Law 3 of Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power

[fiat_knox]

 

This one’s going to be fun to explain. I think Law 3 was the first really controversial Law to come out of this book. This is the one people point to when they accuse this book as having been written for sociopaths, schemers and the world’s Snidley Whiplashes.
 

Can you apply this Law to your daily life, and still lay claim to being a “straight-up” person?
 

I worship Tricksters. So, given that admission from the start, let me take you by the hand and guide you through this labyrinth of reasoning to come out of the “YES” exit at the end.
 

Smokescreens and Red Herrings

Sometimes, you don’t need to show everybody all the workings. We are adults, or at least we’ve reached our fifth instars, and we no longer need to march up to the teacher and write down our answers on the board in front of a classroom full of ignorant, judgmental peers.
 

Who, by the way, never could work out how I could do the sums so damn quickly, but I’ll tell you more about the Trachtenberg Method and Vedic Maths in other posts.

The teachers never knew either, incidentally.
 

Yes, this was an early example of concealing my intentions. I never let them know exactly what I was doing, and I was happy to be this way with the world because they really would have just trashed my stuff had I been the sort to post selfies and whatever.
 

Or, at the least, call my shots all the time. Social media did not exist back then. Just this weird organic thing called speaking.

And also body language, but that too is a topic for another time.
 

Cutting it short … telling everybody everything, showing them what you’re doing, showing them you have nothing up your sleeve and no sleeves either … recipe for disaster. Learn from the best stage magicians - a line of patter, a flair for misdirection, and you’ll sail through life to a chorus of oohs and aahs.
 

They might even leave you alone and spare you the fun of being punched.
 

Air of Mystery

You know this had to come along, sooner or later. You can be cool, and not let anything seem to bother you: but you must also learn to master the second half, namely mystery.

Keep it mysterious. Be unfathomable. Inscrutable. Aloof, at times, passionate at other times. You’re an enigma, not a Vulcan or a robot.
 

If you must dance, make your moves subtle and graceful, no forceful jumping around. Glide and slide, like you’re a shadow caressing every living surface.
 

Your currency is obscurity. Be generous with the coin. And always leave them wanting more.
 

You can be on the side of the good guys, but for Hekate’s sake you don’t have to shine your light on those Good Guy credentials all the time. Leave the world guessing, and always have more to share, one tiny morsel at a time.
 

And here we are at the “YES” exit. So soon. Wow.
 

Well, it helped that I took several shortcuts without letting you know. See how I applied Law 3 there?

Next week’s post will expand upon this theme. Law 4. One of my favourites. You will love it. But I have said too much already.