OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I
In the early 1780s, word spread through Berlin of the strange and spectacular medical practice of a Dr. Weisleder. He performed his miracles in an
enormous converted beer hall, outside which Berliners began to notice
ever longer lines of people-the blind, the lame, anyone with an illness incurable by normal medicine. When it leaked out that the doctor worked by
exposing the patient to the rays of the mo on, he soon became dubbed The
Moon Doctor of Berlin.
Sometime in 1783, it was reported that Dr. Weisleder had cured a wellto-do woman of a terrible ailment. He suddenly became a celebrity. Previously only the poorest Berliners had been seen waiting outside the beer
hall in their rags;
now magnificent carriages were parked outside, and gentlemen in frock coats, and ladies with enormous coiffures, lined the street
as sunset drew near. Even folk with the mildest of ailments came, out of
sheer curiosity. As they waited in line, the poorer clients would explain to
the gentlemen and ladies that the doctor only practiced when the moon
was in its increscent phase. Many would add that they themselves had already been exposed to the healing powers he called forth from the rays of
the moon. Even those who feIt cured kept coming back,
drawn by this
powerful experience.
Inside the beer hall, a strange and stirring spectacle greeted the visitor:
Packed into the entrance hall was a crowd of all classes and ethnic backgrounds, a veritable Tower of Babel. Through tall windows on the northern
side of the hall, silvery moonlight poured in at odd angles. The doctor and
his wife, who, it seemed, was also able to effect the cure, practiced on the
second floor, which was reached by a stairway, at the end of the hall. As the
line edged closer to the stairs, the sick would hear shouts and cries from
above, and word would spread of, perhaps, a blind gentleman suddenly
able to see.
Once upstairs, the line would fork in two directions, toward a northem room for the doctor, a southem one for his wife,
who worked only on
the ladies. Finally, after hours of anticipation and waiting in line, the gentlemen patients would be led before the amazing doctor hirnself, an elderly man with a few stalks of wild gray hair and an air of nervous energy.
He would take the patient (let us say a young boy, brought in by his father), uncover the afflicted body part, and lift the boy up to the window,
which faced the light of the moon. He would rub the site of the injury or
illness, mumble something unintelligible, look knowingly at the mo on,
and then, after collecting his fee,
send the boy and his father on their way.
Meanwhile, in the south-facing room, his wife would be doing the same
with the ladies-which was odd, really, since the moon cannot appear in
two places at once; it cannot have been visible, in other words, from both
windows. Apparently the mere thought, idea, and symbol of the moon
were enough, for the ladies did not complain, and would later remark
confidently that the wife of the Moon Doctor had the same healing powers
as he.
Interpretation
Dr. Weisleder may have known nothing about medicine, but he understood human nature. Re recognized that people do not always want words,
or rational explanations, or demonstrations of the powers of science; they
want an immediate appeal to their emotions. Give them that and they will
do the rest-such as imagine they can be healed by the light reflected from
a rock a quarter million miles away. Dr. Weisleder had no need of pills, or
oflengthy lectures on the moon's power, or of any silly gadgetry to amplify
its rays. Re understood that the simpler the spectacle the better-just the
moonlight pouring in from the side, the stairway leading to the heavens,
and the rays of the mo on, whether directly visible or not. Any added effects might have made it seem that the moon was not strong enough on its
own. And the moon was strong enough-it was a magnet far fantasies, as it
has been throughout history. Simply by associating hirnself with the image
of the moon, the doctor gained power.
Remember: Your search for power depends on shortcuts. You must always circumvent people's suspicions, their perverse desire to resist your
will. Images are an extremely effective shortcut: Bypassing the head, the
seat of doubt and resistance, they aim straight for the heart. Overwhelming
the eyes, they create powernd associations, bringing people together and
stirring their emotions. With the white light of the moon in their eyes, your
targets are blinded to the deceptions you practice.
OBSERVANCE OF TRE LAW 11
In 1536 the future king Renri 11 of France took his first mistress,
Diane de
Poitiers. Diane was thirty-seven at the time, and was the widow of the
grand seneschal of Normandy. Renri, meanwhile, was a sprightly lad of
seventeen, who was just beginning to sow his wild oats. At first their union
seemed merely platonic, with Renri showing an intensely spiritual devotion to Diane. But it so on became clear that he loved her in every way, preferring her bed to that of his young wife, Catherine de' Medicis.
In 1547 King Francis died and Renri ascended to the throne. This new
situation posed perils for Diane de Poitiers. She had just tumed forty-eight,
and despite her notorious cold baths and rumored youth potions, she was
beginning to show her age;
now that Renri was king, perhaps he would return to the queen's bed, and do as other kings had done--choose mistresses from the bevy of beauties who made the French court the envy of
Europe. Re was, after all, only twenty-eight, and cut a dashing figure. But
Diane did not give up so easily. She would continue to enthrall her lover,
as she had enthralled hirn for the past eleven years.
Diane's secret weapons were symbols and images, to which she had always paid great attention. Early on in her relationship with Renri, she had
created a motif by intertwining her initials with his, to symbolize their
union. The idea worked like a charm: Renri put this insignia everywhere-
on his royal robes, on monuments, on churches, on the facade of the
where Antony awaited
the queen enthroned on
his tribunal, unti! at last
he was left sitting quite
alone.
And the word
spread on every side
that Aphrodite had
come to revel with
Dionysus for the
happiness of Asia.
Antony then sent a
message inviting
Cleopatra to dine with
him. But she thought it
more appropriate that
he should come to her,
and so, as he wished to
show his courtesy and
goodwill, he accepted
and went. He found the
preparations made to
receive him magnificent
bey(md words, but
what astonished him
most of all was the
extraordinary number
of lights. 50 many of
these, it is said, were let
down from the roof
and displayed on all
sides at once, and they
were arranged and
grouped in such ingenious patterns in relation to each other, some
in squares and some in
eire/es, that they created
as brilliant a spectae/e
as can ever have been
devised to delight
the eye.
LlFE OF ANTONY.
PLlJTARCH,
C. A.D. 46-120
In the Middle Ages the
symbolist attitude was
much more in evidence .
. . . 5ymbolism appears
as a sort of short cut of
thought. Instead of
hJOking for the relation
LAW 37 311
between two things by
following the hidden
detours of their causal
connexions, thought
makes a leap and
disco vers their relation
not in the connexion
of cause and effects,
but in a connexion of
signijication ....
Symbolist thought
permits an injinity of
relations between
things. Each thing may
denote a number of
distinct ideas by its
different special qualities, and a quality may
have several symbolic
meanings. The highest
conceptions have
symbols by the thousand. Nothing is tao
humble to represent
and glory the sublime.
The walnut signijies
Christ: the sweet kernel
is His divine nature, the
green and pulpy outer
peel is His humanity,
the wooden shell
between is the cross.
Thus all things raise
his thoughts to the
eternal. ...
Every
precious stone, besides
its natural splendour
sparkies with the brilliance of its symbolic
values. The assimilation
of roses and virginity is
much more than a
poetic camparison, for
it reveals their common
essen ce. As each nation
arises in the mind the
logic ofsymbolism
creates an harmony
ofideas.
THE WANING OF THE
MIDDLE AGES,
JOHAN HUIZINGA,
1 928
312 LAW 37
Louvre, then the royal palace in PariS. Diane's favorite colors were black
and white, which she wore exclusively, and wherever it was possible the insignia appeared in these colors. Everyone recognized the symbol and its
meaning. Soon after Renri took the throne, however, Diane went still further: She decided to identify herself with the Roman goddess Diana, her
namesake.
Diana was the goddess of the hunt, the traditional royal pastime
and the particular passion of Renri. Equally important, in Renaissance art
she symbolized chastity and purity. For a woman like Diane to identify herself with this goddess would instantly call up those images in the court, giving her an air of respectability. Symbolizing her "chaste" relationship with
Renri, it would also set her apart from the adulterous liaisons of royal mistresses past.
To effect this association, Diane began by completely transforming her
castle at Anet. She razed the building's structure and in its place erected a
magnificent Doric-columned edifice modeled after a Roman temple. It was
made in white Normandy stone flecked with black silex, reproducing
Diane's trademark colors of black and white. The insignia of her and
Renri's initials appeared on the columns, the doors, the windows, the carpet. Meanwhile, symbols of Diana-crescent moons, stags, and houndsadorned the gates and facade. Inside, enormous tapestries depicting
episodes in the life of the goddess lay on the floors and hung on the walls.
In the garden stood the famous Goujon sculpture Diane Chasseresse, which is
now in the Louvre, and which had an uncanny resemblance to Diane de
Poitiers.
Paintings and other depictions of Diana appeared in every corner
of the castle.
Anet overwhelmed Renri, who soon was trumpeting the image of
Diane de Poitiers as a Roman goddess. In 1548, when the couple appeared
together in Lyons for a royal celebration, the townspeople welcomed them
with a tableau vivant depicting a scene with Diana the huntress. France's
greatest poet of the period, Pierre de Ronsard, began to write verses in
honor of Diana-indeed a kind of cult of Diana sprang up, all inspired by
the king's mistress. It seemed to Renri that Diane had given herself a kind
of divine aura, and as if he were destined to worship her for the rest of his
life.
And until his death, in 1559, he did remain faithful to her-making her
a duchess, giving her untold wealth, and displaying an almost religious devotion to his first and only mistress.
Interpretation
Diane de Poitiers, a woman from a modest bourgeois background, managed to captivate Renri for over twenty years. By the time he died she was
weH into her sixties, yet his passion for her only increased with the years.
She knew the king well. Re was not an inteHectual but a lover of the outdoors-he particularly loved jousting tournaments, with their bright pennants, brilliantly caparisoned horses, and beautifully dressed women.
Renri's love of visual splendor seemed childlike to Diane, and she played
on this weakness of his at every opportunity.
Most astute of all was Diane's appropriation of the goddess Diana.
Here she took the game beyond physical imagery into the realm of the psychic symbol. It was quite a feat to transform a king's mistress into an emblem of power and purity, but she managed it. Without the resonance of
the goddess, Diane was merely an aging courtesan. With the imagery and
symbolism of Diana on her shoulders, she seemed a mythic force, destined
for greatness.
You too can play with images like these, weaving visual clues into an
encompassing gestalt, as Diane did with her colors and her insignia. Establish a trademark like these to set yourself apart. Then take the game further: Find an image or symbol from the past that will neatly fit your
situation, and put it on your shoulders like a cape. It will make you seem
larger than life.
Because of the light it shines on the other stars which make up a kind of
court around it, because of the just and equal distribution of its mys to
alt alike, because of the good it brings to alt places, producing life, joy
and action, because of its constancy from which it never varies, I chose
the sun as the most magnificent image to represent a great leader.
Louis XlV, the Sun King, 1 638-1 715
KEYS TO POWER
Using words to plead your case is risky business: Words are dangerous instruments, and often go astray. The words people use to persuade us virtually invite us to reflect on them with words of our OWO; we mull them over,
and often end up believing the opposite of what they say. (That is part of
our perverse nature.) It also happens that words offend us, stirring up associations unintended by the speaker.
The visual, on the other hand, short-circuits the labyrinth of words.
It
strikes with an emotional power and immediacy that leave no gaps for reflection and doubt. Like music, it leaps right over rational, reasonable
thoughts. Imagine the Moon Doctor trying to make a case for his medical
practice, trying to convince the unconverted by telling them about the
healing powers of the moon, and about his owo special connection to a distant object in the sky. Fortunately for hirn, he was able to create a compelling spectacle that made words unnecessary. The moment his patients
entered the beer hall, the image of the moon spoke eloquently enough.
Understand: Words put you on the defensive. If you have to explain
yourself your power is already in question. The image, on the other hand,
imposes itself as a given. It discourages questions, creates forcehll associations, resists unintended interpretations, communicates instantly, and
forges bonds that transcend social differences. Words stir up arguments
and divisions; images bring people together.
They are the quintessential instruments of power.
The symbol has the same force, whether it is visual (the statue of
There was a man
named Sakamotoya
Hechigwan who lived
in upper Kyoto ....
When [Emperor]
Hideyoshi gave his
great Cha-no-yu [tea
ceremony] meeting at
Kitano in the tenth
month of 1588, Hechigwan set up a great red
umbrella nine feet
across mounted on a
stick seven feet high.
The circumference of
the handle he
surraunded for about
two feet by a reed fence
in such a way that the
rays of the sun were
refiected fram it and
diffused the colour of
the umbrella all
around. This device
pleased Hideyoshi so
much that he remitted
Hechigwan's taxes as a
reward.
CHA-NO-YU:
THE JAPANESE TEA
CEREMONY,
A. L. SADLER,
1 962
LAW 37 313
314 LAW 37
Diana) or a verbal description of something visual (the words "the Sun
King"). The symbolic object stands for something else, something abstract
(such as the image "Diana" standing for chastity). The abstract conceptpurity, patriotism, courage, love-is full of emotional and powerful associations. The symbol is a shortcut of expression, containing dozens of
meanings in one simple phrase or object. The symbol of the Sun King, as
explained by Louis XIV, can be read on many layers, but the beauty of it is
that its associations required no explanation, spoke immediately to his subjects, distinguished him from all other kings, and conjured up a kind of
majesty that went far beyond the words themselves. The symbol contains
untold power.
The first step in using symbols and images is to understand the primacy of sight among the senses. Before the Renaissance, it has been argued, sight and the other senses-taste, touch, and so on-operated on a
relatively equal plane. Since then, however, the visual has come to dominate the others, and is the sense we most depend on and trust. As Graciän
said, "The truth is generally seen, rarely heard." When the Renaissance
painter Fra Filippo Lippi was a captured slave among the Moors, he won
his freedom by sketching a drawing of his master on a white wall with a
piece of charcoal; when the owner saw the drawing, he instantly understood the power of a man who could make such images, and let Fra Lippi
go.
That one image was far more powerful than any argument the artist
could have made with words.
Never neglect the way you arrange things visually. Factors like color,
for example, have enormous symbolic resonance. When the con artist Yellow Kid Weil created a newsletter touting the phony stocks he was peddling, he called it the "Red Letter Newsletter" and had it printed, at
considerable expense, in red ink. The color created a sense of urgency,
power, and good fortune. Weil recognized details like these as keys to deception-as do modem advertisers and mass-marketers. If you use "gold"
in the title of anything you are trying to sell, for example, print it in gold.
. Since the eye predominates, people will respond more to the color than to
the word.
The visual contains great emotional power. The Roman emperor Constantine worshipped the sun as a god for most of his life; one day, though,
he looked up at the sun, and saw a cross superimposed on it. The vision of
the cross over the sun proved to hirn the ascendancy of the new religion,
and he converted not just hirnself but the whole Roman Empire to Christianity soon thereafter. All the preaching and proselytizing in the world
could not have been as powerful. Find and associate yourself with the images and symbols that will communicate in this immediate way today, and
you will have untold power.
Most effective of all is a new combination-a fusion of images and symbols that have not been seen together before, but that through their association clearly demonstrate your new idea, message, religion. The creation of
new images and symbols out of old ones in this way has a poetic effectviewers' associations run rampant, giving them a sense of participation.
Visual images often appear in a sequence, and the order in which they
appear creates a symbol. The first to appear, for instance, symbolizes
power; the image at the center seems to have central importance.
Near the end of World War 11, orders came down from General Eisenhower that American troops were to lead the way into Paris after its liberation from the Nazis. The French general Charles de Gaulle, however,
realized that this sequence would imply that the Americans now commanded the fate of France.
Through much manipulation, de Gaulle made
certain that he and the French Second Armored Division would appear at
the head of the liberating force. The strategy worked: After he had successfuHy pulled off this stunt, the Allies started treating hirn as the new leader
of an independent France. De Gaulle knew that a leader has to locate himself literally at the head of his troops. This visual association is crucial to the
emotional response that he needs to elicit.
Things change in the game of symbols: It is probably no longer possible to pose as a "sun king," or to wrap the mantIe of Diana around you. Yet
you can associate yourself with such symbols more indirectIy. And,
of
course, you can make your own mythology out of figures from more recent history, people who are comfortably dead but still powerfully associative in the public eye. The idea is to give yourself an aura, a stature that
your normal banal appearance simply will not create. By herself Diane de
Poitiers had no such radiant powers; she was as human and ordinary as
most of uso But the symbol elevated her above the human lot, and made
her seem divine.
Using symbols also has a courtier-like effect, since they are often gentIer than brutish words. The psychotherapist Dr. Milton H. Erickson always tried to find symbols and images that would communicate to the
patient in ways that words could not. When dealing with a severely troubied patient, he would not question hirn directIy but would talk about
something irrelevant, such as driving through the desert in Arizona, where
he practiced in the 1950s. In describing this he would eventually come to
an appropriate symbol for what he suspected was the man's problem. Ifhe
feIt the patient was isolated, say, Dr. Erickson would talk of a single ironwood tree, and how its isolation left it battered by the winds. Making an
emotional connection with the tree as a symbol, the patient would open up
more readily to the doctor's probing.
Use the power of symbols as a way to rally, animate, and unite your
troops or team. During the rebellion against the French crown in 1648,
those loyal to the king disparaged the rebels by comparing them to the
slingshots (in French,frondes) that littIe boys use to frighten big boys. Cardinal de Retz decided to turn this disparaging term into the rebels' symbol:
The uprising was now known as the Fronde, and the rebels as frondeurs.
They began to wear sashes in their hats that symbolized the slingshot, and
the word became their rallying cry. Without it the rebellion might weIl
have petered out. Always find a symbol to represent your cause-the more
emotional associations, the better.
The best way to use images and symbols is to organize them into a
LAW 37 315
316 LAW 37
grand spectacle that awes people and distracts them from unpleasant realities. This is easy to do: People love what is grand, spectacular, and larger
than life. Appeal to their emotions and they will flock to YOUf spectacle in
hordes. The visual is the easiest route to their hearts.