The 48 Laws of Power Law 27 Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power. Wisdom in a nutshell: • Keep it simple; keep it vague. Create new words for vague concepts. • Emphasize the visual and sensual over the intellectual. • Borrow the forms of organized religion to structure the group. Create rituals. Use names and ranks and titles. Ask them to make sacrifices and give alms. Act like a guru or a prophet. • Disguise your source of income. • Set up an us-versus-them dynamic. Keep followers united by identifying outsiders as a devious enemy. • The tendency to doubt and reason is broken down when we join a group.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 06:14:30 +0000
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