Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

I have recently taken a course on “Power and Dealing with Others.” It was a business course but had spiritual renderings none-the-less. The instructor used a unique approach using examples from the 48 Laws of Power to drive home his points. Here is my personal share spiced up with some ancient but true quotes.

 “The smarter you are, the less you speak.” – Arabic proverb

Note: Around 454 B.C, Coriolanus was a great military hero of ancient Rome. People held him in awe. He decided to run for senate and he spoke his mind, hardly able to control his arrogance and boastfulness. He slandered and insulted people. The more speeches he made, the less people respected him. He suffered the people’s wrath and was eventually banished from the city.

Observation: Speaking less will make people reveal more about themselves. This is information you may be able to use against them later on. Your short answers and silences will put them on the defensive, and they will jump in, nervously filling the silence with all kinds of comments that will reveal valuable information about them and their weaknesses. The longer you listen, the more others move their lips and teeth. As they move their lips and teeth, you can thereby understand their real intentions. Your silence will make other people uncomfortable. Humans are machines of interpretation and explanation; they have to know what you are thinking.

“Arrogance is a weed that grows mostly on a dunghill.” – Arabic Proverb

Observation: If they go too far in attacking another’s reputation, it draws more attention to their wrongfulness than to the person they are slandering.

Note: Thomas Edison considered the inventor who harnessed electricity, believed that a workable system would have to be based on direct current (DC). When the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla appeared to have succeeded in creating a system based on alternating current (AC), Edison was furious. He determined to ruin Tesla's reputation, by making the public believe that the AC system was inherently unsafe, and Tesla irresponsible in promoting it. To this end he captured all kinds of household pets and electrocuted them to death with an AC current. When this wasn't enough, in 1890 he got New York State prison authorities to organize the world's first execution by electrocution, using an AC current. But Edison's electrocution experiments had all been with small creatures; the charge was too weak, and the man was only half killed. In perhaps the country's crudest state-authorized execution, the procedure had to be repeated. It was an awful spectacle. Although, in the long run, it is Edison's name that has survived, at the time his campaign damaged his own reputation more than Tesla's. He backed off. The lesson is simple—never go too far in attacks like these, for that will draw more attention to your own wrongfulness than to the person you are slandering.

“The envious were created just to be infuriated.” – Arabic proverb

Note: Duke Wu of Cheng married off his daughter and killed one of his ministers in order to take over the powerful kingdom of Hu. The ruler of Hu heard that the minister was executed for telling Cheng to conquer the kingdom of Hu. Hu’s ruler also considered the marriage of Cheng’s daughter and other acts of kindness from Cheng and let down his guard. A few weeks later Cheng forces swept through Hu and took the country, never to relinquish it.

Observation: An overt trait often conceals its opposite. 1. People who thump their chests are often big cowards; a prudish exterior may hide a lascivious soul. 2. The uptight are often screaming for adventure; the shy are dying for attention. 3. Probe beyond appearances, you will often find people's weaknesses in the opposite of the qualities they reveal to you. … The more they say, the more common they appear, and the less in control.

Observation: The uncontrollable emotion can be a paranoid fear.1. Fear disproportionate to the situation. 2. Or any base motive such as lust, greed, vanity, or hatred. · People in the grip of these emotions often cannot control themselves.

“A foolish man may be known by six things: Anger without cause, speech without profit, change without progress, inquiry without object, putting trust in a stranger, and mistaking foes for friends.” – Arabic Proverb

Passage excerpts in Italics can also be found here:

http://48laws-of-power.blogspot.com

Arabic Proverbs:

https://blog.udemy.com