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January 4th – It Is Already Within You
Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path.
You may remember this something as a signal calling in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I've got to have. This is who I am. —James Hillman
As you become more sophisticated, you often lose touch with these signals from your primal core. They can be buried beneath all of the other subjects you have studied. Your power and future can depend on reconnecting with this core and returning to your origins. You must dig for signs of such inclinations in your earliest years. Look for its traces in visceral reactions to something simple; a desire to repeat an activity that you never tired of; a subject that stimulated an unusual degree of curiosity; feelings of power attached to particular actions. It is already there within you. You have nothing to create; you merely need to dig and refine what has been buried inside of you all along. If you reconnect with this core at any age, some element of that primitive attraction will spark back to life, indicating a path that can ultimately become your Life's Task.
Daily Law: Ask someone who recalls your childhood what they remember about your interests. Get reacquainted with those early passions. (Mastery, I: Discover Your Calling-The Life's Task)
April 30th – Never Appear Too Perfect
It takes great talent and skill to conceal one’s talent and skill. —François De La Rochefoucauld
Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the most brilliant men at the court of Queen Elizabeth of England. He had skills as a scientist, wrote poetry still recognized as among the most beautiful writing of the time, was a proven leader of men, an enterprising entrepreneur, a great sea captain, and on top of all this was a handsome, dashing courtier charmed his way into becoming one of the queen’s favorites. Wherever he went, however, people blocked his path. Eventually he suffered a terrific fall from grace, leading even to prison and finally the executioner’s axe. Raleigh could not understand the stubborn opposition he faced from the other courtiers. He did not see that he had not only made no attempt to disguise the degree of his skills and qualities, but he had imposed them on one and all, making a show of his versatility, thinking it impressed people and won him friends. In fact it made him silent enemies, people who felt inferior to him and did all they could to ruin him the moment he tripped up or made the slightest mistake. In the end, the reason he was executed was treason, but envy will use any cover it finds to mask its destructiveness.
Daily Law: Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. Defuse it by occasionally downplaying your virtues. (The 48 Laws of Power, Law 46: Never Appear Too Perfect)
June 19th – Make Others Come To You
Filippo Brunelleschi, the great Renaissance artist and architect, was a great practitioner of the art of making others come to him as a sign of his power. On one occasion he had been engaged to repair the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence. The commission was important and prestigious. But when the city officials hired a second man, Lorenzo Ghiberti, to work with Brunelleschi, the great artist brooded in secret. He knew that Ghiberti had gotten the job through his connections, and that he would do none of the work and get half the credit. At a critical moment of the construction, then, Brunelleschi suddenly developed a mysterious illness. He had to stop work, but pointed out to city officials that they had hired Ghiberti, who should have been able to continue the work on his own. Soon it became clear that Ghiberti was useless and the officials came begging to Brunelleschi. He ignored them, insisting that Ghiberti should finish the project, until finally they realized the problem: they fired Ghiberti. By some miracle, Brunelleschi recovered within days. He did not have to throw a tantrum or make a fool of himself; he simply practiced the art of making others come to you.
Daily Law: If on one occasion you make it a point of dignity that others must come to you and you succeed, they will continue to do so even after you stop trying. (The 48 Laws of Power, Law 8: Make Other People Come to You—Use Bait if Necessary)
October 11 – Beware the Fragile Ego
Of all the human emotions, none is uglier or more elusive than envy, the sensation that others have more of what we want— possessions, attention, respect. We deserve to have as much as they do yet feel somewhat helpless to get such things. But paradoxically, envy entails the admission to ourselves that we are inferior to another person in something we value. Not only is it painful to admit this inferiority, but it is even worse for others to see that we are feeling this. And so almost as soon as we feel the initial pangs of envy, we are motivated to disguise it to ourselves—it is not envy we feel but unfairness at the distribution of goods or attention, resentment at this unfairness, even anger. The underlying sense of inferiority is too strong, leading to hostility that cannot be vented by a comment or put-down. Sitting with one’s envy over a long period of time can be painful and frustrating. Feeling righteous indignation against the envied person, however, can be invigorating. Acting on envy, doing something to harm the other person, brings satisfaction, although the satisfaction is short lived because enviers always find something new to envy.
Daily Law: Envy is perhaps the ugliest human emotion. Destroy it before it destroys you. Develop your sense of self- worth from internal standards and not incessant comparisons. (The Laws of Human Nature, 10: Beware the Fragile Ego—The Law of Envy)
December 1st – The Infinite and the Awesome
“Whereas all the other animals have their heads low, eyes fixed upon the ground, the gods desired to give to man a sublime face, a face that could raise its eyes to the heavens above, contemplating the very stars in the sky.” —Ovid
We can define the Cosmic Sublime in the following way: it is an encounter with any physical object that embodies or implies a sense of the infinite, in space or time. In the ancient world, our ancestors understood this deep human need. In cultures all around the world, they created rituals, often rites of initiation, that triggered an awareness of the magnificent forces that transcend the human. Shamans or wise elders often served as guides. In our culture we do not easily find such guides or accepted means for encountering the Cosmic Sublime. In fact, we find the opposite: the media that dominates our minds gluts us on trivia and the exaggerated dramas of the moment. If we seek the expansion that will pull us out of our mental ruts, we are largely on our own. Fortunately, however, this is not as difficult as we might imagine: we are surrounded by embodiments of the infinite and the awesome. The infinite comes in many forms—silence, seemingly endless horizons, blank spaces, et cetera. What matters is our level of attunement to these places—our desire to expand and transcend our usual limits, and our willingness to let go of any distractions and open ourselves to the elements. We are after an experience—not more talk.
Daily Law: Pull your mind away from the dramas of the moment and seek the expansion. (Law of the Sublime, 1: Expand the Mind to Its Furthest Reaches—The Cosmic Sublime)
