Purposeful Laws
"Man will only become better when you make him see what he is like."
-Anton Checkhov, from R. Greene's "48 Laws of Power."
If you've ever indulged in reading the works of Robert Greene, you're undoubtedly familiar with 'The Art of Seduction', 'The 48 Laws of Power', 'Mastery', '33 Laws of War', and other wildly popular cultish "law books" in his arson.
When I received The 48 Laws of Power- frankly, I was shook.
It reads like an OG bible and is so harsh, it's almost scary. I've heard many times that people in my situation should read this book to survive and thrive in this environment, so I was looking forward to receiving it. Though the style in which it is written is intriguing- distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, influence, and mastery, the "laws" themselves read like an affiliated handbook!
'Never put too much trust in friends" (ok), 'Always conceal your intentions' (hmm...) ." There are 45 more laws, and they get pretty aggressive. Basically, it wasn't for me.
It was too much. The week before Ana left, she had a life application bible sent in for me (Thank you Alejandra). Not only is it a beautiful, leather bound in teal and black, with the sweetest inscription, but her intention behind it was READ THIS, NOT THAT (Read the bible, not the 48 laws).
One nugget I received from the 48 Laws was the forward for a newer book titled "The Laws of Human Nature," in which Greene writes about the fundamental truths of human nature, teaching us how to detach from from emotions, and master self-control, develop empathy that leads to insight, and look beyond masks, resisting conformity to develop our sense of purpose. Now, THIS is my jam.
So, last week, I asked Derrell to look it up, and it came a couple of days ago. I am obsessed.
Already, I have a gem from one of his early chapters that I want to share:
"Mistakes and failures elicit the need to explain. We want to learn the lesson, and not repeat the experience. But in truth, we do not like to look too closely at what we did; our introspection is limited. Our natural response is to blame others, circumstances, or a momentary lapse of judgement. The reason for this bias is that it is often too painful to look at our mistakes. It calls in to question our feelings of superiority. It pokes at our ego. We go through the motions, pretending to reflect on what we did. But, with the passage of time, the pleasure principle rises and we forget what small part in the mistake we ascribed to ourselves. Desire and emotion will blind us yet again, and we will repeat exactly the same mistake and go through the same mildly recriminating process, followed by forgetfulness, until we die.
If people truly learned from their experiences, we would find few mistakes in the world and career paths that ascend ever upward."
I read it over and again, feeling like so many of us can draw from this. Now, I embark onward to learn more about how to truly learn from mistakes and experiences, avoid the pitfalls, and truly channel only the best parts of myself. For myself. And God. And my family, and community. I'm so ready.