Power

The diligent-average will accomplish more than the superior-lazy. Assiduity outshines superiority, when excellence lacks constancy. In other words, it’s better to be average yet hard-working, than bright yet idle. To acquire prestige and repute, industrious effort is crucial. Valuable things come at a dear price, but cheap things don’t. A man of merit becomes worthy by paying the price – if that price is economical, its inherent purpose and value is rejected. 

Truthfully, you can inhabit a superior role but still lack proper application. Remember, superiority does not definitely equal superior practice. You can be superior in intelligence yet inferior in application – industriousness is not analogized with intelligence. It is rare for a man to eclipse his natural temperament. Things that are irreversible by nature can’t possibly be rectified beyond their fringes. The only way to acknowledge your limits is by endeavouring to exceed them. It is only when you overstep the apparent boundaries that you find out where they truly lie. If not, you’re simply making prejudiced predictions based on nothing more than suggestive symbols. 

If you are satisfied being mediocre in a dull pursuit when you could be excellent in an honourable one, you are misplacing capability and resigning virtue for subservience. Self-awareness is crucial; if you don’t know where your strength lies, you’re liable to put it in the wrong place. You don’t want to confuse strength for weakness, nor vice versa. Ability and potentiality must be fully acknowledged, as well as imperfection. Endeavour to apply yourself carefully and diligently, for only when capability is rightly carried out is there sound competence. Imbue your work with personality and dexterity, but ensure persistent and efficient application. 

The man of purpose identified his aptitude and enhanced it by application and knowledge. There is no knowledge without failure and there is no bettering of application without knowledge. Extract knowledge from failure and imbue that understanding in your application. Advancement is the product of adaptation and wisdom. Your lifeblood should penetrate through your work, braced by distinctiveness and exquisite style. Make your craft an art in itself, elevate its beauty by graceful execution and fluidity, moderate its ugliness by assured superiority. Mastery heightens your genius and allays your blunders; when you have reached a degree of proficiency, minor errors become inconsequential because the grand delivery outshines all else. 

Character and expertise move in unison, one kindles intensity and aspiration, the other fruitfully manifests them. Where there is passion, there is potency; where there is potency, your aspirations are realized and carried out. Passion compels ambition, potency compels efficacy. Everyone has a natural bent that balances nature itself; its recognition tends to be accompanied by burning vigour and a stark curiosity. Ponder what fires up your attention and competence, there you will discover budding potential and profound meaning. No man should go through life doing things he truthfully detests – your time is limited, pick a profession that encourages your virtue. It is one thing to feel forced to do something you hate, but another thing to feel sincerely compelled by preference to persist in the direction of your impassioned goals. 

It is more useful to be diligent yet unintelligent than intelligent yet lifeless. Respect is earned by rigour. The admirable not only skilfully and continually carry out their work, but do so with an imperturbable head. Neither capability nor application are requisite in the absence of the other, both must be amalgamated and fused with conscientiousness and intent. Constant imperfection teaches you more than inconstant excellence. The man who makes an appearance, even when marked by failure, extricates something useful; but the undisciplined obstruct their excellence by a lack of discipline and fail to thrive, in spite of impeccability. 

When laziness and arrogance meet, excellence is diminished. To preserve a virtue, you must be virtuous, otherwise you simply tarnish what is good by what is relatively bad. The practical way to conquer laziness is by learning to consistently do small-scale tasks, why? Because by committing yourself to what is realizable, your efforts compound. In due course, you are building a nature that transcends your present condition; it’s called having impetus. 

When you have impetus and a realistic plan, you are magnifying value and virtue; forbearance, endurance and resolution. What were small-scale commitments are now significant methods well implanted in your temperament: they serve your intent and nurture your virtue, strength and efficacy. Neither inefficiently effective, nor efficiently ineffective, but efficient and effective. The former by organization, discipline and structure, the latter by competence, skill, and experience.

Preface

Evidently, no one can deny the truth that most men that occupy society lack boldness, among other things. This does not come as a surprise to anyone who has perceived the breakdown of gender roles; as men grow increasingly effeminate, their capacity for boldness assuages.

This piece will flesh out the nuance of boldness: why it works, how to use it and when to avoid it. Forthrightly, I will draw reference to various excerpts to further corroborate my discourse for this theme.

Boldness should not be the only good trait, it should be one of numerous, since its efficacy is partially resting on the efficacy of other good traits. No single trait is useful in the absence of other useful traits: they stabilise and brace each other.

Boldness and Timidity

Uncertainty in execution is dangerous, indecision and reluctance are contaminating. This is where boldness comes into play; while cowardice is ill-protected, boldness is stable – and a fault done by daringness can be rectified with more boldness. The fearful man is dishonourable, but the bold man worthy of admiration.

The emotional reactions of boldness and reluctance differ; while the former abolishes impediments, the latter generates them. In other words, boldness dismantles limitation, but timidity engenders more restrictions that incite passivity and drawback. Timidity denigrates your capacities and boldness enlarges them.

“Great enterprises are only achieved by adventurous spirits. They who calculate with too great nicety every difficulty and obstacle which is likely to lie in their way, lose that time in hesitation, which the more daring seize and render available to the loftiest purposes.”

Jean De La Fontaine

Audacity Amplifies Greatness

A dash of boldness has an enchanting influence: it conceals our defects and makes us appear larger than life itself. Every man is better off with a hint of audacity, it elevates his identity and enriches his nature. More heroic deeds, less fearful evasion.

A valiant spirit is indispensable for grand endeavours and illustrious conquests. If man is taken aback by the barrier ahead of him, he will squander a favourable chance in temporisation. The daring snatch a chance without delay as postponement is a loser’s game. The incompetent reschedule their duties, the capable swiftly oppose them.

Boldness is versatile; e.g. you will be confounded how compelling it is in matters of negotiation, where being rigid in your demands will earn you respect and resources.

Compliance is Dangerous

Picking out weakness is instinctual: if you confirm a readiness to find a happy medium and surrender your power, you let loose the monster even in those who are not diabolical. Remember: While audacity knocks terror, terror results in power. So, when you are terrified, you are inciting his power; when you are intrepid, you are inciting his fear.

Especially when daringness appears suddenly, its swiftness makes it that more menacing. A bold move alarms – it sets up an exemplar that in later engagements others will be scared stiff by your unpredictability.

“Always set to work without misgivings on the score of imprudence. Fear of failure in the mind of a performer is, for an onlooker, already evidence of failure…. Actions are dangerous when there is doubt as to their wisdom; it would be safer to do nothing.”

Baltasar Gracian

Fear is Vulnerability

When a person is easily frightened, he is bound to be stumped. He will perceive a way out even when there isn’t, and in doing so, generate further problems for himself. The timid will do their best to flee, but only to find themselves contending with more pitfalls. The fearful invite difficulties by trying to run away from them. There is a price to be paid for cowardice.

Boldness leaves no cracks, its alacrity leave no time for anxiety or a change of mind. As a matter of fact, a bold move tops off any good seduction, entrusting women no instant for judgement.

The faint-hearted only dwell on boldness, but don’t submit to it: they are risk averse and petrified of the viable outcome. People’s judgement and antagonism perturbs and paralyses them into passivity. So, they never provoke what alarms them: they are governed by its influence.

If the timid only dared to transcend, things would be more sane.

Nourishing Self-Deception

Often, you hide your diffidence with apparent altruism, conveying a kind of innocuous nature. But really, the contrary is true: you are an insecure egotist who is anxious about his public perception. You attempt to deceive others to make up for your inadequacy, thereby nourishing your self-deception.

“There is not one of us who does not prefer a little rough handling to too much consideration. Men lose through blundering more hearts than virtue saves. The more timidity a lover shows with us the more it concerns our pride to goad him on; the more respect he has for our resistance, the more respect we demand of him.”

Ninon de l’Enclos

Ninon understood this better than most men today – women too like it better when a man is more impetuous than considerate. The more timid a man with women, the more he fondles their ego; the more they provoke him. The more he tolerates their opposition, the more respect they urge of him.

Women Detest the Faint-Hearted

Women, as observed, have little to no respect for men who are amenable and diffident, their lack of authority gives women a surfeit of control; they rig the game to their own detriment presuming that women will feel sorry for them; they won’t. Truthfully, they are repulsed by it and don’t want anything to do with you.

Man is a loser when he compels a woman to feel more righteous than she really is; he perverts her nature when he overvalues her good.

Boldness Puts Her at Ease

More boldness on your end would pacify the waters and relieve resistance. No man in love should act like an imbecile, but a sensible man could act like a lunatic; women have a liking for roughness, but not for idiocy. The former as it is a demonstration of virility, the latter as it is a demonstration of frailty.

Really, your concern with the outcome of boldness is not proportional to the real world, and the effects of timidity can be far more sinister than intrepidity. This should serve you a lesson to always tend towards bravery when you are uncertain by fear; do not allow reluctance to govern your actions, nor stop you from fulfilling your purpose.

Where social behaviour is concerned, etiquette and good manners are key; they can inflict disorder and shatter your name, or restore harmony and embellish conflict. The manner with which you do something, your capacity for elegant and dignified conduct, is a victor’s move. Graceful conduct loosens you from tricky conditions and wins you favour. It is an ingenious trick.

Balance Polarity

There is no graceful conduct without courtesy, civility and diplomacy among people, this sets the footing for a poised and charming character that is neither stiff nor apprehensive. To be stylish and poised, you must overcome your propensities, especially those that are graceless and awkward, or indicators of fragility, timidity and indecision. Flow like water, neither in opposition with yourself nor readily and carelessly opposing others. An air of effortlessness goes a long way, if you try too hard, you rouse suspicion and lack of faith, but if you don’t try at all, you will look beggarly and deficient. You must balance your polarity, and maintain a good sense of equilibrium between vice and virtue.

Grace Sweetens Everything

People find natural grace revering because it puts them at ease, gives solace to their insecurities and modulates their resistance. Both of which are to your benefit; if others feel pleasant and easy-going around you, they are more agreeable and less antagonistic, which in turn provides you with the opportunity for careful artifice. Grace is a cushion, it dresses up truth by pacifying it and mitigating its hostility. You can discern a wise man by his unhurried and measured etiquette, he disregards haste and impulsiveness and arms himself with forethought and attentiveness. All elements which parry civility and elegance are graceless; haste, rashness, impulsivity and vulgarity, all enhance the likelihood for imprudent behaviour.

Disagreeableness and Authority

Still, your poise must go with a firm disagreeableness and authoritativeness, both heighten ascendancy and elevate honour. Being disagreeable is not about being deliberately unpleasant, it is rather about refusing to permit disrespect or exploit, and knowing how to gracefully turn down others without causing them undue and needless offence. While the foolish insensibly displease others, the wise exercise discretion to take care of their civility and good judgement. Furthermore, to know when and how to be disagreeable is a mark of good sense, for one should not subvert his position or deceive himself at the expense of agreeability or lack of assertiveness. These qualities are the essential bedrock of masculine strength; reason and virtue, disagreeableness and authority.

Praise and Subtlety

To be commended and know how to commend is crucial, a thoughtful remark of approval goes a long way, and a civil and modest acknowledgement of admiration is reputable and graceful. When giving compliments, do not allow your admiration to turn into excessive flattery; such behaviour will accomplish the opposite, it will rouse unneeded uncertainty and convey a certain falsehood and duplicity that stifles your good points.

An air of subtlety in everything you do is divine and refined, it amplifies your good points and dampens your weak points. Subtlety is not flashy, it is not undisguised and transparent. It is rather an understated, tasteful demeanour that is unassuming and open, complemented with boldness and a selective and ingenious ruthlessness. Therefore, subtlety should always be contrasted with sharp strong points; a brave and daring nature, a tough spirit and a well-directed leadership that is readily disposed to command and control.

Repute and Care

There is no grace without a sense of thoughtfulness and regard, you must know how to guard your reputation with tact and leverage it in the right social settings to magnify its worth. Remember, a sound reputation always augments your strong points, but one fatal error could destroy your stature very quickly. Preserving a good reputation is easier than carving it, thus, when you have cultivated a sound name for yourself, take good care that you do not let its prosperity pervert you into neglecting it and misusing it for ill means.

Part of having a good reputation is knowing how to employ it wisely and knowing how to assist the right people around you, both for their benefit and yours. While etiquette is important, it is to your benefit to work on your character and constantly polish it through diligent discipline and lawful habits that will expand and illuminate your stature and social affairs.

“Imperturbability, the spirit’s most sublime quality. An impassive person’s very superiority frees them from subjection to vulgar, passing impressions. There’s no greater mastery than mastery over yourself and your emotions; it amounts to a triumph of free will. And when passion affects you, don’t let it affect your office, least of all when this is important. This is an intelligent way of avoiding upsets and a shortcut to renown.”

Baltasar Gracián

In the realm of power, demonstrations of weakness are dangerous leveragers that can work against you and spell your doom. To embody a self-possessed imperturbability is the mark of an elevated character that has mastered his emotions and conquered his passions. Composure is not only relevant in the domain of power, to successfully play the social game demands the cultivation of self-control, one of the most indispensable qualities of good judgement and superior character. Furthermore, possessing such an invaluable faculty accelerates your fame and earns you prestige.

To develop a heightened composure, you must overcome your fits of anger and negative emotions, overt demonstrations of upset, and justification. These weak spectacles wreck your self-possession. A simple practice you should discipline yourself with is postponement from acting on your fits of anger and bad temper, and stopping yourself from divulging your feelings through wretched body gestures; slouched over, hands in the pocket, fleeting eye contact, emotional facial expressions etc.

These gestures are easily discernible, even by people who are not necessarily competent in reading social cues. When the signalling is obvious and too apparent, only few will fail to comprehend them. In doing so, then, you are shooting yourself in the foot and impairing your standing, because a man is not intended to behave like a woman in matters of social affairs. A man is intended to present himself like a well-read and strong man would; good posture, loose arms, exposed chest, and assertive yet steady eye contact which does not easily waver according to circumstance.

To be composed is to be firmly grounded in purpose and to understand yourself so deeply that the appearance and disappearance of passions, both the delightful and the dreadful ones, are observed from an objective and unbiased perspective, avoiding any heedless involvement with those negative emotions which can endanger your reputation and, in some instances, your life. The wise man knows that to be carefully and purposefully inscrutable is beneficial for the circumvention of potential threat and for the concealment of underlying incentives. Furthermore, an air of inscrutability only amplifies your apparent greatness in the face of the people, since power is a game of appearances. There is an enigmatic air that surrounds the inscrutable character, when a character is not easily discernible, it generates a mysterious intrigue and an inexplicable element that enthrals people with reverence.

To sustain such an aura is not simple, it demands serious self-control, both with your actions and your words. You must, then, cultivate an element of impassivity, to be able to hold back from making an expression and retain an inexpressive poker face that can’t possibly be deciphered by the general public. The art of impassivity has imbued in it a kind of assured arrogance that is not hubris but rather a composed and cold response conveyed in a very subtle manner. When this model of demeanour is mastered, it becomes less of strain to conduct yourself as such and preserve your sense of self-control and soundness of mind.

What’s more, when you reclaim such a heightened caution and control over your reactivity, you are more at peace with your environment, you are not constantly seeking out baseless justification and quarrelling with the foolish in an attempt to prove yourself worthy. The self-possessed and composed man knows himself and carries conviction, he need not search out for confirmation; this will only be a manifestation of self-doubt and hesitancy. Postponed reactivity also buys you time for careful calculation and scheming, it is the trick of the trade, as it were, and the wise employ it prudently in ideal situations to leverage their position. When you react at once, not only are you more disposed to say or do something indiscreet and idiotic, but you also subvert your powerful position through an apparent lack of forbearance, which is a crucial aspect of even temper.

Through consistent practice, your tolerance will strengthen and so will your endurance. Application is of supreme importance, if you are careless with your demeanour, and you lack the proper perception to apply the practice in the relevant conditions, there will be evident strife between your conduct and the circumstance at hand. It necessitates the cultivation of good taste and sensitive subtlety to discern how the practice can be employed constructively in your day to day affairs. Remember, restraint is tough to live through in the beginning since you are essentially suppressing and containing what your feelings are compelling you to act on, but the effect of committing yourself to discipline is a far-reaching mastery over your emotions, an extremely useful faculty that is conventional among the wise.

Going back to composure, a useful practice that you should take into account is meditation. There are various beneficial side effects to meditation, but people tend to develop a capacity for cognisance, sensitivity to social atmospheres and undertones, presence of mind, increased calmness and tranquillity, and a sense of loosening from reality that gives way for objectivity. These useful ramifications enhance your general composure and accentuate your psychopathic element, giving you an edge over your peers in social matters.

In addition to meditation, weightlifting also supports the cultivation of these qualities. Developing your posterior-chain muscles and strengthening your upper-back through weighted chin-ups, pull-ups and rowing motions with perfect form, are all of service to your health and good character. Furthermore, when you have an adequately developed back and posture, you present yourself in a manly, bold and aggressive fashion which commands a higher degree of respect and admiration. Not to mention, the development of a well built back makes you firmly grounded to the earth; there is a definite sense of steadiness and footing that implants your presence to the ground and a spirited aura that draws people in to accompany it.

We live in a society where identity and image play a crucial and significant role where attention, status and desirability is concerned. To be part of such a society, in fact, is to have a superficial identity imposed on you that is hollow and grounded in distorted judgement, false preconceptions and appearance. I think we all know at least one person who is somewhat uncertain or unaware of his identity and role within society, and there is a sure reason for this. 

Society deliberately muddles people in its indecency and filth because conformity and ignorance preserve mediocrity and to be average is to be ignorantly inferior to the potentially damaging influences you are subconsciously driven by. Furthermore, the unaware willingly submit to this identity and obediently comply with it as if their ‘identity’ is somehow beyond their control. 

Identity is intangible, it is not something you can grasp in reality, it is rather something that is changeable in nature and indefinite since it has no defined boundaries in reality which it identifies with. If you understand that and not take your identity too seriously, perhaps you may be able to mould and shape it to your liking and reject the sheer dirt that contaminates the air of modern-day culture. 

It is entirely possible to forge a new identity since there is no concrete identity, to begin with, and the way you do it is by taking good care in shaping an image that is beneficial to you and appeals to progress, one that is not boring and dull but sensible and enlightened and aligns with your value structure, which too must be refined to accommodate a newly formed character. Your character and image should not be in conflict, they must move in unison to avoid drastic mimicry that could be openly portrayed as dishonest or otherwise suspicious. 

We are all actors on a stage playing these different roles in life and pretending to ourselves that these different parts define our inherent character and self. There is an element of theatricality to the game of life, it is as if a drama is unfolding in front of us and we are playing a role in it which is not exactly serious but imparts an all too convincing impression that it is wholly serious and if we fail to adjust accordingly, there is a hefty price to be paid. The recognition that maybe, just maybe, the game is not as serious as you think it is and you have been taking it more serious than you need to, could be liberating and a kind of breakthrough that ignites a flame. 

“The man who intends to make his fortune in this ancient capital of the world [Rome] must be a chameleon susceptible of reflecting the colours of the atmosphere that surrounds him—a Proteus apt to assume every form, every shape. He must be supple, flexible, insinuating, close, inscrutable, often base, sometimes sincere, sometimes perfidious, always concealing a part of his knowledge, indulging in but one tone of voice, patient, a perfect master of his own countenance, as cold as ice when any other man would be all fire; and if unfortunately he is not religious at heart—a very common occurrence for a soul possessing the above requisites—he must have religion in his mind, that is to say, on his face, on his lips, in his manners; he must suffer quietly, if he be an honest man, the necessity of knowing himself an arrant hypocrite. The man whose soul would loathe such a life should leave Rome and seek his fortune elsewhere. I do not know whether I am praising or excusing myself, but of all those qualities I possessed but one—namely, flexibility.”

Giacomo Casanova

In this excerpt, Casanova articulates how a man who has a substantial degree of control over his temperament and how it is perceived, behaves. The man who is inscrutable, formless and adequately detached to shape himself in accordance with the circumstance he finds himself in, he is neither identified with this shape nor the previous one, he continually and gracefully shifts from one form to another and blends in with the spirit of the time, as it were, to reject the notion of static and unchanging identity that is both plain and unexciting. 

This passage contains many parallels with the nature of the flatterer which I happen to have written about in the previous essay, and how they maintain a sense of octopus-like changeability, circumstantially attuned to the situation and temperament of the other person, appearing as sources of pleasure which hypnotize and emotionally manipulate the other person into delusion and confusion. What Casanova is getting at is quite comparable in nature, the idea of having a flexible character is extremely beneficial in the social game, which also includes the game of appearances.

To further elaborate on flexibility, this sense of adaptability gives you the opportunity to stand back a little, putting your negative emotions aside, and play a spirited game with your apparent nature. Since flexibility allows you to assume any shape, your apparent identity becomes inscrutable, giving you the freedom to forge multiple identities should you desire. However, the key takeaway here is that your inherent character should only be uncovered to those who have earned it and are worthy of your friendship and loyalty. 

The social game demands a sense of formlessness that is desirable and appealing, providing you the ability to understand other people’s character and needs without necessarily revealing your own. Formlessness is not necessarily duplicity, an element of care is indispensable here and unavoidable. For, if you seem contradictory and hypocritical to the point of rousing immoderate doubt and suspicion, you will seem duplicitous and openly cunning. A more subtle approach is called for here, adequate restraint from excess words, vague or indirect approaches, subdued behaviour that is ambiguous and so on. 

Subtlety is likened to indirection, people are generally direct with words and that is why you must restrain with words and remain concise. Indirection through behaviour is effective to demonstrate this element of formlessness, gesture and style also play a significant role in the way people perceive you, not to mention the people you associate with, which too contribute to the image and so-called identity. 

The connection between power and acting was initially understood by Julius Caesar and he likely was one of the earliest public figures to grasp the link between the two. Caesar possessed a dramatic effect that was simultaneously enticing and revering, he knew how to control an audience because he had the ability to manipulate the image he conveys to them to his liking – he incorporated suspense, surprise and striking feats that made him appear as if his presence transcends ordinariness and seems larger than life. Caesar accumulated renown through his roleplaying ability and overall talent. 

“Know how to be all things to all men. A discreet Proteus—a scholar among scholars, a saint among saints. That is the art of winning over everyone, for like attracts like. Take note of temperaments and adapt yourself to that of each person you meet—follow the lead of the serious and jovial in turn, changing your mood discreetly. ”

Baltasar Gracian

The discreet Proteus is the shapeshifter, the man who assumes all forms and employs discretion to grasp different temperaments, shaping himself accordingly. If there is only one quality you should develop to improve your social affairs and image, it would be to cultivate this capacity for changeability. No definite identity could be foisted on someone whose form is in constant flux and whose character is inscrutable to the public eye – you cannot lay a finger on a fluid and formless shape that gracefully flows from one domain to another, just like water. Learn to dance with circumstance and nonchalantly adapt to it as Proteus does.