian lady,he had doubt in his decision because he did not know if he was able to see her

again but he believed that he should protect her from harm and the way to

protect her was to leave her in a city he thought would be safer than travel from

city to city (Pressfield, 1998, p. 333)

p. 44 Thinghood impliesand inducesa sense of stability, of real being.

pp. 45-

46

We have a significant stake in the maintenance of reified objects, even

when our own analytical models challenge their objecthood and their

ontological essence and reality.

p. 45 The mind is a powerful creator of objects.

p. 45 The assault of nouns on language is a symptom of the deep anxiety thatwe feelemotional means of dealing with the nameless because nouns

denote things and things are the stuff of existence

p. 45 The effect of the poetic moment is at once moving and unsettling

because we see both how it could be otherwise that it can beotherwise.

p. 46 The world, after all, is the mindlike in this essence; or the mind is

worldlike. In any case, we dare not fall, through the cracks of our mind,

into the nameless.

p. 46 When word and object part ways, anxiety rises and often turns into a

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fear that we identify with something or someone.

p. 47 Words provide such a homebut it is a come constantly endangered by

the irony and sarcasm of the others and by the doubts that well up from

within the self and that cloud ones immediate perceptions, showing

that they are, after all, mediate and in particular mediated by the

words of the author.

p. 47 we simply need to replace truth with functional adequacy of a

statement, and the problem goes away.

Law 4: Always say less than necessary. (Greene, 2000).

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the

more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying

something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and

sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more yousay, the more likely you are to say something foolish (Greene, 2000, p. 31)

Words provide reality and stability. If an object is nameless it creates

anxiety because it makes it nonexistent (Moldeveau and Nohria, p. 44-47). Law4: Always say less than necessary; gives the illusion that what one says makes it

substantial or real. The less one says it gives them the freedom to make

different choices which in turn can be used to their advantage (Greene, 2000, p.

31).

p. 48 The realization that anxiety is the objectless passionthe attainment of

its object will never be the source of its quiescence.

p. 48 We have a bifurcation of the world that is also a bifurcation of the self,

whom we had thought to provide continuity from past to future

p. 49 Culture is a collective therapy aimed at placating individual anxiety.

p. 49 Beliefs seem to obey the logic of dominoes.

p. 49 Choice marks the passage of time, whose arrow seems to stem from

the irreversibility of our actions.

p. 50 The language of principles, laws, causes, and reasons provides theperfect mask of this freedom.

p. 51 The self is the subjects therapy against the anxiety caused by the

nameless.

p. 51 The irreversibility of a choice makes the split between ones possible

selves itself irrevocable.

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p. 52 Justification of a choice is the subjects attempt at therapy aimed atstopping the rumination from unfolding.

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p. 52 Choice must be disappeared at all costs, for it is the peeping holethrough which we see that we are freeprecisely the chasm that gets

rumination going.

Our thoughts of making decisions create anxieties in our life because it

makes us realize that those choices are irreversible. We use reasons and

justifications to sustain our thoughts from over analyzing (Moldeveau and

Nohria, 2002, p. 48-52).

p. 53 The very idea of risk implies that there is discontinuity between the

past (neatly circumscribed by a single narrative) and the future (whichpresents several possibilities that we are aware of and several more that

we are probably not aware of.

p. 54 Anxietythe feeling of the unknown can motivate us to conquer or

master or hide the nameless being of the living I by bringing it in the

realm of familiarity and knownness through language.

p. 54 Stories soothe. Narratives calm the unquiet mind.

Culture creates narratives that calm our minds. The idea of risks showsthat there are infinite degrees of outcomes that one may or may not know. And

it is through these risks that anxiety is presented (ibid).

p. 54 ...knowledge is better thought of as a state, a feeling, brought about bythe act of turning a nonverbal experience into a verbal one.

p. 55 Culture and society provide cradles for the seedling narratives of themany, as well as unconditional unendorsements of the idea of the

narratives.

Knowledge is encouraged by culture and society because it provides stories

that make sense of the world. These stories create identities and realities in

people because it gives meaning (ibid).

p. 55 First path is based on entrenching our narrative by recruiting others to

the same narrative.

p. 55 Second path...by destroying or denigrating the narratives that othershave built up. It is the way of the envious.

p. 56 Ambition and envy create their own realities.

Law 27: Play on peoples need to believe to create a cult like following (Greene,

2000, p. 215).

Moldeveau and Nohria describe two paths that we take in order to establish

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the self. The first is manipulating others into the same belief that you believe in

and the other is to destroy the belief of others. These paths are similar toGreenes law 26 (ibid).

4 Ambition as Desire and the Will to Power

p. 57 Philosophers have thus far only interpreted history. The point,

however, is to change it. -Karl Marx

p. 57 O villainous! I have looked upon the world for four times seven

years; and since I could distinguish between a benefit and an injury,

I never found a man that knew how to love himself. -Iago, inWilliam Shakespeare, Othello, act 1

p. 57 If ambition is desire, what is it desire for? What is its object?

Consider not only what you currently want but also what you want it

for.

p. 57 Ambition is the desire for even greater causal powers.

p. 58 The ambitious are students of human credulity, and the powerful

its current masters.

No one wants less power; everyone wants more. (Greene, 2000, p. xvii).

p. 59 As soon as the tangible ends of immediate desire are met-therecognition of another person, the successful launch of a book, a

victory in a political turf battle- they become the means to the next

tangible end.

This can be witnessed in how Xerxes conquers city by city, enlarging his

territory with no end in sight.

p. 59 Ends, once achieved, turn into means, and with the passage of time

all achievable ends eventually become means for the ambitious

mind.

Law 47: Do Not Go Past the Mark You Aimed For. In Victory Learn When to

Stop. (Greene, 2000).

The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the

heat of victory arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal

you had aimed for and by going to far, you make more enemies than you

defeat.

p. 60 Ambition is self-denying in a different sense as well: it is the desirethat negates its own immediate ends on attaining them The

achievement of a desired object leads to its subsequent

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devaluation.

p. 61 If we see recognition by another as the provisional confirmation of

our causal powers, then we will see that Hegels dialectic of master

slave is at its heart a contest for the confirmation of causal powers

and one of a great number of possible dialectics.

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p. 63 Considered meaningful here, says Hegel, are not only the ultimategoal of the struggle-recognition- but also the process by which this

struggle is carried out.

p. 62 Moreover, one can also argue that money, a secure social

predicament, and the appearance of sexual success are themselves

means to increasing ones own causal powers in the world.

Courts are, unquestionably, the seats of politeness and good breeding;

were they not so, they would be the seats of slaughter and desolation.

Those who now smile upon and embrace, would affront, and stab, eachother, if manners did not interpose

-Lord Chesterfield. (Greene, 2000)

p. 63 Culture is the camouflage of the master.

p. 63 Hierarchies are not only uncertainty-minimizing structures or profi-maximizing structures but also dominance structure.

This can be view in Sparta as they attribute their stock to be superior

to that of the helots that they enslaved. Tradition and customs wereingrained in there society as common sense.

p. 63 The consummate yes-mantodays slave and perhaps tomorrows

master-fully understands the power of one who asks.

Law 1: Never Outshine the Master (Greene, 2000).

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. Make your masterappear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

p. 64 Information is the currency of the power game.

p. 65 Money is the most fluid transformation of ends into means that the

human civilization has produced.

But to desire money as an end is absurd: money has value only as a

means to obtaining the objects, capabilities, and liberties that we desire.

p. 66 Money mirrors ambition into matter.

Money begets more money.

p. 67 There is no more ridiculous sight than of a person trying to buy

respect.

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p. 67 As Weber points out, at no time before the spread of Calvinistpractices and beliefs in Europe and North America had the

acquisition of goods and the diligent pursuit of wealth been

considered an ethical imperative.

This idea about complete nihilism is supported by George Grant in the

essay, Technology and Empire

p. 68 There is no purer example of ambitious endeavor and glorious

myth arising from self-doubt in the history off the human psyche.

p. 68 Just as the spirit of worldly achievement burdens the individual

with anxiety for each moment spent not earning money, so the ethic

of the production of knowledge keeps the scholar employed

possibly well beyond the point where his ideas are coherent and

useful.

One can argue that this mentality lies at the very heart of western ideology.

p. 69 In the long run, the labourers efforts are self defeating, as his

work helps finance its own devaluation.

p. 69 Because desire for an object is but a step along the way to

achieving greater causal powers, consumption may not lead to

fulfillment, as advertised. Rather it can lead to more desire.

p. 70 Consumption is not fulfilling but addictive: the consumer is

consumed by the object that promises fulfillment by itsconsumption.

Law 47: Do Not Go Past the Mark You Aimed For, In Victory Learn When to

Stop

The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of

victory arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had

aimed for and by going to far, you make more enemies than you defeat.(Greene, 2000).

p. 70 Thus, we have the dialectic of desire and fulfillment.

p. 71 Revealing ones desires entails capitulation and defeat: one hasbecome the slave, whose will has succumbed to the causal powers

of another; and just as an object does not incite us to actiondirected at conquest and seduction, the slave loses his interest for

the master.

p. 72 Torment is as limitless as the mind that creates it.

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Law 29: Plan All the Way to the End

The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all thepossible consequences, obstacles and twists of fortune that might reverse

your hard work and give the glory to others. (Greene, 2000).

p. 72 The masochist reluctance is a crucial part of the scene that gets

enacted: for without a will that has to be overcome by the will of the

sadist, there can be no sadistic ecstasy.

p. 72 Now it is the masochists turn to become enslaved by her desire for

enslavement, and she fantasizes over the next, deeper level of

submission and beckons the sadist with a fleeting look.

p. 72 Thus, the ecstasy of the sadomasochist dialectic is not only ecstasy

at the achievement of progressive causal powers over one another

but also ecstasy at escaping the rules, bounds, and constraints of

cultural heritage that each carries with her.

Law 32: Play into People Fantasies (Greene, 2000).

Life is so harsh and distressing the people who can manufacture romance or

conjure up fantasy are like oasis in a in the desert. Everyone flocks to them.There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses. (Greene,

2000).

p. 74 Enchanted into subjugation, the layman is once again an easytarget for the next liberators.

Law 27: Play on Peoples Need to Believe to Create a Cult Like FollowingPeople have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the

focal point by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. (Greene, 2000).

p. 74 Servility is the abandonment of ones autonomy and the

subjugation of ones actions to the intentions of another, whose own

causal powers are therefore revealed and instantiated in the actions

undertaken by a will no longer free to choose.

Law 7: Get Others to Do All the Work for You, but Always Take All the Credit

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further yourown cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and

energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. (Greene,2000).

p. 75 Notice here shades of Marx, who, by stating that all theory is really

ideology, implicitly posits that his theory is objective and stands

apart from the theories that he is criticizing, a view that Marx andEngles confirm explicitly elsewhere in there work

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p. 76 In a world of cognitive misers, complex arguments often go

unscrutinized.

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p. 77 Michael Foucault, for example, argued persuasively that thelanguage in which people talk about biological disease, crime, and

mental disease serves the commitment that the dominant social

classes have to institutions of social control such as the hospital, the

prison, and the mental asylum.

Law 45: Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform Too Much At Once

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. (Greene, 2000).

p. 78 Criminality is a useful construction, a pragmatic use of language inthe service of the will to power.

It is an institution an ideology within our society, just like that of the

Spartans. They had institutions that were understood as natural and normal

such as the Krypteia:

Every autumn, according to Plutarch (Life of Lycurgus, 28, 37), theSpartan Ephors would pro forma declare war on the Helot population so thatany Spartan citizen could kill a Helot without fear of blood guilt. Armed only

with dagger, the Krypteria were sent out into the countryside with the

instructions to kill any Helot they encountered at night and to take any foodthey needed. This could be used to remove any Helots considered

troublesome and provide the young men with a manhood test and

experience of their first kill. Such brutal oppression of the Helots permitted

the Spartans to control the agrarian population and devote themselves tomilitary practice. It may also have contributed to the Spartans' reputation

for stealth. (Wikipedia)

P78: the moment someone went to prison a mechanism came intooperation that stripped him of his civil status, and when he came out he

could do nothing except become a criminal once again.

This could be seen in The Gates as once Xeo has lost his polis he no

longer has an identity and is force to be an outlaw and a thief.

p. 78 Instead of having nomadic bands of robbers often of greatferocity roaming about the countryside, as in the eighteenth

century, one had closed milieu of delinquency, thoroughly

structured by the police Foucault

Only Gods and heroes can be brave in isolation. A man may call uponcourage only one way, in the ranks with his brothers in arms, the line of his

tribe and his city. (Pressfield, 1998)p. 79 Knowledge and power are integrated with one another, and there

is no point dreaming of a time when knowledge will cease to depend

on power It is not possible for power to be exercised withoutknowledge, it is impossible for knowledge not to engender power.

Foucault

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p. 79 Economic approaches posit that people are self maximizing agents,meaning that they choose so as to maximize their personal gain

from an interpersonal interaction.

Law 7: Get Others to Do All the Work for You, but Always Take All the Credit

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your

own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and

energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. (Greene,2000).

p. 80 We want to be in control of ourselves, if of no one else andthe specter of losing control brings up the image of the mad man,

whose existence and authenticity of feeling we would rather

sometimes deny and hide.

Law 12: Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm Your Victim

Open hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard ofeven the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a holein their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. (Greene,

2000).

p. 82 This is the true test of our causal powers: mercy, or the free choice

to do nothing even though we very well could do something and

blow the little game up sky-high.

Law 45: Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform Too Much At Once

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-

to-day level people are creatures of habit. (Greene, 2000)

p. 83 In the world of power, there are no games in which everyone

wins.

The fox knows many tricks; the hedgehog knows one good one.

-Archilochus

p. 84 Like a whispering gallery of mirrors, Stalins world would resonate

with Trotskys words, which, like whispers in a gallery, could not be

silenced by the murder of the whisperers.

Law 41: Avoid Stepping into a Great Mans ShoesWhat happens first always appears better and more original than what

comes after. Do not get lost in the shadow, or stuck in a past not of yourown making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course.

(Greene, 2000)

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5: Envy and Jealously: The Master Ratchets

p. 85 That is my proper element.

-Mephistopheles in J. W. Goethe, Faust, part 1, scene 3

His willto repay "spite with spite," as John Milton would put itdraws its

breath from the passions of envy and jealousy. Destruction wreaks envy upon

mattersometimes stoking it, sometimes exorcising it. So Mephistophelesdestroys. He cannot createeven though he is a genius. He can dream of great

fires but cannot, like his creator, invent the spark that causes a fire. Nor can he

cause causation to "happen." Instead of looking inward to see the flaw, theshortcoming, the difference between himself and God, he curses and rebels; he

leaks profanities wherever his athletic body takes him. And it usually takes him

toward the beautiful and the damnedthose who crave recognition and respect

from others and are willing to give up their authenticity to receive it. Gratefully

the mighty evil one obliges them, fondles their entrails with the pleasures of

satisfied vanity in exchange for further considerations. He is the envious demon

of our agethe great inspirer of the people who brought us the Gulag laborcamps and the Communist heaven.1

p. 85 I never got more than the leavings in life. And when I couldnt even getthose anymore, I started taking something from other peoples lives.

-Convicted serial killer Stephen Nash, on his reason for stabbing to death eleven

people

p. 85 Someone will win the lottery just not you

-Billboard Advertisement on I-93 entering Boston

In the novel 1984, by George Orwell, the Lottery is a system used to control

the Proles.

They were talking about the Lottery. Winston looked back when he had

gone thirty metres. They were still arguing, with vivid, passionate faces. The

Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event towhich the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some

millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason

for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their

intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who couldbarely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering

feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made a living simply by

selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with

the running of the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he

1Harvard Business School: Working Knowledge Bringing the Master Passions to Work

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=2935&t=career_effectiveness

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was aware (indeed everyone in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely

imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizesbeing non-existent persons. In the absence of any real inter-communication

between one part of Oceania and another, this was not difficult to arrange.

But if there was hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on to that. When you

put it in words it sounded reasonable: it was when you looked at the human

beings passing you on the pavement that it became an act of faith (Orwell, 77).

p. 85 Everyone is getting rich but me.

-Newsweek cover, July 5, 1999

Law 33: Discover Each Mans Thumbscrew

Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usually

insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret

pleasure. (Greene, 2000)

This can be witnessed in the GatesLeonidas anticipated Xerxes commencement of battle with his Immortals, hisown personal ten thousand. Leonidas knew the kings weakness, overconfidence,

and he used it to his advantage by slaughtering the under-equipped. He knew

that shear numbers would not be the key to success in this battle, that the gateswould make numbers irrelevant. He used this info to his benefit, and Xerxes

detriment. (Pressfield, 1998, p. 292)

p. 85 When two people desire the same object and only one gets it, theother may feel a casually potent negative emotion that entreats him to

sabotage or destruction.

Law 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and the Unlucky (Greene, 2000)

You can die from someone elses misery. (Greene, 2000)

Law 26: Keep Your Hands Clean:

You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled

by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by usingothers as scapegoats and cats-paw to disguise your involvement. (Greene,

2000)

p. 85 On the other hand knowing that one has gotten something that other

desires can engender a warm feeling that one may try to hide byfeigning compassion.

Dostoyevsky wrote about the happiness predicated on the misery of another.

p. 85 Finally, desiring something that another already has but that one couldsee himself as possibly having gotten can generate frustration and a

desire to harm the endowed and lessen his enjoyment of the

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predicament

This can be witnessed in the harsh treatment of Polynikes towards

Alexandros. Polynikes is jealous of the attention that Alexandros receives from

Dienekes, he is jealous of the respect that Dienekes receives from the polis. He

is jealous of Alexandros beauty. Dienekes sought out Polynikes, addressing him

by his praise-name Kallistros, which may be defined as harmoniously beautiful

or of perfect symmetry (Pressfield, 157).

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p. 86 Ambition is mobilized by the question What could I have or be?,What could I have had or been? and What if I had won rather than

lost?

p. 86 To envy, we must think it plausible that we could have had what the

envied has but we cannot get it. We see its possession by another as a

sign of our impotence and therefore a failure of our causal powers- the

objects of our ambitious desires.

Law 30: Make Your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toile andpractice that go into them, and also the cleaver tricks, must be concealed.

(Greene, 2000)

(Obeying this rule is a cause of the a person asking the above questions)

Law 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and the Unlucky. (Greene, 2000)

You can die from someone elses misery. (Greene, 2000)

p. 86 Envy is the passion we long to hide- and that we are skilled at hiding

from.

Polynikes longs to hide his envy of both the respect that Dienekes commands as

well as the beauty and compassion that Alexandros espouses.

p. 87 Greek tragedy presented misfortunes of mortals as the envy of thegods. Clytemnestra, Agamemnons wife praises him with a soliloquy fit

for the Gods. By accepting her praises he draws the attentions of the

envious wrath of the gods.

Clytemnestra means praiseworthy or wooing. Agamemnon, her second

husband, who killed her first husband went to Troy with is brother Menelaus to

retrieve Helen. While he was away, Clytemnestra weakened her resolve and

began a torrid love affair with Aegisthus, a friend of her husband. She was

angry with Agamemnon for having sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia.

Clytemnestra killed him by throwing a piece of netting over him while he was inthe bath.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned2

2The Mourning Bride,by William Congreve

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p. 88 What is jinxing about jinxes is the belief that the expression ofimmodest confidence in your eventual success will cause your project to

fail.

Most dictionaries say with varying degrees of conviction that the word

derives from the classical Greek word iunx for the bird that we in Britain call the

wryneck. In the time of the Greeks there were superstitions attached to it, with

links to witchcraft, divination and magic. One must also consider the existingEnglish word jink, which means to make an unexpected turn or change in

direction so as to avoid or elude some pursuer.3

p. 88 Resentment drives the envious to action, for envy alone is not causally

potent.

The impulses for envy alone is inherent in the nature of man, and only its

manifestation makes of it an abominable vice, a passion not only distressing and

tormenting to the subject, but intent on the destruction of the happiness ofothers, and one that is opposed to mans duty towards himself and towards otherpeople (Kant, 1985, 27).

During the siege of Troy, Palamedes alternated with two other Greekheroes, Odysseus and Diomedes in leading the army in the field, but his ability

aroused their envy. In the epic version the other two drowned Palamedes while

fishing or persuaded him to seek treasure in a well, which they thereupon filled

with stones.4

p. 88 But for resentment, envy would not be identified with malice:

Envy: Painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined

with a desire to possess the same advantage5

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins

p. 89 spite then with spite is best repaid Satan, Paradise Lost

Satan sees himself in God, and therefore, understands the motives within him to

also be within God, the supreme maker. His sees Gods acts as spiteful, so, if his

own acts are a mirror of Gods then even though they are spiteful they arerighteous.

3Quinion, Michael. World Wide Words

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-jin1.htm

4"Palamedes." Encyclopdia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopdia Britannica

Online. 22 Apr. 2006 .

5Merriam Webster Dictionary;

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/envy

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p. 89 Nothing begets plausibility like vividness, and vividness is aphenomenon of proximity.

Out of sight out of mind ~Proverb

p. 89 Envy is between Neighbors.

Keeping up with the Jones

Maintaining an appearance of affluence and wealth for the benefit of others.

Jones is an extremely common surname in the United States and in this phraseis meant to be a generic term for the neighbors. The phrase makes much more

sense when you say "keeping up with the neighbors".

It is a common practice in suburbia for neighbors to be fiercely competitive, and

to continually try to have the nicest house, lawn etc. in the neighborhood.

Keeping up with the Joneses" was the title of a comic strip that ran in many US

newspapers from 1914 to 1958 by Arthur R. ("Pop") Morand. The strip chronicledhis experiences living in suburbia.

p. 90 Physical proximity and proximity in relative standing both encourage

envy among men and women.

can give you a feeling o f malaise that spoils what used to be happy bed times.

And then, quite suddenly, you cannot take it anymore: Co-ed Chopped in Envy

May Be Disfigured

Law 46: Never Appear too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all isto appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is

smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to

deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. (Greene, 2000)

Had the college student displayed a few faults to her roommate perhaps she

would not have been maimed.

Law 36: Distain Things You Cannot Have: Ignoring Them is The Best Revenge

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The

more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a smallmistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. If there is

something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. (Greene, 2000)

A monkey was carrying two handfuls of peas. One little pea dropped out.He tried to pick it up and spilt twenty. He tried to pick up the twenty and spilt

them all. Then he lost his temper, scattered the peas in all directions and ran

away.-Fables, Leo Tolstoy

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It is a small but painful and irritating. You try all sorts of medicaments, you

complain, you scratch and pick at he scab. Doctors only make it worse,transforming the tiny wound into a grave matter. If only you had left the wound

alone, letting the time heal it and freeing yourself of worry. (Greene, 2000, p.

308)

Ultimately the girl that lost it and slashed her roommates face with a razor

should have distained beauty. The act of secretly desiring it caused the envy to

consume her. She then paid the price.

p. 92 If jealousy engenders resentment toward one who has what you could

have had, jealousy engenders resentment toward the one who mighttake it away or diminish what you now have.

Perhaps this, in some way, lay at the root of the hatred that the man felt for

the boy. That he, Alexandros, whose joy lay in the chorus and not the athletic

field, was unworthy of this gift of beauty; that it; in him, failed to reflect the

manly virtue, the andreia, which it in Polynikes so infallibly proclaimed.(Pressfield, 1998, p. 152)

Andreia was the Greek quality of manliness.6

p. 92 Everyone-and anyone- could be coveting what is now yours, and they

are about to try and get it: that is the belief at the core of the raw feel of

envy.

Law 2: Never Put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies

Be wary of friends they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused

to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. (Greene, 2000)

Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies

-Voltaire (Greene, 2000)

Pick up a bee from kindness and learn the limitations of kindness

-Sufi Proverb

Men are more ready to pay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a

burden and revenge a pleasure.

-Tacitus

p. 92 You watch her watching him watching her and cannot but feel that hersmile is there in spite of your presence: she is completely carried away

with the dance.

6About.com: Ancient Classical History

http://ancienthistory.about.com/sitesearch.htm?terms=andreia&SUName=ancienthistory&TopNode=21498&type=1

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Law 3: Conceal Your IntentionsKeep people off balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind

your actions. (Greene, 2000)

A simple smile can mean a thousand things, by not responding to questions

or keeping your answers confusing and vague you can drive a mind wild.

MAN: Kick him-hell forgive you. Flatter him- he may or may not see throughyou. But ignore him and hell hate you.

-Idries Shah, Caravan of Deams, 1968

p. 93 Every action that you aim at extricating yourself from this jealous hell

ends up digging you deeper into it.

Law 36: Distain Things You Cannot Have: Ignoring Them is The Best Revenge.

(Greene, 2000)

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. Themore attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small

mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. If there is

something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it.

p. 93 Jealously, like other emotions, can be the creator of cultural

structuresAnd no society without strong nuclear family unit has been

known to survive over extended periods of time.

The Spartans did not permit the breading outside of their Polis. Spartans

were only allowed to marry other Spartans. Because of the sense of identity thiscreated within their Polis they were able to remain a powerful city for an

extended period of time.

p. 94 Since you are not looking to prove their innocence, no news can ever be

good news, although no news at all is also bad news. This just means

that you have not yet found them out: there is always tomorrow and one

thousand more tomorrows after that.

You become obsessed with proving something that cannot be proven or

disproved.

p. 94 The resentment that comes from envy and jealousy can fuel the severeinitiation rituals facing young tribeman, new members of university level

fraternities and dormitories, intern and resident physitians in NorthAmerica, and nontenured academics and graduate research assistants in

universities around the world.

p. 94 Why should you get away without having to go through what I had to

go through?

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p. 94 Envy can serve as the guarantor of the continuity of institutions.

Tree fucking.

The boys would take station in ranks, eight deep, the shield of each pressed into

the hollow of the boy's back before him, with the leading boy's shield mashed by

their combined weight and pressure against the oak. Then they would do

othismos [scrum-like push in battle] drill.

They would push.

They would strain.

They would fuck that tree for all they were worth.

The soles of their bare feet would churn the dirt, heaving and straining until a rut

had been excavated ankle-deep, while they crushed each other's guts humping

and hurling, grinding into that immovable trunk. When the front-rank boy couldstand no more, he would assume the position of the rearmost and the secondboy would move up.

On it would go, into all-night shield drill which by mid-second-watch would havereduced the boys to involuntary regurgitation and defecation; they would be

puking and shitting themselves, their bodies shattered utterly from exhaustion,

and then, when the dawn sacrifices at last brought clemency and reprieve, the

boys would fall in for another full day of training without a minute's sleep.(Pressfield, 1998, p. 83)

p. 95 Lessening the burden on the first year residents therefore directlylessens the value of being a higher-year resident. Jealousy turns the evil

eye on the usurper of ones hard earned personal myth: the myth has to

be guarded against the young usurpers.

Usurp: to seize or exercise authority or possession wrongfully7

p. 98 Law, morality, religion are to so many bourgeois prejudices, behindwhich lurk just as many bourgeois interests (Marx, Engels, 354)

p. 98 Oppression by force was replaced by corruption; the sword, as the firstsocial lever, by gold. The right of the first night was transferred from the

feudal lords to the bourgeois manufacturers. Marriage itself remained,as before, the legally recognized form, the official cloak of prostitution,

and, moreover, was supplemented by rich crops of adultery (Engels,1963, p361)

7Merriam Websters Dictionary

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/usurpers

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resentful. Envy is the force that folds his destructive instinct back on

itself and that denies his creative spirit access to a constructivealternative world.

p. 106 Money thus becomes the material mirror of the ends of ambition, as the

desire for increasing causal powers found its dual in the desire for more

money: having more money, indeed, caused one to have greater causal

powers.

p. 108 Pipes notes that economic centralization initiatives of war communism

in Russia did not achieve their ends: a shadow market emerged to

compete with the central network of the distribution of goods andservices.

p. 108 If you motivate them with money, they will sell out to the highest

bidderIf you motivate them with the threat of losing their jobs if they

do not perform adequately, they will devise better schemes for hiding

their activities. But if they are already motivated by envy of the peoplewhose assets are being privatized, then the work incentive design hasalready been done.

p. 109 Fear of envious retribution of the evil eye and of its consequences leads people to scale back their efforts and to rein in their ambitions.

Law 46: Never Appear too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all isto appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is

smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to

deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. (Greene, 2000)

p. 109 Resentment festers; it takes energy to hide it.

p. 109 Far from quelling envy, the ensuing quality stokes it: for now my

neighbor is visible, and not only can I see what he has, but I can also

just see my-self having what he has and know I cannot get it.

p. 109 I criticize the work of others but I have nothing to put forth nothing in

exchange: there is nothing to put forth, for envy is not a creator.

p. 110 If we follow the history of the envious society to its logical end, we will

end in Fyodor Dostoyevskys underground, wherein there is no privacyfor the individual: all acts are pubic acts, for now envy has become

attached to the right to privacy itself.

p. 110 Each watches the other and therefore watches the other watch her,

watches him watching her watching him, and so forth.

Everything is judged by appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Stand

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out. Be conspicuous, at all costs.

p. 110 Action grinds to a halt, and people live out their lives through the eyes

of others: they are-even to themselves the images that they see in

each others eyes, images that they guard jealously every waking hour.

Law 6: Court Attention At All Costs. (Greene, 2000)

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6 Want, Will, Wish, Would: The Predicaments of Desire

p. 111 There are two great tragedies in life: one is not to get your hearts

desire; the other is to get it.

-George Bernard Shaw

p. 116 Alexander the great who wept because there were no worlds left tot

conquer (Passions, 116)

p. 111 Hence we drink water out of anxiety, not out of thirst- out of the fear

the thirst will get the better of us and the anxiety caused bycontemplating the unknown that follows. Anxiety turns desires into

needs.

p. 111 But the fulfillment of these desires always leaves us desiring

more.because we doubt ourselves in a way that cannot be quenched

with a smile: self doubt is already at the core of the desire for

recognition.

p. 112 Frustration in fact is a form of desire- to the extent that we think of

desire as a state of being that is escaped through a sort of fulfillmentand of fulfillment as the escape of a resentful state.

p. 112 Would have, could have, should have are the thought-shapes of

envious desire- desire for what could have been but cannot be.

p. 114 If you go back far enough in time, you can always come up with a

plausible interchange between two events that would have turned upthe desired outcome in the actual world a word spoken slightly

differently, a stray bullet abated from its target, two atoms trading

places for a nanosecond.

This is the link between anxiety and envious desirer opposes by his desire

the flow of time, which, in his anxious moments, he perceives as rendering life

and world devoid of sense, value and meaning.

p. 115 This is the link between jealous desire and anxiety: jealous desire is the

will to deny the temporality causes anxiety because only timelessness

has come to be identified with sense, meaning, and value, where astemporality calls forth images of ephemerality, naught and dust.

p. 116 No maintains the status quo and enforces the image of the bureaucrat

as the guardian of the status quo.

Law 45: Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform Too Much At OnceEveryone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-

day level people are creatures of habit.

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p. 116 Rules rule the bureaucrats world

Law 38: Think as you like but behave like others

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional

ideas and unorthodox ways people will think that you only want attention and

that you look down upon them.

p. 117 Sisyphus, according to the Homeric myth, has been sentenced by thegods to push a boulder up a mountain. At the top of the mountain, the

boulder slips and rolls down to the bottom, where Sisyphus begins his

work anew.

Accordingly, pointless or interminable activities are often described as

Sisyphean.8

Sisyphus not-as Albert Camus has claimed enjoy a moment of

contemplation at the top of the mountain, and his trek down the mountain is notcarefree and pleasant without the burden of the rock.Current pain saves us from future destruction by providing the warning signals

that bid us to go to a healer, change our ways of living, or stop whatever it is

that we are doing that may be causing the pain.

Sisyphus has no end insight, therefore the pain is simply normal, and his

body will not deteriorate.

p. 119 Very few entrepreneurs retire after they have achieved a particular

level of wealth.

Law 47: Do Not Go Past the Mark You Aimed For, In Victory Learn When to Stop


victory arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed

for and by going to far, you make more enemies than you defeat.

p. 120 Image desires are jealous desires. With each new acquisition, however,

our desire is renewed.

p. 120 We confuse the desire for the timeless for the desire for the object.

8Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

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p. 112 Acquisition is not satiation but resembles it from afar. It holds thepromise of satiation that it cannot deliver.

Law 47: Do Not Go Past the Mark You Aimed For, In Victory Learn When to Stop


victory arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed

for and by going to far, you make more enemies than you defeat. (Greene,

2000)

p. 121 For someone who desires jealously and enviously, ambitious desire

seems like nihilism because it recognizes no final stage of the hierarchyof desire, no final good that one must strive for.

p. 122 Therein lies the self-deception implicit in any form of desire that has

been placed in the service of the passions: we must hide from ourselves

the fact the desire itself lights up the world in a way that makes objects

seem enviable.

p. 254 I swear to you, mates, so numerous were the multitudes of bowmen

that when they fired their volleys, the mass of arrows blocked out the

sunDienekes- Good, then well have our battle in the shade

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7 A Self against Itself: An Aesthetic of Rage

p. 125 Rage is an expression of impotence

Rage articulates our impossibility to meet the desired ends. Frustration andfury accrue, and absence of self-control and manifestation of violent physical

behaviours may be some of the ways in which we express the emotional

disturbance. However, consequence is inevitable, and there is nothing we can dobut to incur suffering from the inability to take control of the situation. Feelings

of entrapment and incompetence take place. Acting out or rage may not be the

solution to this turmoil, as it may further amplify our rage rather than reaching asense of contentment by letting off steam. In fact, the only flight from rage is

fatigue or exhaustion; we can only accept the reality and swallow the

consequences brought by the circumstance. It is our realization and discovery

that the state of affairs is beyond our control and acceptance that we are in fact

trapped in reality where nothing can salvage us.

Therefore, rage describes feelings of hopelessness to meet the end andsubmission to will. After his desperate search for truth, Friedrich Nietzsche

(1901-1913) realized that space and causations are mere fictions in which we

must live and we are deceived to believe them as true and authentic (p. 283; ascited in Moldoveanu & Nohria, 2002).

Emil Cioran (1972) also recognized that there was no ultimate certainty

after all. Both despised the meaninglessness in duped life that we live in andwere enraged by this notion of nothingness. However, the only forms of

expression for their findings were futility in the meaning of life and its inner

suffering. Although they were both enraged by the fact that we are fooled andlied to by our reality, it was beyond their control to possibly intervene and

mitigate what they conceived as reality. Thus, such reactions by these scholars

illustrate how rage is expressed in terms of acknowledgement and remorse,

instead of their acting out of emotional distress from incapability.

Rage is infinite, since just by thinking about the very reason for the rage can

trigger another raging and enraging thought.p. 128 we can become enraged about the fact that we are enraged.

In other words, what we believe to be the therapeutic function of rage

actually has an amplificatory function. Senses of impotence and helplessnesselevated from a certain event drive us further into the state of frustration and

bitterness because we cannot possibly come to a satisfactory resolution.

Therefore, rage does not provide an escape from the unacceptable situation, but

it only intensifies and further deteriorates what is already unpleasant and

disgusting. The cause of rage is continually reminded the more we are raged and

enraged. This is why these authors call rage the self-devouring master passion,(p. 128), because it entraps itself by chasing its own tail instead of breaking out

from the cyclical process until we come to fatigue or exhaustion: surrender or, in

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more positive term, acceptance.

In closing the chapter, Moldoveanu and Nohria (2002) suggest that rage is

not all that destructive; it can be used as a constructive urge in pursuit of

perfection and excellence (p. 128). Rage can become a driving force for us to

master what is currently lacking, and strive to improve for self-contentment and

goal accomplishment. For example, rage can motivate us to increase persistence

by raising the bar, or setting higher personal standards, and encouraging us to

compete with the self, thereby defying our own limits through enduring practiceand overcoming the weaknesses until the goal is realized. In this sense, rage is a

struggle for change and it is change for the better. However, this is only possible

when we are educated about both the beneficial and detrimental effects of rageand, with raised awareness, utilize them as a means to an end.

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8 The Truth Is Always Incredible: Deception and Self-

Deception

p. 132 Rationality of a statement is measured and determined by a collection

of arguments and counterarguments followed by confirmation orrefutation of the statement based on the coherence of evidences.

One of the ways in which we can rescue our own argument from

refutation is via challenging the validity of those who refute us. To support thisnotion, the book presents an anecdote of a Newtonian physicist who continually

gains support of his experiments, despite persistent refutation by new evidences

from their results, by seemingly preserving the integrity of his scientific pursuitand creating new version of the original theory. He repeatedly suggests a new,

seemingly interesting theory based on the preceding experiment which failed to

validate his original claim, and stimulates his audience by presenting another

possibility which may possibly discover greater findings than what he mighthave intended to find in the first place, and rescues his theory from being

defeated.

p. 134 It is not the assertability of the argument which drives us to have will

to assert, but the possibility that we could persuade others by swaying

another persons mind or exciting a response from another person.

However, the act of persuasion must first start from within. By witnessing

the potential to persuade ourselves to our own ideas in the first place, we begin

to construct self-identity by translating the ideas into words. Therefore, weengage in constructing our own identity by engaging in saying and asserting,

both of which are forms of persuasion. This means that once we convince

ourselves of certain concepts, we assemble them into language and transmitsthem to another person in an assertive manner with possibility to convince and

accord ones thoughts with ours.

p. 134 Moreover, assertion yields our own identity to an argument which wasonce nameless and elusive

Thus, assertion can be perceived as a form of control when persuadingothers because we gain causal powers of our thoughts and rhetorical devices

through it. In order for us to maintain the position in power, the beliefs that we

present must be perceived as objective, for subjectivity of arguments can work

against persuasion. Universality is also crucial as people would not be convincedif our beliefs were seen to be only limited to mere personal preferences.

Furthermore, the authors maintain that in the beginning, we hold onto aparticular belief because we believe that it is the objective truth. However, we

unintentionally believe that it is true because we hold onto a particular belief. In

other words, a particular belief initially convinces us to believe it as universally

true, but a particular truth becomes true because we merely believe in it

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(Moldoveanu & Nohria, 2002, 135).

Therefore, a belief is true not for the sake of its integrity, but for the sake of

We believe it to be. This is a self-serving deception because the source of

truthfulness is no longer the objectivity of the belief but the subjectivity of our

own belief.

p. 136 There is a clear distinction between an opinion of another person

suggesting the truthfulness of a particular belief, and an opinion ofanother person causing a particular belief to be true. And this

difference becomes insignificant when the belief is high in credibility

and reliability.

This is why a person in profession such as doctor and police officer who is

intellectual in ones field of study gains authority and is able to take control of

the mind of another. In any event, all the reasons must be coherent in order to

be persuaded. Therefore, by carefully observing the staged play and reasoning

in every step of the way, we are able to determine the overall coherence andbecome persuaded into the minds of others based on this analysis (p.140).

p. 140 We do not possess beliefs. In fact, beliefs possess us. It may seem at

first that similar to other possessions, beliefs serve some instrumentalpurpose, and their value only remains in the presence of the purpose of

which they serve.

p. 141 We become objects being used by beliefs that amplify their hold on ourminds.

We are enslaved by beliefs for we are in a desperate search for supportingevidence which validate their coherence.

Hence, authors conclude that as much as we use beliefs as tools, they

are like living creatures within us which guide our actions rather than us taking

control over our own beliefs. We do not capture beliefs; beliefs capture us.

p. 142 In terms of the bald patch exemplified in the book, we do not

negat[e] the evidence of the bald patch but rather negat[e] that theevidence of the bald patch negates or in any way affects the image of

the sensuously flowing hair.

In order to support the image that one has in mindor in order to be

driven and persuaded by the very beliefs that we have in mindwe shut off ourconsciousness to eliminate any questions and doubts which may surface. We

deliberately blind ourselves from the effects of negative images that hinderaway from the desired image, rather than from the negative images

themselves. Moreover, in order to avoid anxiety from inability to act consistently

with our beliefs, we become small-minded and simplify our thoughts to only runparallel with our beliefs. Actionable feelings, which provoke immediate

emotional responses, are more comforting than unactionable but powerful

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feelings, which provoke confusion and anxiety. Therefore we try our best to

avoid anxiety by letting our thoughts travel only in a single direction, for asingle purpose, to the music of a single image (p. 143). By avoiding

complexity, we prevent ourselves from apprehensive situations which require a

lot more considerations and much more time before we take any actions.

pp. 147 The process of persuasion begins by our being persuaded to a particular

belief. It is when once we are convinced that we move on to convince others of

the same belief. Our past experience can construct our beliefs, and theconviction of another can ultimately anchor them. In doing so, we carefully

examine ones intrinsic and extrinsic qualities. More specifically, we cast

reasonable doubts and engage in inductive reasoning based on onesassumptions, theories, prior knowledge, perception, and other information

accumulated during the examination in order to determine the rationality of

ones beliefs (Moldoveanu & Nohria, 2002, p. 144-145). It is much easier to turn

to others for verification of our beliefs because their evidences from are more

objective. Therefore, we are able to support or refute our beliefs simply by

comparing them to the likelihoods, tendencies and, ultimately, beliefs of whichothers have. We use the false belief in inductive validation to find comfort inknowing that we make sense of our beliefs. This is described by Moldoveanu

and Nohria as the state in which we believe our own stories

p. 149 All events, actions, objects and people are means to the achievement

of ever greater causal power, which it self is a means to the

achievement of still greater power. [Our] very ideas also become

meansfor getting [ourselves] to do what the attainment of [our] endsrequires

Self-deception has its origin in the misconception that we guide andcontrol our own ideas, when the fact of the matter is that we are actually guided

and controlled by them. And because we act according to the will of our beliefs,

we are able to make the ends meet and accomplish our goals. Without deeds,

nothing is accomplished, and ideas and beliefs are ultimately what thrust us

forward. Hence, self-deception is not a bad thing at all, considering it stimulates

our conscious will to bring closer to or drive further away from our future goal,

and Moldoveanu and Nohria (2002) sum up this idea precisely in few sentencesnear the end of the chapter, which state:

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conforming to the universal model of truth while trying to raise the moral

status of the cannibals. Had he had a fiction such as a cannibal specimen tosupport his claim, he might have added coherence and validity to his theory.

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p. 160 Justification for an action based on beliefs of which we considervaluable and an alternative solution to our world is deeper and more

comprehensive as the consequence of the action becomes more irreversible

(Moldoveanu & Nohria, 2002, p. 160). This means that in order for a great

misdemeanor to be justified and conceivable by others, the dogma for the act

must be more infallible and immaculate with respect to the moral grounds

from which the dogma is launched (p. 160). The authors question whether we

tend to confirm our ordinary myths and fantasies that are deeply rooted withinus rather than seeking for truth and validity. Moreover, because certainty is a

quest for good and evil of morality, we play the role of protagonists and

eliminate moral doubt simply by obliterating what appears to be evil and retainwhat appears to be good. Therefore, one of the methods in which we are able

to convince and persuade is to propagate ourselves as the morally righteous

while depicting the other as the morally evil to gain support and justification

from the public. This process of objectification of antagonist permits us to take

an action for justice and validate our action as means to a rationalized end.

The book presents an account of how the tortured experiences agony,remorse, humiliation and suffering through breakdown of his morality, and

eventually surrender to provide information that the torturer needed. The

individual is mortified from the inability to withstand physical pain andtherefore he relinquishes ones dignity and, ultimately, his self to another who

seeks relief from moral anxiety through the confession that the tortured

makes. The authors also suggest that moral doubt, not physical pain,

influences us to make a conscious decision. We are in battle with ourconsciousness in the midst of torture, because once we have succumbed to the

pain, we declare our permanent loss to the torturer who celebrates our

submission to his will, no matter whether we only intend to succumbtemporarily.

p. 169 At some point I realized that what all these views had in common was

a Platonic ideal: in the first place that, as in the sciences, all genuine

questions must have one true answer and one only, all the rest being

necessarily errors; in the second place, that there must be a

dependable path towards the discovery of these truths; in the thirdplace that the true answers, when found, must necessarily be

compatible with one another and form a single whole, for one truth

cannot be incompatible with anotherthat we know a priori.

In closing the chapter, the authors state that morality guidesconsciousness to make sense of the world by clearly discriminating good and

evil and take action based on moral reasoning (p. 168). This moral sense isbased on the belief that there exists a set of universal ideas, principles and

objectives regardless of cultural ethos; there is only one true answer to

morality which needs to be sought after by all. This notion of ideal andrightness in the Western world is pointed out by Isaiah Berlin (1974) who

maintained that:

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p. 174 But if the pose cannot be interpreted as a communicative act, then itwill not be associated with the intent to strike or lash out and cannot

therefore be causally efficacious; if it is efficacious, it is so because,

accidentally, the intruder interpreted it as a communicative action.

The authors describe the use of a threatening pose to persuade someone to

leave your neighborhood. This quote describes the nature of causal powers; that

for actions to be causally effective, intent must be properly communicated. Thusour own personal causal power increases if we master the art of effective

communication.

p. 174 Reliability makes a tool into what it is: it lets us use it to etch our willsinto matter.

This quote describes the use of logical structure as a tool to control our

minds and thus control the world around us. Logical structure is based on

predictability, reliability, and stability. The authors relate the utility of logic to

that of a well crafted tool.

p. 174 Logical structure, then, lends the contents of our mind the semblance

of intelligibility. Intelligibility is what tames experiences by bringing

them into the I system the network of myths, stories, schemas,concepts, and ideas that make up the selfs self-description.

Human experience, thoughts, emotions, and mental endeavor are, by

themselves, wild and random until we impose logical structure to weave theminto a history of collected ideas. The network of ideas as described above is

bound together through logical connections and can be traced back through

history. Roland Barthes would enjoy tracing back each appropriation and re-appropriation of myth and meaning using the intelligibility of logical structure

much as a detective uses a microscope.

p. 174 The imposition of logical structure unto living memory parallels mans

search for meaning.

The search for meaning is the pursuit of reason. Finding meaning issynonymous with finding reason. Imposing logical structure on the contents of

our memory imposes a hierarchy of ideas; each idea having a predecessor.

Mans search for meaning is analogous to climbing down a tree where logicalstructure is the ladder.

p. 175 Logical atomism has taught us to break down complex propositions intoconjunctions of simple propositions and has given us confidence that

nature mirrors our minds in its behavior that complex phenomena cananalogously be broken down into simple phenomena and thus

understood once and for all in their lawlike essence.

The nature of logical atomism is to see things as a series of tiered ideas;

one idea is the result of lesser propositions. We impose the behavior of the

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logical paradigm onto the world around us and attempt to explain other realities

with the same paradigm. We attempt to understand nature by probing it with thetools defined by the paradigm.

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p. 175 Mysteries are opportunities for falling into chaos andmeaninglessness.

Mysteries are ends with hidden means. We attempt to uncover those

means using reason. When the means are uncovered and reasons are manifest,

meaning is created. There is a calming effect when mysteries are solved and

thus meaning and harmony seem to be related.

p. 177 Our daily discourse suggests that we believe in the mental causation of

actions by reasons.

This is to say that actions have a cause. And that this cause, itself, has its

own cause, and so forth. To say that action is the result of mental causation is to

say that reason has power over behavior.

p. 179 Reason does not create a seamless causal nexus: there arise potential

discontinuities every time that two people communicate.

A distinction is made between reason and causality. Whereas causes havecauses and a nexus of causality is created, reason is dependant on the

communication of intent. Thus to say that everything happens for a reason is a

misnomer; rather everything happens from a cause.

p. 180 Necessitarianism dies hard, and there is a good reason for it. If I can

persuade you that necessarily the world will be in a particular way in the

future, then I have acquired great powers over you.

Law 31 states: Control the options: Get others to play the cards you deal.

Controlling the options confines ones reality and builds a world view that restrictsthought. (Greene, 2000).

Necessitarianism plays upon the power of logic to induce validity irregardless of

the truth.

p. 182 That the truth is inexplicable may be acceptable to some: words can-

not fully capture our experiences. But that something is inexplicable byvirtue of its being true is a new and unexpected twist.

When words cannot fully encapsulate human experience, searching formeaning through communication is questionable. Truth cannot be fully expressed

through words as they are unworthy vessels. Established truth i

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