A study of See through the People’s mask:

The Law of role playing from the laws of

Human Nature
Mercader, Kianna

The Laws of Human Nature is a book by Robert Greene. This chapter shows that
humans are experts concealing their true thoughts, intents, and emotions. We are
always portraying masks to the general public, often very different masks given the
circumstance. Being polite and respectful often requires hiding your true emotions and
intent, it is how we all get along. Seeing through people’s masks is a must for anyone in
a leadership position. To find out if you are having a bad idea, or if someone thinks
something is a bad idea, you must be able to pick up on their actual feelings.

Keywords: The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene, Marxism, Pericles 2008 crash

People wear masks. Every person must adjust the way they behave to the
circumstances they are and the audience they are speaking to. You cannot interact with
your boss the same way you do with your wife. If each person was the same way with
everyone, if they were 100% authentic, they would be socially isolated rather quickly.
But the masks that people wear, as robust as they are, have small cracks. These reveal
our true intentions, what lies beneath the surface of the fake exterior. If we focus, we
can detect anomalies in body language, tells that can reveal what people are really
thinking. But we must catch them quickly because they will immediately conceal their
initial reactions. For example, a person may roll their eyes while you speak about
something they are not interested in before they quickly cover it with a smile. It’s easy
to fake a nonchalant demeanor. You only need to act calm and relaxed. But when
someone is triggered in the right way, they inadvertently reveal what they are trying to
hide.
In this chapter the author mentioned Milton Erickson, he was diagnosed with polio at a
young age and to occupy his mind he observed others extremely closely and through
this knowledge and pattern recognition came to see an incredible world of nonverbal
cues, motions, gestures, the importance of tone of voice, and everything beyond what is
simply said. People tell you so much with their walk, tone of voice, how they sit, their
micro expressions, and more.

Negative emotions leak out through body language and they must be observed and
weighed more than whatever mask people put on

It is important to recognize that while these tells are useful, they can be misleading and
ambiguous. Context is very important. Depending on who the person is and what they
are like, different behaviors will mean different things. Look for consistent patterns of
behavior and watch out for anomalies, that is what Erickson did, and it is what any
student of human nature ought to do.

Conclusion:

In this chapter, it tells that people wear mask which means that they fake their emotions
for them to look good in people. For example, a person may roll their eyes while you
speak about something they are not interested in before they quickly cover it with a
smile they just calm and relax their selves for them to be able to act easily. It also
provides insight on the ways others are manipulating you and advice so that you can
harness your powers and become more socially intelligent. This idea is by
understanding what drives us we cannot only learn to thrive but to be better people who
are easier for others to deal with. Still, seeing through our illusions and masks is not a
pleasant task. On the upside, Greene also offers hope. The author argues that through
observation, by becoming aware of our deepest secrets, we can master our natures.
Every characteristic can be channeled into positive outcomes, and Greene urges
readers to see more clearly, or “develop third eye vision” as he puts it, so that we can
be more creative, empathetic, and friendly.
 A Study of Confront your Dark Side, The
Law of Repression of The law Human of
Nature
Mercader, Kianna

The Laws of Human Nature is a book written by Robert Greene “The Law of
Repression” If we think about the people we know and see on a regular basis, we would
have to agree that they are usually quite pleasant and agreeable. For the most part,
they seem pleased to be in our company, are relatively up-front and confident, socially
responsible, able to work with a team, take good care of themselves, and treat others
well. But every now and then with these friends, acquaintances, and colleagues, we
glimpse behavior that seems to contradict what we normally see.

Keywords: The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene, Marxism, Pericles, 2008 crash

The Dark Side On November 5, 1968, Republican Richard Nixon accomplished perhaps
the greatest comeback in American political history, narrowly defeating his Democratic
rival, Hubert Humphrey, to become the thirty-seventh president of the United States.
Only eight years earlier he had lost his first attempt at the presidency to John F.
Kennedy in a devastating fashion. The election was extremely close, but clearly some
voting shenanigans in Illinois, orchestrated by the Democratic Party

machine in Chicago, played a role in his defeat. Two years later he lost badly in the race
to become the governor of California. Bitter at how the press had hounded and
provoked him throughout the race, he addressed the media the day after this defeat and
concluded by saying, “Just think of how much you’re going to be missing. You won’t
have Nixon to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press
conference.” The response to these words was overwhelmingly negative. He was

accused of wallowing in self-pity. ABC News ran a half-hour special called “The Political
Obituary of Richard Nixon.” A Time magazine article on him concluded: “Barring a
miracle, Richard Nixon can never hope to be elected to any political office again.” By all
accounts his political career should have been over in 1962. But Richard Nixon’s life
had been an endless series of crises and setbacks that had only made him more
determined. As a young man his dream was to attend an Ivy League school, the key to
attaining power in America. Young Richard was exceptionally ambitious. His

family, however, was relatively poor and could not afford to pay for such an education.
He overcame this seemingly insuperable barrier by transforming himself into a superior
student, earning the nickname “Iron Butt” for his inhuman work habits, and managed to
land a scholarship to the law school at Duke University. To keep the scholarship, he had
to remain at the top of his class, which he did

through the kind of hard work few others could endure. After several years in the U.S.
Senate, in 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower had chosen him to be his running mate as vice
president on the Republican ticket, but quickly regretted the choice. Nixon had

kept a secret fund from the Republican Party that he had supposedly used for private
purposes. In fact, he was innocent of the charges, but Eisenhower did not feel
comfortable with him, and this was the excuse to get rid of him. Cutting him loose in this
way would almost certainly ruin Nixon’s political career. Once again, he rose to the
challenge, appearing on live television and delivering the speech of his life,

defending himself against the charges. It was so effective, the public clamored for
Eisenhower to keep him on the ticket. He went on to serve eight years as vice
president. And so, the crushing defeats of 1960 and 1962 would again be the means of
toughening himself up and resurrecting his career. He was like a cat with nine lives.
Nothing could kill him. He laid low for a few years, then came charging back for the
1968 election. He was now the “new Nixon,” more relaxed and affable, a man who liked
bowling and corny jokes. And having learned all the lessons from his various

defeats, he ran one of the smoothest and savviest campaigns in modern history and
made all of his enemies and doubters eat crow when he defeated Humphrey.

In becoming president, he had seemingly reached the apex of power. But in his mind,
there was yet one more challenge to overcome perhaps the greatest of all. Nixon’s
liberal enemies saw him as a political animal, one who would resort to any kind of
trickery to win an election. To the East Coast elites who hated him, he was the hick from
Whittier, California, too obvious in his ambition. Nixon was determined to prove them all
wrong. He was not who they thought he was. He was an idealist at heart, not a ruthless
politician. His beloved mother, Hannah, was a devout Quaker who had instilled in him
the importance of treating all people equally and promoting peace in the world. He
wanted to craft a legacy as one of the greatest presidents in

history. For the sake of his mother, who had died earlier that year, he wanted to embody
her Quaker ideals and show his detractors how deeply they had misread him.
 The personality of Nixon was formed. Seeking to overcome and disguise his
vulnerabilities, he created a persona that served him well, first with his family and later
with the public. For this persona he accentuated his own strengths and developed new
ones. He became supremely tough, resilient, fierce, decisive, rational, and not someone
to mess with, particularly in debate. (According to Kissinger, “There was nothing he
feared more than to be thought weak.”) But the weak and vulnerable child within does
not miraculously disappear. If its needs have never been met or dealt with, its presence
sinks into the unconscious, into the shadows of the personality, waiting to come out in
strange ways. It becomes the dark side.

The story of Nixon is closer to you and your reality than you might like to imagine. Like
Nixon, you have crafted a public persona that accentuates your strengths and conceals
your weaknesses. Like him, you have repressed the less socially acceptable traits you
naturally possessed as a child. You have become terribly nice and pleasant. And like
him, you have a dark side, one that you are loath to admit or examine. It contains your
deepest insecurities, your secret desires to hurt people, even those close to you, your
fantasies of revenge, your suspicions about others, your hunger for more attention and
power. This dark side haunts your dreams. It leaks out in

moments of inexplicable depression, unusual anxiety, touchy moods, sudden

neediness, and suspicious thoughts. It comes out in offhand comments you later regret.
And sometimes, as with Nixon, it even leads to destructive behavior. You will tend to
blame circumstances or other people for these moods and behavior, but they keep
recurring because you are unaware of their source. Depression and anxiety come from
not being your complete self, from always playing a role. It requires great energy to
keep this dark side at bay, but at times unpleasant behavior leaks out as a way to
release the inner tension. Your task as a student of human nature is to recognize and
examine the dark side of your character. Once subjected to conscious scrutiny, it loses
its destructive power. If you can learn to detect the signs of it in yourself (see the
following sections for help on this), you can channel

this darker energy into productive activity. You can turn your neediness and vulnerability
into empathy. You can channel your aggressive impulses into worthwhile causes and
into your work. You can admit your ambitions, your desires for power, and not act so
guiltily and stealthily. You can monitor your suspicious tendencies and the projection of
your own negative emotions onto others. You can see that selfish and harmful impulses
dwell within you as well, that you are not as angelic or strong as you imagine. With this
awareness will come balance and greater tolerance for others.

First, to follow the latter path you must begin by respecting your own opinions more and
those of others less, particularly when it comes to your areas of expertise, to the field
you have immersed yourself in. Trust your native

genius and the ideas you have come up with. Second, get in the habit in your daily life
of asserting yourself more and compromising less. Do this under control and at
opportune moments. Third, start caring less what people think of you. You will feel a
tremendous sense of liberation. Fourth, realize that at times you must offend and even
hurt people who block your path, who have ugly values, who unjustly criticize you. Use
such moments of clear injustice to bring out your Shadow and show it proudly. Fifth, feel
free to play the impudent, willful child who mocks the stupidity and hypocrisy of others.
Finally, flout the very conventions that others follow so

scrupulously. For centuries, and still to this day, gender roles represent the most
powerful convention of all. What men and women can do or say has been highly
controlled, to the point where it seems almost to represent biological differences instead
of social conventions. Women in particular are socialized to be extra nice and
agreeable. They feel continual pressure to adhere to this and mistake it for something
natural and biological. Some of the most influential women in history were those who
deliberately broke with these codes—performers like Marlene Dietrich and Josephine
Baker, political figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, businesswomen such as Coco
Chanel. They brought out their Shadow and showed it by acting in ways that were
traditionally thought of as masculine, blending and confusing gender roles. Even
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis gained great power by playing against the type of the
traditional political wife. She had a pronounced

malicious streak. When Norman Mailer first met her in 1960 and she seemed to poke
fun at him, he saw that “something droll and hard came into her eyes as if she were a
very naughty eight-year-old indeed.” When people displeased her, she showed it rather
openly. She seemed to care little what others thought of her. And she became a
sensation because of the naturalness she exuded. In general, consider this a form of
exorcism. Once you show these desires and impulses, they no longer lie hidden in
corners of your personality, twisting and operating in secret ways.
CONCLUSION

In this Chapter of the law of Repression The motivations that drive us are often a
mystery even to ourselves. But if we draw back the shroud of emotions that obscure our
view of these motivations, we take the first step toward true self-mastery and
understanding what makes us and others tick.

On this episode, The Laws of Human Nature author Robert Greene shares his deep
insight into our own nature as humans, delves into what makes us so easy to
manipulate, and observes how our dark side, built as the result of our upbringing,
creeps into everything we do as adults. Robert will then help us make better decisions
based on these revelations. Listen, learn, and enjoy!

A study of Make them want to follow you:

The Law of role playing from the laws of
Human Nature
Mercader, Kianna

The Laws of Human Nature is a great book. And this chapter on leadership stood out for
the quality of its psychological dissertation on leadership. Leadership is always built on
a dichotomy, Greene says. On one side, people want to be lead and they look up to a
great and strong leader at the same time, they resent him. They resent his position, the
power he has, and the power he has over them. Greene also recommends that it’s
better to start tough. You always have time to show your soft side. But if you start soft,
people might think of you as a pushover.

Keywords: The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene, Marxism, Pericles 2008 crash

To lead, you must sacrifice, you must show your appreciation to the others in the group,
and those who are below you in the hierarchy. Never take people’s trust for granted, it is
something that you must continually earn. It is what Queen Elizabeth did. She made the
love of her people a priority, while others in similar positions squandered the trust of the
public. If you are young, and are just starting out, you have no credibility yet.

This can be frustrating, but you should understand that people will rarely listen to you.
Even if your knowledge is accurate and your wisdom valid, they will not see you as a
voice of authority they will not act on your advice. If a more experienced person with a
proven track record tells them exactly what you said, they are much more likely to
believe them. That is why you should avoid moralizing and preaching when you are
young, don’t be so anxious to influence other people. In this way, you also benefit.
Since people will not look to you for advice, you can use this time to build rapport, and
to learn and experience more of life.

It is important to have deadlines, either externally or internally imposed. But never take
such deadlines too seriously. Remember that time is passing and if you don’t feel you
are moving in the right direction, stop. There is nothing more tragic than to see the
years roll by without a clear path towards mastery or achievement. This can only start
when you become more attuned to who you are and what your purpose in life should
be.

Constant serving of others is not something to scorn at but something to embrace. You
have a responsibility to serve others. Before you, millions of people have died, leaving
behind a culture that allowed you to become educated and to lead a good life. But the
job is far from over. Humanity still has a long way to go, and you have a responsibility to
give back to it.

Conclusion:

In this chapter, people wants to be lead and they look up to a great and strong leader
but once you begin to experience pleasure in working for the benefit of others, you
escape the small world of the egotistical self that is insecure and needy. When you work
for something bigger than yourself, people will naturally gravitate towards you. Whether
you embody the Founder archetype and want to disrupt the status quo or the teacher
archetype that helps others learn from their mistakes, you are showing that you can go
outside of yourself. People respect this because it is a rare and valuable quality. The
person who only cares about satisfying their own needs is not respected, is not a hero
for their culture, and not an example to follow because for you to be able to lead, you
must sacrifice and show your appreciation to the others in the group.