Words like “Power”, “Seduction”, and “Manipulation” are words that have always seemed to carry some stigmatic aura about them. “Power” for instance, is something I’ve come to see is highly prized by all, and yet somehow right along side this incredible desire to attain “Power” of any kind is the ideal that seeking “Power” is generally frowned upon, as a act of selfishness and overall greed. “Seduction” is again a highly prized art of ability that is once again put at odds with the ideals we have all been raised with. For a someone to display any talent in the art of “Seduction” is frowned upon as a-moral and dare I say, evil in some schools of thought. Finally we have “Manipulation” another highly admired ability, whether it involves the deft manipulation of raw materials to create a work of art, or manipulating your given language with such mastery as to paint pictures in another person’s mind. Once more manipulation is given the bad rap because so many people have been taught that manipulation is a completely self-serving act.
Wake-up people!!! Haven’t any of you realized we are all driven by self-serving needs and desires, from the very moment we drew our first breath? We are all “Power-Seekers” on some level or another. We seek the power to at least feel as though we are in control of our own lives and the lives of those that affect us. Think about the people you’ve known in your life. How many of you can actually say that you’ve never met a single powerful person that inspired you? I know for a fact I have. One problem I see in the pursuit of power is that often the seeker becomes so enthralled that their appetite for “Power” becomes insatiable, giving rise to what I like to call “Rogue” power seekers that would stop at nothing to gain more and more power. It is ever so important to strike a balance in all things, including the attainment of “Power”.
Well, now we can take a deeper look at “Seduction”. How many of you have ever been seduced or seduced another person? I’ll wager that all of you have done at least one or the other, and that a great many have done both. I have lived in a predominantly Christian Fundamentalist region of the country all of my life. Needless to say “Seduction” is for the most part considered to be a sinful act, and those that practice “Seduction” openly are often social outcasts. I have also come to see that the more taboo that is placed on something, the more attractive it seems. Think about how curious you become when faced with a locked door. Something inside just aches to find a way to open that door, no matter if there is anything behind it or not. Truthfully, though “Seduction” is not evil or wrong in itself. The evil, so to speak, is born through intent. When wielded in a fashion that is aimed at harming another in order to accomplish a goal the seducer is the source of the “evil”, not the act itself.
Lastly, there is “Manipulation”. This seems in my opinion to be a derivative of “Seduction”. Have you ever noticed how often we all manipulate things in our daily lives? For goodness sake, I manipulate my way to work everyday on the freeway. Upon referring to the Webster’s Dictionary I see that part of the definition with regards to self-service is rather negative.
b : to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one’s own advantage
This makes it very apparent to me why, so many people frown on these words. We are taught that serving ones own needs is somehow “insidious” or “unfair”. How can that be? If we do not serve our own needs and desires, who else will? If none of us ever had desires or needs we’d never get past the life state of being an infant. You might not remember, but when you took your first steps you were displaying the desire to become more mobile. When you cried because you were hungry, you where displaying the need for something like food for instance. What were you doing? That’s right manipulating the attending adult is such a way that they provided the very thing you needed. Do you think that was “unfair” or “insidious”? I mean it really was meant to attain something for your own advantage. So why on earth do these perceptions with regard to these inherent abilities become undesirable when practiced by adults? Most likely because there have been so many examples of those that abuse these abilities to the detriment of others. Again, we MUST achieve a balance in all things, self service does not have to harm anyone.
This man has the right idea: “The 48 Laws of Power”
